I have a Flat coat bitch pup who will be 5 months at the end of this month.  I have been walking her for about 30 to 45 minutes with my year old xbreed bitch,  mostly on grass and unmade paths.  She loves to chase a ball and is very active, but I have had conflicting advice about how much she should be doing.  One owner of Flatcoats said she never walks her dogs before they are a year old, and then only for 15 minutes.  My pup really enjoys her walks and I do wonder how one is able to socialize them if they don't go out into the world?  She does get lots of excercise with my other girl chasing her and play fighting in the garden, but I enjoy taking them out.

Can anyone come up with real facts and figures for and against?

Cath

I have heard that a good guide is 5mins walking per months in age, so at 5 months she should have no more than 25 minutes. Hope that helps :)

Edited to add that too much exercise at too young an age can damage the bone/joints in growing pups.

Yes walking is fine ,at 5 months he's gotten all of his vaccs i suppose so get him out there! Float coat's are sporting dogs so it would be o-k for longer walks. Just be sure he's got water , bring a squeeze bottle and squirt water into his mouth when he's thirsty.

5minute rule is kinda bogus. My puppy walks around the house all day and the walking would add up to 2 hours (not counting wrestling and romping with bigger dogs) , unless your jogging then i don't see why walks would do any damage if they have suffecient water source and are not on hard ground. Just let them go at there own pace.

5 minutes of romping adds up to 20 minutes of walking.

That sounds fine to me. Whilst I am cautious about the amount of excercise my labs get when young, IMHO running around like idiots (even in the back garden) is far more likley to put excessive strain on the joints duet to the sudden twisting and turning. Steady walks mainly on the lead at this age should just help to build muscle, which supports the bone structure.

She may well need this much excercise to make it possible to live with her! I know that they never read instructions from vets etc and need to get a certain amount of excercise to stop them using their energy in shall we say more creative ways :D

As for facts and figures, I dont think anyone will have any as there is no money to be made in it. At the end of the day all I can say is use your common sense.

You obviously need to be careful walking her in pavement on lead, but off lead walks in grass are absolutely fine. The dogs pace themselves, rest when they are tired and run when they are not. I can't see 30-45 mins per day on grass for a 5 month old FCR causing any problems. In fact, you rightly point out that it is very, very important to get her out there socialising with other dogs, people, sounds, cars, etc rather than keeping her at home. Just look at guide dogs for the blind.....

All the best with your FCR!

Cheers,
Patty

Many thanks for the prompt advice.  Much appreciated.  Now tell me how I can stop the two of them 'romping' all day long other than separating them?!  Seriously though, I was following my instincts and was brought up short when told that others do not walk their puppies.  When you have another dog a bit older it naturally follows that you want to take them out together.  The Lurcher hares off (pardon the pun) trap 1 style, and completes her excercise so it seemed to work ok, so I am glad to hear that I am not abusing the baby.  

Cath

Well romping should be monitored just slightly more , a puppy will sometimes try its hardest to keep up with older dogs. Leaves them prone to heat stroke and stressed joints. When you see your puppy panting and drooling give it some water and head home , likely they will rest for 3 hours straight :p

I don't know how you would socialize your dogs without walking them , part of the reason why people get unsocialized scared , shy or agressive dogs!

I work my flatcoats and they do have more exercise than most. I prefer to let them pace themselves, and when out they are on grass and off lead, so again they pace themselves. I am out for nearer an hour at a time at this age but we walk slowly and mad running about is usually a first burst of energy, after which they settle down and we do use the opportunity to do basic training. Walking to heel on and off lead, sit stay and recall exercises, steadiness exercises etc which I try to make into a game to keep it all fresh and interesting.

I do some lead walking on hard ground but usually only about 10 to 20 minutes maximum to tighten feet and build muscle, again this is not straight walking, it is learning to walk to heel, sit or down on command and while on the lead stepping away from the pup as you do on the basic stay and recall exercises. I never ever let my dogs off the lead when near a road, it is just too dangerous. So although we are out perhpas longer they don't really do any more than they can cope with. You should be able to determine when your pup has had enough and is tiring.

The rule is do not over things, and what ever you do make any excercise interesting. By doing the obedience exercises etc, it means the pup is occupied, happy learning something and the walks are stop start and stop again so as you can see it is a balance all the time between activity and resting while out. I'm sure Patty as a professional dog trainer wll give you some training tips for your pet, which will be useful and stimulating, which will combine exercise and periods of rest.

Thanks Polly

I do take her to obedience classes and have done since she was 13 weeks, they suggested I also stay for the ringcraft as well, so she does get a bit of formal training which I do in the garden but of course it is incorporated in our walks to some extent. She is a wonderful little thing and much easier to train than the Lurcher.  She doesn't try to keep up with her too much and to be honest she gives as good as she gets.  When the Lurcher 'heads off down the pass' (600 mile an hour couch potato someone suggested a while ago), the pup just stops and looks on, then turns round and looks for a treat or ball throw from me then 'gallops about doing good' sort of thing (as the poem goes).  But all contributions gratefully received and I look forward to them

Cath

To be honest, I take my youngsters out with the others when they have reached about 9 months, not before, as flatcoats just love rough and tumble with each other, especially when they've just been let out, and I don't want soft bones to be damaged.

Of course, they have masses of socialising in different places before this, and attend all the puppy classes I can lay my hands on; just not masses of walking.

At about 9 months they go out for increasing lengths of time, on the lead for the first 5 or 10 minutes, so they don't go rampaging.    If you're wanting to train for working tests /field trials, it's  good idea to keep them on the lead for quite a while; helps to teach them steadiness in the presence of other dogs running round.

My 10 month old pup Albert has only recently been going for 'let's free-range' walks of about 40 mins - to get him acclimatised to all the scents he will encounter when working as much as anything else.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

Polly has given some great advice. A lot of owners let their dogs off lead and let them do their own thing. The only thing the dogs learn is to ignore their owners, as they obviously don't need to listen to them when they are off lead (dogs are amazing at contextualising situations).

Much of the recall problems one gets is the fact that the dog runs off to other dogs and won't come back with distractions. Also, walking a dog that has 'unwanted manners' with a fresh puppy, will very quickly teach the puppy unwanted manners (e.g. like running off to people and other dogs). So, you really want to make time to walk with your puppy on his own and play, recall, do obedience, pretty much everything that Polly has said, so that the puppy learns to look to you for all things fun (always keep training upbeat and fun, the pup should think it's a game). You also want to start taking the pup out and teaching it asap. This also helps in getting them used to other dogs and people early on, which means those new things are not so exciting and valuable and the start to prefer to interact with you than to be trampled on by other dogs.

People that do this don't tend to get recall problems as the dog thinks the owner is the best thing in the world, much better than other dogs and people. The dogs also learn that just because they are outside and off lead, does not mean that it is a free for all. They need to know that you control their WHOLE world. So for example, if a puppy wants to meet another dog, then ask it to come, get it to sit and then give him the release command (don't push the pup too far, i.e. don't make it stay for a long time). The reward is to play with the other dog and your puppy will get used to this habit early on, which is one of the best habits to get into. The more you do this, the quicker he will learn. Consistency is key.

It is important that your pup is let off lead as soon as possible, as when they are pups they want to stay close to you. So you will constantly be moving away from the pup, so that it learns to always keep an eye on you and follow you, rather than most dog walks were WE follow them. You need to convince the pup that you dictate the walk and where you go. It may look crazy, but you will also want to hide in places and get the pup to find you. Play 'puppy ping pong' between two of you, so that the pup thinks recall is a game. Rewards can be food, but toys and games are much better whilst out on walks. Keep a very special toy for walks and don't let it have it whilst at home.

Adolesce is one of those hard periods where the dogs start to test you and start to become independent. Your flattie will probably enter this period soon. This is the key time to be very strict and consistent with your training. If you let your flattie ignore a recall or run off to other dogs, then the reward is too great and she will do this over and over, causing a big problem to you. So key is to ensure her recall is absolutely perfect, if not then have a long line attached to her, so that you can quickly get control of her, without her learning unwanted behaviours.

Well, this has turned out to be a long email, but Polly raised a very important issue regarding just letting the dogs wander freely off lead.

Hope it is of use.

Cheers,
Patty

P.S. Regarding romping about - don't really let it happen too rough or for long periods of time, as their bones are soft. Walking them separately will help this. My dogs (a great dane and a young FCR puppy) are only allowed to play whilst lying down and only when I supervise them. Mind, the dane is ever so gentle with her and she seems to get away with murder!! They only play for about 5 mins at a time.