Wow im posting loads today .............................

I stopped off at Frensham Ponds today to give the boys a run on the way home from the show, we saw a young family walking with a 10 week old lab puppy :( the pup was off lead and Alf went over to play and thankfully he played nice and laid down with it rather than jumping all over it.  I didnt mention anything to the people about walking young pups, I didnt know how to bring it up without sounding interferring and thought well maybe they are carrying it a bit too.  Anyway, me and the boys went down to the lake to play fetch for a while and walking back to the car we saw the family with the pup in the distance - with the pup still walking :(  I mean the guy had his toddler on his back in one of them carry things, did he not think the pup might need to be carried too   The pup was so small, she was alike a roly poly andrex puppy (but a chocolate version) the family seemed well educated surely they should know not to walk a pup that far, im really mad with myself too for not saying anything :rolleyes:

I understand just how you feel.....I find myself in that position quite a lot and tend to keep quiet to avoid coming across as a know it all (although I don't). I then worry about the dog in mind and then get angry with myself for not saying anything.

Hayley

Yes, it's difficult, I've sometimes met people with young puppies and not been sure what to say. I remember when we got our two boys, we knew not to walk them 'too far', but must admit we didn't know how far that was. We once walked them about half a mile and they were completely hyper that evening, so I called one of the breeders and she reckoned that had been too much at that age, so we knew not to go so far again. When we got our new girl we got her a carry bag thing, but I have to admit she never wanted to be carried in it, and always wriggled madly to get down and run again, which I didn't let her do!! :-) If you meet them regularly you could perhaps comment on how your dog never wanted to go far at that age and that perhaps not all dogs have the sense to slow down?

thinking about it now, I should have said "oh its difficult at that age isnt it because they so want to run and play but you have to restrict it otherwise you risk damage to their joints / hips etc" - typical me, always think about it after the event :rolleyes: its not somewhere I walk often as its a good 45 minutes from here, its a beauty spot so I think most people drive there to visit at weekends so possibly wont see them again. 

Poor baby, at 10 weeks, it probably hadn't even had all it's vaccinations yet.

Isn't it amazing how puppies somehow survive the ignorance of their owners.:rolleyes:

Dawn R.

THe other day i drove past a family with two tiny pups, one was being carried but the other (looked about 8-12 weeks) was walking OFF LEAD along the pavement near quite a busy road. Madness!!

We took our small dog, 14 weekold puppy out to a popular dog walking location yesteday. Lots of people and of lead dogs naturally, out boy on alead terribly excited and desperate to ge to all and sundry.
People did a lot of looking and cooing and it didn't occur that they may be tutting underneath. Why though should they? He had about 10mins at this, then he was  carried back to car to return home, Why would that not be in order,or the case for the others? I agree off lead should be frowned upon to degree...however some people do actually know what they are about!
Karen

We took our 12 week old Great Dane to my uncles farm yesterday - the other dogs were running about like mad things as they always do, but Elsa (possibly to be re-named Elsie because she is like a little old woman!) just wasn't bothered anyway.  She is perfectly happy running around in the garden at the moment, although I do worry about how much exersise she should get when she is able to go out next week.

We saw a guy walking his 14 week old black lab pup at Newlands Corner before Christmas. He was a very doting owner, but was taking the pup on a curcuit which was far too long for a pup that age, and I wanted to go over and warn him about over walking, but thought it best not to say anything in case he got angry. I was very strict about walking my girl - only 5 minutes for every month of her life) and as a pup she really just played in the garden.

I saw a guy with a 5 month spinone a few weeks ago, on his 2 circuit of the dog walk we were doing - thats 2 hours

Yes Karen you are sensible, but these people blatantly werent, they were a good 15 minute walk from the car park and I didnt see them pick the puppy up once.

My pup was as lively as a cartload of monkeys at that age but, to be honest, if I'd been silly enough to try and walk him that far, he'd have gone on strike long before completing the walk! And it's surprising how firmly a very small terrier can stick its bottom to the ground!

Thats crazy behaviour, just hope that it doesn't do permanent damage to the growing dog. even now, my 10 month old just sits when she has enough and I don't take her out for longer than an hour.