Hi everyone, and Happy New Year , i have recently been in touch with the owner of my girl's sister, and in exchanging e mail chat it came up that she was walking her golden 10 miles at the weekend. last summer, so i would just like to know just how far we should walk golden's.i know my breeder said don't walk the pup's too much ,as they can have hip problems. but when is it safe to walk them a long distance? they are 13 months now,i would hate to do the wrong thing or not be doing the right thing! any advise please would be gratefully appreciated :rolleyes:

After physical maturity most dogs can take as much as they can get.  Obviously the amount of exercise and the fitness level with canine athletes as with human or equine needs to be built up.

A breed the size of a Golden I would not feel really skeletally mature until about 18 months of age.  Over exercise of a dog that isn't used to it can be damaging as it would be for us running a marathon when we only do a half hour stroll normally.

I would say that at 13 months, 10 miles is too much. However, if most of it is free running then it isn't as much of a problem but I wouldn't want her doing that much. I would say that hard road walking at 13 months, I wouldn't want to exceed about 2-3 miles. Think your girls' sister's owner really should pull back on full 10 mile walks.

I Think from your post she was walking 10 miles last summer when the pup would have been 7-9 month. yes way to far at that age, sorry if I have got it wrong but any damage has probably already been done.
Chris

Doesnt it make a difference as well if its on pavement/cement as opposed to Grass as to how far they should be walked?

yeah it does, concrete/stone is harder on the joints

thank you all for your comments, and age wise, yes she would have only been 7-9 months then. i think she was walked by the coast, so im presuming it would have been grass and beach walking.i don't walk mine as far as that and always kept her to a maximum of half hour to an hours walk , i have had another e mail from her owner as i did send her my concerns, but she said her vet had told her it would be fine, and it was basically "an old wives tale" that you shouldn't walk them too far when young, but surely people learn by expirience so they all can't be wrong! anyway ,she said that as her vet had said it was ok she had done it. my worry now is, that she wants to breed her, and will have her hip scored at 2 yrs old and will another year of long walks cause more damage?
also i did post about being worried about the size of my girl and everyone was so helpful, but now i have seen the pictures of her sister, im back to worrying again, as her sister was about the same size at 7 months as lillie is now!:rolleyes:

They all differ. One of my girls is on the small side but certainly in the breed standard. Now I bred this girl myself from a  big, substantial bitch but her litter sister was only 5 ozs at birth and remained small at 8 weeks. At 12 months old we met up and the 5 ozs girl was huge in comparison, but in my opinion too big. Do not worry about your girls size as there is nothing to worry about. As for this lady over exercising her girl, I am sorry but I wouldn't want her Vet as my Vet. As for making plans to breed from her bitch then she has to have the eyes tested annually and hope that she gets a good hip score. Also if she is wanting to do everything completely correct then she should have the elbows scored as well.