Question.

What breed is your dog/s, what age, how much walking do you do with it and what type (road walk, on a lead, loose etc).

I have just upped the roadwork now with my 7 month GSP pup to try and tighten him up a little.

Any tips would be appreciated on time scales etc.

Thanks

At 7 months walks should be no more than 35 minutes twice a day, with only part of that being roadwork.

As JG has said walking should be restricted until your pup has reached maturity. The normal rule of thumb is to give your dog 5 mins exercise for every month of it's age - hence JG said 35 minutes.

I used this rule with my GR until he was around 15 months old. He is almost 5 years old nowand gets between 5-8 miles a day mainly all off lead and does agility twice a week. Our terrier started to accompany us on longer walks when he was around a year old. I don't do a lot of road walking with my dogs, maybe once a fortnight, as my terrier stays on a long line and I tend to walk in fields and woods etc where he can rush around to his heart's content at the end of his line - it's about 40 odd feet long so fields are great for staying tangle free with the line. If I am doing a woods walk I walk further as he is on a shorter lead, so compensate for the lack of rushing around by covering a greater distance.

Being careful with the exercise when they are young does help to ensure you are not putting too much stress on young bones and joints. My GR was a rescue and in a breed where hip and elbow problems are not unknown I erred on the side of caution and can now walk all day with him without a problem.

> I have just upped the roadwork now with my 7 month GSP pup to try and tighten him up a little.
>

At 7 months, I agree.  Too much road work, and for too long, and you are asking for problems later on.

It does depend what shes upped it too surely, Im not sure the OP actually put what the pup was doing before?

I stick to the 5mins per month of age rule to protect elbows, hips and joints, however that does go with knowing your dog really well and any signs of lagging or 'looking' tired or even depending on the weather ie too hot, I use the 5mins per month as a maximum and going home earlier than that.

If Im going on a free run then I dont tend to do any road walking that day as they are just too worn out (talking pups less than a year).

Also at 7 months they tend to be going through that leggy gangly stage anyway, I wouldnt think it was possible to tighten him up yet as he hasnt finished that growth stage.

My male adult (nearly 4 year old) Rottie does 2 or 3, 4 mile road walks a week, the other days he does about 1 1/2 mile road walks or running up the field for an hour.

My 10 month old Rottie bitch is now up to 50 mins exercise (5 min per month rule), she either runs and plays up the field for 50'ish mins - not sure what distance is covered - between 1 and 2 miles I think or she will be road walked but this is usually for around 40 mins as its harder on their young joints.  She's very fit and healthy but still very loose and puppy'ish so I am careful.

Sorry if I wasn't clear in the original post.

We have done hardly any road walking with the pup as I am of the school of thought too much too early = problems later on.

I have upped it to approx 30 mins per day, with up to 10 minutes off lead (usually at a different time in the day). We road walk 3/4 times per week, if we do not road walk then we do more off the lead.

Thank you for the opinions! Don't worry I am not trying to rush his development, I just wanted assurance that I am doing the right thing!

Sounds like you are doing just fine, some dogs seem more 'together' than others at a young age and some take ages to lose that puppy'ish legs everywhere look!  My young pup is all over the place but coming together very nicely...she's just going to be a very slow maturer!