I have a medium size breed bitch who is 6 months old. I would like to start letting her off lead as its very hard to keep her on lead while the others run free. I don't want to jeopardize her lead training with her pulling to get with the off leaders but would like to take them all together.
Up to now I've been walking them seperately but with winter coming on I will struggle with the light and being out on my own ( it isn't really safe where I live to walk the street at night).

My question:  is it likely to damage her hips at her age?
Or is it better to try and sort something else for the walks?

I don't want to damage her hips unnecessarily just in case I have her hip scored at a later date.

Mine are off lead as soon as they can go out, but obviously shorter, sensible puppy length walks.

Free running is not going to damage her hips, unless its an insane amount of exercise or she has an accident.

JMO but there is always a risk to a pup being exercised with adults but it is a risk you have to take, indevidual walking is needed for lead training but there is nothing like a well trained adult to train a return to a youngster.

That's just what I wanted to hear.....

I'm going to get some really tasty treats, my most greedy and reliabley recalled adult, and go down the field!

I have a ten week old pup and she's been offlead from the day I got her -it's far easier to get a reliable recall at this age than months down the line. If needs be, I'd put the ADULTS on the lead if I worry about her running too much. :)

>I have a ten week old pup and she's been offlead from the day I got her -it's far easier to get a reliable recall at this age than months down the line.>

Agree completely Marianne. The earlier they are off lead the better for recall.

I would have let her off while she was little but I was worried about her hips.

I've stuck to the 5 mins per month and no stairs.

Probably I've been a bit too causious.

I too have always let my pups off lead from day one.
Freedom seems to be nothing special when they've had it from the start.

I give my pups a taste of freedom with the big girls for a small amount of time then clicker everybody back to me lead up the big girls and let pup stay loose, I find that they like to stay around the group.

If the big girls need to have a bit more free running and I think pup has done enough the pup goes on an extendable so that she feels like she's got a bit of freedom but can't charge around like a total mad thing too much.

I'd put the ADULTS on the lead if I worry about her running too much

LOL. That's exactly what I've ended up doing with the puppy. The boys are well behaved on the lead and she won't run far without them. Her recall is also excellent (for the time being)

>Freedom seems to be nothing special when they've had it from the start.

Ditto; recall's easiest to teach when they don't want to leave you; very difficult when when they want to go off and explore.

To be honest if a breed needs to be so restricted so as not to affect the hips.... then its in trouble.

It's not the breed, overall the breed isn't in too  bad a way with hips, it's me that's too careful.....

> who is 6 months old. I would like to start letting her off lead

As others have said I would have had her off lead from the moment she got her 2nd jag, it's much easier to teach a dog to look for you, stay close to you and come when called when they're an insecure little puppy :-)

In my opinion if (sensible length puppy) walks with older dogs to play with damages her hips, then they weren't good to start with. Treat her like a normal dog and her hips will be what they will be.

>I've stuck to the 5 mins per month and no stairs.

The 5 minutes advice refers to *off lead* exercise, not on lead:  5 minutes of off lead exercise per month of age.

I couldn't imagine many high energy breeds not being let off lead at 6 months of age.  Some of the worst cases I've had in class have been from pet owners who've been told by breeders not to over-exercise and stuff about joints and hips - the dogs are insane and uncontrollable and the owners are really not coping, as a result.

The 5 minutes advice refers to *off lead* exercise, not on lead:  5 minutes of off lead exercise per month of age

I always understood it was the other way about, when off-lead a pup can rest when it chooses but on-lead its got no option but to keep going or get left behind?

I'm with you tatty-ead, I always understood it to be on the lead as well.

Definitely ON lead because that is the ONLY time the puppy cannot decide for itself when it has had enough, it has no choice but to follow on a lead, cannot regulate speed, stop for a sit down to rest etc.

That's not the advice in either of the 2 highly active breeds I have, where it's definitely 5 mins per month of day, off-lead.  The advice (by many experienced people in the breed, including the breeders of our dogs), is that dogs should have 5 mins per month of day, *off lead*. 

The reason given being that what is (potentially) damaging to joints is jumping, leaping and running - which only occurs off lead - not slow and calm walking, where energy and pounding on the joints doesn't occur in the same way.

No one would think of wanting to walk the breeds I own, as puppies, on lead for 30 mins or 1 hr a day - that would drive anyone insane.  The only way that could be achieved is by a lot of training - more training than a young puppy would be able to have received, at its age.

I think anyone who can be trusted to own a puppy should also be trusted to observe the puppy and see when it is getting tired, might want a rest or is walking for longer than it is comfortable with. 

I wouldn't want to walk an adult dog should it be tired, want a rest or be uncomfortable - part of owning a dog is being responsive to what it needs, whatever its age.

>Definitely ON lead because that is the ONLY time the puppy cannot decide for itself when it has had enough,

Yes, the 5 minutes per month is for the on-lead pavement pounding. The free play in the garden doesn't come into the exercise rule.

me too,tatty-ead

Interestingly I had never heard of the 5 minute rule till I came to UK...

Views of exercise can be quite different in the continent and many believe "under exercise " can be very damaging to a puppy.
I believe there is even some research in Sweden where puppies that regular exercise in a park scored better than the ones that did not (I think these were large/giant breeds researched as well).

Of course you are told to be sensible with the amount of exercise but I can say most people will definitely do more than the 5 minute rule so much used here in UK.
I have noticed many dogs who grew up (before the import rules changed) in the conditions where exercise is seen as a necessary for healthy growth, have come to UK and score very low indeed.
Whether this is to do with the limitations many kennel clubs have set for years for dogs that you can breed from or the conditions the puppies grow up in?

So I would definitely say it is on lead exercise on a pavement that you should be careful about and set some sensible limit, off lead exercise on soft uneven ground letting the puppy choose the speed and run around on their own pace is a different case.

My pups spend hours a day in the garden running around some of it, sleeping and resting some but even the pups at 6 weeks definitely over do the 5 minute rule many times over a day :)

Interestingly I had never heard of the 5 minute rule till I came to UK...

I believe there is even some research in Sweden where puppies that regular exercise in a park scored better than the ones that did not (I think these were large/giant breeds researched as well).

When I got my first puppy in 1984 (my first dog had been an adult rescue), at home in Sweden, I was never told not to exercise him too much until he was adult. When he was about a year old and I met his breeder at a show and compared him to his litter brother, it was glaringly obvious then that my dog had very thin legs, was much smaller overall and very lean compared to his brother. The breeder then said I'd clearly over exercised him in his first year. I'd done a lot, living in a flat on the 6th floor there was no choice, and I'd been to a lot of training classes etc. This was the very first time I'd ever heard of not overdoing it with a puppy. Am not 100 % sure it was all correct though!, and interestingly, when my dog was hip scored, he was scored as UA under the old Swedish system -meant no signs of HD, I believe that would mean a score of around 7 or less in the UK. The litter brother was scored the same.

Looking at the Swedish KC's website now, it says you should not go for proper walks until the puppy is around 7 to 10 months old, it should have no formal exercise as such until then, just play and obedience exercises.

I'm all for free off lead exercise. I very rarely put mine on leads to walk!! As puppies they just don't do too much or generally go alone for walks..

> Views of exercise can be quite different in the continent and many believe "under exercise " can be very damaging to a puppy.

Surely bones are the same in both people and dogs and in people we need weight bearing excercise to strengthen our bones. I also have read studies that say that pups allowed to free play with litter mates and other dogs when growing up have better bones and joints. I would not take a pup on a long road walk but will let them play and run. Never had a problem with hips

> The reason given being that what is (potentially) damaging to joints is jumping, leaping and running - which only occurs off lead - not slow and calm walking, where energy and pounding on the joints doesn't occur in the same way.

Jumping, leaping & running done during play is not the same as 'forced' excersie on-lead. On-lead the legs are constanlty moving, in the same, repetetive motion, for the entire duration of the walk.
In 'free excersise', the movements are different and change around, they are not constant, eg. you are unlikely to see a pup running constantly for even 5 minutes solid, let alone 10, 15 or 20 mins. It will speed up, slow down, stop, putting the body through a whole host of different motions and using muscles in different ways.

Lead-walking in my breed, is not recomended (other than for trainnig/socialisation) for the first 9 months, but playing is allowed!

Well I think that although we understand the 5 mins rule differently, we're actually doing the same thing in practice...

Because I'd allow 5 mins per month of age off lead walking - and unlimited (within reason) play in the garden.  And I would have as little as possible on-lead walking - because it is difficult with this breed to do that without training, and it is easier to train if you only walk on lead when you can really give 100% of focus to training, otherwise you end up de-training what you are training at other times. 

So in reality we're probably doing the same things - not much walking on lead and moderate off lead exercise.