I have a 5mth old Jack Russell and have been recently been following the 5 minute per month of age walking guidelines twice per day, after previously doing longer walks of around 90 minutes per day. All walks are off lead on soft ground at his pace.

I have read Jack Russells are full grown at around 8mths old. Should i wait till then to start doing longer walks, or is it safer to wait until he's 1 year old when i would assume he has fully stopped growing?

There is no set time scale for any dog hopefully grown. A dog stops growing when the growth plates in the long/leg bones close completely & this only occurs after puberty. Male dogs have two surges in testosterone one just after 6 months in MOST dogs & another just after a year, but again it varies in every dog & you cannot genetalise for a type or breed of dog. Not even dogs from the same litter.

The only way to know for certain is to X ray heads of all for legs, however I would never do this unless there dog was to under go X rays for some other reason like hip scoring or injury.

A less accurate way is to accurately measure. & record the dogs height. It can be surprising I do this as a guide for my dogs & have noted that some are still growing well into the teen months. A friend had a GSD who at 15 months was just under the minimum height for the breed, at 19 months he was in the middle of the lower & upper height range so had grown another 2.6 cm(just over an inch), but he didnt look any taller !

This is why the advice is 5 minutes per month until after puberty even if the dog appears to have stopped growing. The growth plates don't close over night & closure is only TRIGGERED by the increase in testosterone level.( its also why dogs should not be castrated before puberty)

Dont rush to increase your dogs "enforced" exercise(is walking on lead) or free running away from home. At home, of course, a dog will stop free running when it is tired & you can enforce rest periods by containing him.

Small dogs do tend to mature earlier than larger sized dogs, but they both need to have 2 increases in testosterone to ensure the growth plates had fully closed.

Err on the side of caution for your dog's sake once damage is done it's too late & cannot be undone sadly

https://www.dailydogdiscoveries.com/tag/puppy-growth-plates/

Thanks for your detailed response Tommee, much appreciated.

The main reason I asked this question is because my old dog and I used to walk along a beautiful trail nearly everyday, which was 5kms all up. I can't wait to do this with Nugget, but i have no idea when this will be possible.

I have always followed the saying a minute per week of life. So by 52 weeks ( a year ) Nugget should be able to do pretty much an hour without problem. After that its a case of building up gradually till he is used to longer walks. Most dogs at this age can manage a 5km walk.

I can't wait til he's old enough. I love walking, it's my zen time and my favourite way to exercise.

> I used to walk along a beautiful trail nearly everyday, which was 5kms all up. I can't wait to do this with Nugget, but i have no idea when this will be possible.

Interestingly I am now altering my exercise advise to 5 minutes per month of life or no more than 1/4 mile per month of life. I base this on my briskest road walks with the dogs allowing for poo and pee stops tend to average 3mph.

Many folk use Fitbits, walking apps (I use 'Simply Walking' for Android it is very good and uses little in the way of Data or battery) etc, and the distance advice helps with walks that are ambles round a park with siting and stopping to chat.

In practise a 3 month pup may be out for half an hour yet only cover 3/4 of a mile, where a brisk walk around the block would cover that distance in half the time.

Just curious to know, but does 5 minutes per month (or 1 minute per week if you prefer it) apply to all breeds across the board.  It somehow doesn't sound right that, say, a chihuahua would be allowed the same amount of walk time as, say, a border collie or even an Irish wolfhound.  Just curious.  I don't own any of these and my own dog is now 13 years old.

Because you cannot actually see if a dogs growth plates have closed(unless you x ray on a regular basis) it is safer to apply this across the board for all dogs than risk damaging them, once damaged they cannot be"fixed" without very invasive surgery. Damaging growth plates by over exercise causes uneven growth of the long bones & can be very disabling for the dog.

A very small breed can do damage just as bad as a giant breed by being over exercised

In general I'd say you have to be very very careful with giant breed puppies and can relax the rules a little the smaller you get ;) Tommee is technically correct that any breed can damage their growth plates but this is much easier to do, and far more likely in a giant breed than in a toy. Generally the smaller the dog the faster they mature, most toy breeds will have finished growing by 7 months old and some giant breeds take up to 2 years.

Small breeds may have aapparently stopped growing by 7 months, but it is a biological fact the the growth plates require 2 spikes of hormone before they completely close & dogs spikes occur between 6 & 9 months & 12 to 24 months.

Upward growth slows & may apparently appear as if it has stopped, but actual accurate measurement shows otherwise hence the erring on the side of caution with exercise

I think Honeymoonbeam may have been wondering if small dogs could take as much exercise as larger dogs. I could be wrong but it is a common misconception that that small dogs need less exercise and are looked at as lapdogs, or even worse, handbag dogs.

Ask JeanSW what she thinks of this

Half of my post was cut off

Small dogs have to hit the ground more often than bigger dogs due to the length of stride, over the same distance; lighter breeds, of any size, and certainly any dog kept lean, will have less strain on their joints than heavier ones. I totally agree with Tonnes I think, about hormonal surges and the more subtle and difficult to distinguish signs of full maturity in small dogs
Just my thoughts and why I think sticking to guidelines, and certainly thinking about what Brainless suggested about distance is worthwhile for all breeds.

> I could be wrong but it is a common misconception that small dogs need less exercise and are looked at as lapdogs, or even worse, handbag dogs.<br />

Eeeekkkk!!  Lots of you know that my Chi's play in the compost heap with the Collies.  And I wouldn't want to get my handbags dirty. 

Seriously though, I tend to agree with Tommee on this one.  I had Collies long before the Chi's which I've had around 15 years.  My largest breed has been the Bearded Collie and the smallest is the Long Coat Chihuahua.  I've never treated them any different when it comes to exercise.  I've kept Toy Poodles (a dream to train) and Yorkshire Terriers (not such a dream) and they have lived by the 5 minute rule too. 

There are toys with awful patella issues and, while I appreciate that most of this is genetic, owners have to be sensible.  I've seen new Yorkie owners with pups from lines with no patella issues.  And I've seen those owners allowing youngsters to leap up and down off the furniture, and trying agility exercises with very young dogs.  Silly, stupid owners.

You can always do the walks and carry your JR pup  in a backpack for some of the walk, Christine - it's not making them a handbag dog btw - just letting you all enjoy times out like you would with any youngster.

I knew you'd rise to the occasion, JeanSW.
I wonder if the patella problem is similar to the HD problem in larger dogs ie a mix of genetics, feeding and exercise.
I know what you mean about allowing jumping - the little blighters are very agile and will jump heights 2-3x their own height so a 10" dog will regularly jump 20-30" but if a 20" dog did this it'd mean them regularly jumping 3ft4in to 5ft many times a day. I know for giant breeds it could just be a step up though.
I'm just trying to put things into perspective having only recently got into toy dog world and having to think about the differences, and similarities, between the needs of sizes as well as breeds

Debbo makes a very valid point about a backpack Christine.  As socialisation has a huge impact on youngsters, it is something that seems an important thing for you to consider.

My OH & I used to carry our BH pup around in an adapted sports bag!

A backpack is a nice idea, but there's no way he'd stay put. It's hard enough limiting his walks as it is, getting him back in the car after our outings is a major drama every single day which requires much bribery I've tried carrying him on many occasions, he wriggles and squirms until i put him down!

Jeansw, socialisation is not an issue, we go to the dog beach every morning and have done since he was 12 weeks old, and we go to a reserve filled with dog walkers every evening. He mixes with other dogs and people twice a day, 7 days a week. We're going to our first obedience class in a couple of hours.

Or a buggy?

I have a buggy that I use for pups, so they can come on full length walks with the adults and just get out now and again for a little run. It means you can take the adults out for 3 hours or so and pup sees and hears lots of different things but only actually walks a few minutes.

I also used the buggy for my an old girl that couldn't walk far, but still wanted to be involved in everything.

It sounds like he's over stimulated by walks - they often are at such a young age especially with a terrier .
Have you tried brain games with him? Terriers are very bright and respond y well, enjoy and get tired when they have to use their brains - exercise isn't enough for them but can be too much physically
A buggy is another great idea from - Chaumsong - useful for lots of different scenarios

I'd also be careful about the idea of socialisation - the best dogs are those who heed their owners because that's the best place to be Many of the Friendly dogs have no manners and charge up to any others without the owner having any control or influence.
I'd definitely work on calming games with your pup

We just got back from our first obedience class, we went for a little off lead jaunt for 10 minutes afterward because he was still rearing to go! I did ask the instructor if it was a good idea to walk him, he gave Nugget the once over and said he's still bright, alert and bouncy and to do a short one.

He did well in his class, although it was organised chaos as it was everyones first go. We'll persevere and hope some brain draining exercises will tire him out too.

I just have to learn to be patient, and 6-7mths from now i won't have to worry about too much/too little exercise. We've got years of hiking ahead of us.

> We've got years of hiking ahead of us