Hi everyone,

Myself and a family round the corner bought a puppy each from the same family. They are both golden labradors. We aren't really friends with them but keep in-touch as I think It is nice for our dog (pippa) to play with theirs (Buster) as they are brother and sister.

We have an older labrador and pippa and her they get on really we together as if they have known eachother forever, Myself and and my boyfriend work in the day but ensure they get at least 2 walks a day that add up to about 1 hour, as well as lots of time playing on our large garden. I know some people think that you shouldn't work and have dogs but our dogs are in a routine and are happy and healthy.
The reason I am postin this is because the family who bought Pippas brother don't work and take there dog out about twice a day for about 5 minutes each time just on a lead on the streets, thats it! the rest of the time they leave him in a kennel on the back garden until 10ish when they let him in the kitchen to sleep.
Maybe I am being uver sensitive but it upsets me to think that me and my partner both work and yet every night they go to the park at the bottom of our road twice (once when we get in a t4pm and last at 8pmish, and at weekends we take them to a big park and let them off the lead to socialize with other dogs and we spend about 2hours friday and saturday there we also take them in the car to visit family and friendsand they love it! We live for our dogs and i love to see them happy!
Buster has never been to a park and doesn't socialize with other dogs and it is freezing outside and he spends hours in his kennel!
the reason they won't let him in the house is because he wees all over! we got pippa at the same time and other than the odd accident she is nearly fully trained, to me it is because they haven't trained him!

Sorry this message is so long and I know I am moaning but I look at his little face and I just wish he was as happy as our dogs Molly and Pippa! If I could I would take him home, give him a big cuddle and let him live with us but I can't.

You do not mention the age of your puppies.  FWIW many of us choose to limit the exercise our dogs have until they are fully mature ie 18 months old or more in some cases, to avoid hip and joint problems etc.  I myself will only exercise my dogs 5 mins per day per month of life and so currently my 10 month old GSD gets no more than 50 mins per day.

As you are work all day, how can you possibly be in a position to KNOW exactly what the owners of this puppy do, and what level of exercise, playing, socialisation it gets.  If you are not there it is surely guesswork?

Just because people rear and exercise their dogs differently from you does not make them NECESSARILY worse owners or that the dog is worse off, it may be, it may be not.

I know because they tell us! To me a puppy shouldn't be left outside in the cold all day because the owners can't be bothered to house train it! Our puppy's love a run in the park and it doesn't do them any harm! Im not saying that they should walk it every second of every day but to me, whats the point of having a dog if you don't play with it, train it and give it attention!!!!!! Especially when you haven't got the excuse of working!!
It wasn't mean't to start a argument by the way so there is no need for your tione! you have issues!

I am not arguing, I am putting forward a point of view, if you do not want feedback, do not post.

I am just putting forward an alternative point of view.

But your post does highlight what I have always said, just because owners are at home all day does not mean they get better or more attention than those of us that work. ;)

You still don't say how old these puppies are. The '5-minute' rule is a very good one, especially in breeds like labradors who are known to suffer from joint problems. So once a pup's had its final injection it can go out for walks of 5 minutes per month of its age: a three-month pup would have walks of no longer than 15 minutes. Also rough, energetic play with your older dog should be carefully controlled to avoid damaging the pup. What were the parents' hip-scores?

If the kennel's well-insulated and there's plenty of bedding the pup will come to no harm, especially with someone there to make sure he gets the right number of meals.

Pippa is 6 months and Molly is 8 months. They get 30 minutes playing in garden in a morning.20 min walk at 4pm and 15 min at 8pm then about an hour on sat and sun in a big park with other dogs!
The other dog doens't have lots of bedding and is frightend of other dogs because it has never learnt to socialize! and its owners have never house trained it.
last night when I went round it was howling on back grden soaking wet through.
he doesn't even seem to know how to play with other dogs or people!

I know there are different points of view on how dogs should be looked after when it comes to how much they should be walked and what they should eat etc and to be honest I don't think there is right and wrong answers but surely we all have the same basic views, that if you have a dog you look after it properly as in feeding it, keeping it in a dry enviroment and playing with it and giving it love and attention.

Dont we? : )

If Pippa and her brother are only 6 months old then their walks should last no longer than half an hour. Molly's should be no more than 40 minutes. The hours (whether it's 2 as in your first post or 1 as in your last) of playing in the park could be causing serious damage. :( Certainly take them for a bit of socialisation and play, but don't risk crippling them.

It sounds as though Buster's owners aren't ideal, but as the law stands if he has access to shelter, food and water then there's nothing anyone can do. :(

You didn't say what their parents' hip-scores were.

If Pippa is nearly housetrained as you say then I am guessing she is about 4 or 5 months at most (sorry if I am wrong on this). In which case she is getting FAR too much exercise and you could be doing her a lot of damage. What the other family is doing seems about right, and he will be fine outside, lots of dogs much prefer to be outside all day.

"at weekends we take them to a big park and let them off the lead to socialize with other dogs and we spend about 2hours friday and saturday there "

"then about an hour on sat and sun in a big park with other dogs"

It seems that from spending two hours in the park at the weekend you have now gone to one hour in the space of a couple of postings mollyandpippa..........

Not intentionally, time just varies, if whether is good then yes about 2 hours, if bad then about half to an hour!
I don't have a set time, depends on how things go.

many many apologies I Didn't mean to say it different! really sorry to have made an error! you are very picky. Netherles thankyou for pointing out such a big error in my postings!

5 minutes to me per walk is not enough. personally. at least 10 minutes would be minimum.

My pup is 8 months and I take her for 20-30 min walk in the morning and never off the lead (as she will eat anything and everything). She plays for about 20 mins in the garden at lunchtime but does not have the access to it all. She then gets another 10 mins in the evening. We still have the odd accident.

We limit her exercise as to avoid problems in the future as the breed is prone to HD.

Even though its cold out for us, she loves being in the garden and when it rains, she likes going into her kennel which has a comfy duvet. My personal opinion is that I would not leave her out all day at this age whether it be summer or winter.

I tried what all of you guys are saying, but there's no way I could limit my Chi puppy to only 10 min of exercise...... if not outside then he was going crazy and running around inside :( . What was I supposed to do? Tie him up?

Are chis prone to HD and other joint disorders? If not, then the risk of causing damage is very slight.

Sometimes you can kill your dogs with kindness and although you do what you think is best it does not mean to say that its always the right thing to do.My two GSDs drool at my feet when i eat chocolate but they dont get any,they have their own food thats apropriate for them.I know it sounds a bit mean but believe me they will thank you for it when they are having a long,fit,healthy life with restrictions.

>> 5 minutes to me per walk is not enough. personally. at least 10 minutes would be minimum.

The rule isn't based on 5 minutes per walk, it is 5 minutes per month of age. Therefore if you have a 6 month old pup then they should be having no more than 6 (months) x 5 (minutes) = 30 minutes per walk.

I hope that makes sense.