well, it's cold out. cold enough that neb has decided he doesn't want to pooh outside

i got him a jacket (well, toby got it for me). it helps, but - i'm finding we have to be outside for longer and he seems to prefer now going after a longer walk.

i hike with neb normal distances, b/c of the surface, but i do very short walks with him in the city, mostly we play in the yard running around, or go to a couple of fields nearby (one we also train in).

i'm thinking it might be beneficial to take him for longer walks. i generally keep his walking on pavement to 1k or under. he's 8.5 months old, 17lbs, and i think adult size (he hasn't grown for a few months).

given that he's a smaller dog, and that he seems to have reached full size, is it okay to walk him 2-3k/day? i've tried to be very careful of not overexercising him since he's a puppy - we run around the fields, structured and unstructured, but walks on pavement i've been more careful of.

i want to balance proper amount of exercise with that he seems more willing to poop outside after a longer walk (and not after running around the field, unfortunately), b/c i am not enamoured with allowing an inside poop habit to develop.

thanks!

Any chance of walking on soft surfaces part of the time?

And yes, exercise = peristaltic action.

i had to go google that!

we can walk partly on the grass bits between the sidewalk and road. i try to do that now, whenever the opportunity presents itself.

sadly, the closest trails are about 3k from my house, and they're not all dirt either.

if i do mix the surfaces - say 25% soft, 75% pavement, to be cautious - are those distances safe? i don't want to cause joint problems, but it's a real, sudden change with him. he used to poop within 1 minute or so of being outside, now - we have to do a longer walk. i caught him last night starting to go inside, grabbed him and took him right out, and he refused to go.

 Quote: jennifer mullen

... if i do mix the surfaces - say 25% soft, 75% pavement, to be cautious - are those distances safe? i don't want to cause joint problems, but it's a real, sudden change with him. he used to poop within 1 minute or so of being outside, now - we have to do a longer walk. i caught him last night starting to go inside, grabbed him and took him right out, and he refused to go.

I don't know much about puppies. This is an 18-month-old dog, though, right? And how long are you walking to get him "going"?

Oh, 8 months. I mis-read.

Well, puppy folks will respond, especially if you mention what kind of time or distance you mean.

That's almost 5 miles, isn't it?

I guess it really depends on the dog.

He's 8.5 months old (she mentioned it in her OP.)

Jennifer, if your ground up there is as cold as ours down here, don't know how much different it would be from concrete. Unless you have a nice grass cushion. My backyard ground (which is frozen mud) is probably more hazardous than the concrete, because the ground is unleveled (has frozen footprints all over it) and the concrete is nice, level and smooth.


Don't really know much about development and such, but I took my then 5-month old pup (who is now 65 lbs) on 15-20 minute walks on sidewalks/boulevards and he seems fine (runs, jumps, etc). (He's 15 mos now).

Whatever you do, don't turn around and head for home the instant he poops, or you'll train him that pooping is "go home time" and he'll never go then!

Also... can you go back to tethering/crating? Sounds like a housebreaking issue more than anything???

Edit: and if you are REEEEly worried, you can have him x-rayed to see if his growth plates have closed yet (at 8 mos I doubt it but you never know...)

Yup, 8 months! By the time he's 18 months, I figure he'll be starting to do proper runs with me.

Right now I walk him about 1k/day. I either do this as one walk, or split it into 2. Otherwise, we run in the yard and play tag, or go over to a field on the corner that's overgrown to explore and run around. Sometimes, as part of his walk, I walk him up to a school and we train in the field there.

I've read it's really best to limit young puppy's exercise, to make sure their joints etc are okay. that said, he's getting to be a bit older, and he is a small dog, so....

the majority of his current exercise outside of our short walks comes from running around the yard, exploring, playing tag, tugging/rag work, and other games. he's fairly muscular and in good condition, so i'm happy with that. i do take him hiking sometimes, and he is able to go moderate distances (say 12-15k), but we don't do that regularly. i allow him to do that hiking b/c of the surface, and b/c i do it irregularly with him. the hiking does not make up a significant portion of his exercise. saturday we hiked for 6.5k, just a short hike. he does fine with this.

Alyssa, 3k is around 1.8, 1.9 miles. (1.6k in a mile)

So I don't think it's a super-long distance.

Angela, he did have more untethered freedom in the house and was doing fine (other than an unfortunate episode with a chair cushion), but then when we went into this recent cold snap, he's suddenly backtracked. I have started tethering him to me pretty well full time again - he will sometimes start to go, like I said, I pick him up and take him outside (cheerfully), and he will refuse to go. It is a housebreaking thing, but it seems to be directly linked to the weather.

I think as long as puppies are setting the pace, they can handle more exercise than you think. I would agree that forced marches are out, or dragging a puppy behind a bicycle. But as long as the puppy is moving on his own steam and allowed to stop when he wants to, then you'd be hard pressed to over-exercise a pup.