All,

Roger is growing into a boundless amount of energy. I'm growing concerned that I may have allowed him to push too hard physically.

I could be totally imagining it, as he does not show any signs of discomfort and has not done anything that looked injurious.

However, I want to be sure.

At 12-13 weeks, is he OK to climb/descend stairs? I live on the 4th floor of a condo/apt complex, and for the first 3-4 days we were carrying him up and down. Now he wants to go up and down by himself. Is this too rough on his joints/bones? Should I continue carrying him, or let him do it on his own?

I limit the amount of running he does, but I have no basis for comparison. He runs only about 2 or 3 times a day for 5-10 minutes in a field outside. I also do my best to keep him off pavement for more than 5 mins at a time.

He also likes to play some pretty nasty tug-of-war and will jump to get the tug if I pull it out of reach.

Does any of this sound like a huge red flag? I want to be sure I'm not screwing him up for the long term.

Thanks,
Ross

What kind of dog is Roger? At 13 weeks he should be full of energy. having said that he should also love to sleep. Puppies generally play and sleep very hard.

He probably knows his limitations as far as how much exercise he enjoys If he is tired he will stop.. However, I wouldn't let him jump off of anything too hig. That can definitely get him hurt.

Be careful with the jumping but I would let him run to his hearts content.

Good luck with your new pup.

I'm certainly not letting him get on anything he would want to jump off. The highest thing he jumps off is a curb, and he positively pounces when he does. Makes me cringe and I try to keep him on as short a lead as possible, otherwise he will jump around.

He is a Malinois, and is (so far) built like a truck. He has huge front paws and a head that looks more GSD than Mal.

I might be a little more loosy-goosy than most when it comes to exercise, so all of this is my opinion.

How many times a day are you going up and down 4 flights of stairs? And how does he go down the stairs? Is it the two front feet together hop, or a slow one paw at a time walk?

I let pups go up the stairs as soon as they seem ready - my shepherd was going up by herself at 10 weeks. She was also going down by herself. It was only one flight 3 times a week and she did the slow walk, if she did the hop thing, I would have carried her down for longer.

For tugging, resist the urge to pull the tug out of reach. Keep it low or on the ground and when you go to take it away either turn away from the pup and slip it in your jacket/arm pit/pocket where he can't see it anymore. The reason you don't want the puppy jumping for the tug, is that at this age they are NOT co-ordinated in any way and the landing can be quite awkward and you could end up with an injury. If you have a hard time being bent over to keep the tug low, attach it to a leash and you can drag it.

For free time, I let my pup play for about 45 minutes 3-4 times a day at that age. She is really high energy and drive and 5-10 minutes was not going to cut it. I tend to let the dog tell me when they have had enough, look for cues like the pup going and laying down or just slowing down in general (ie to a slow walk) as long as they can decide when to stop and go laydown I don't worry about it. Now if you are playing with the dog with tugs, or retrieving, walking on leash etc then I would be more limiting. I know with my shepherd, she could retrieve as long as I would let her at that age, so I limited it to 10-15 minutes because she was running hard.

I'm really not too concerned about walking on pavement as long as it is not the only surface they walk on and I definitely don't jog or run them on it until later, but if you are taking a walk down the street/block/downtown, I wouldn't worry too much.

My Shepherd at 13 weeks never slept.

The first time I witnessed her sleeping she was about 4 1/2 months.

We were doing about 4 hours a day between free play, marker training, retrieving and walking.

It's hard when you have a high energy/high drive dog and you are trying to limit the stress they are putting on their bodies, I definitely had to get creative. Especially because the first 3 weeks I had her, I was in a leg cast!

Now that she is almost 9 months it is easier because she can do more physically and mentally - the bite work is really helping to take her energy out!

Ross, do you have access to any places were you could swim your puppy? Cindy just did a great streaming vid on swimming Endy. There are two parts, that teach how to introduce the pup to water and how to encourage swimming, and learning the stairs.

It really is the best exercise for a young dog, or actually any dog because of the lack of stress on the joints, and excellent conditioning.
If you can find a lake or a pool where you could swim him, I would try it. Also, it is a good thing to do when they are young and full of curiosity.
Unfortunately, my male Kodi was pushed in by my husband, and has developed a fear of the pool.
I am doing everything I can to get him to like the pool like my female, whom I can't keep out of the water.

My town has 5 manmade lakes! So I'm pretty sure I could sneak him into one. That's a very good idea.

I also noticed that he hasn't gained much weight in the 2 weeks we've had him. Should I be feeding him more? He gets 1.5 cups of kibble twice a day.

His feeding amount will depend on the dog?

How does he look? Can you feel his ribs easily?

Do his hip bones stick out?

Have you been weighing him or are you just eyeballing it?

 Quote: Niomi Smith

His feeding amount will depend on the dog?

How does he look? Can you feel his ribs easily?

Do his hip bones stick out?

Have you been weighing him or are you just eyeballing it?

Feel and see ribs easily. Hip bones not sticking out in any noticeable way.

I did weigh him twice, but the first time was the scale at the vet and the second was the scale at my house. So, not sure. But if the two scales are both accurate, he hasn't gained even one pound in the last 2 weeks! That doesn't seem right to me.

Every dog is different - as long as he looks/feels ok I wouldn't be worrying about it - if it were my pup.

He may only be gaining in oz's at this point and it may not be enough for the scale to read - or maybe he grew, plateau'd, and then he will have another growth spurt.

You can weigh him today - start writing it on the calendar and track his growth, but really because every pup - even from the same litter grows differently, it may not tell you much.

I always look at the overall health of the dog before anything else and try not to be too comparitive of size, especially when they are as young as your pup - A lot can change quickly with the youngin's.