I've seen so much conflicting info on exercising puppies. I don't know if I'm doing too much with Cleo.

First a little about Cleo: She's a 8.5 m/o, lean 87-90 lb. Presa Canario. Her mom is about 115 lbs. Cleo is SUPER athletic and loves to exercise (like most pups I guess). She is really fast and can jump like a kangaroo Talk about counter surfing, she has started from standing on the floor and has "levitated" like a cat to land with both feet on a 36" counter top

On those few days when I walk or swim her later in the day, she sprints around the house or yard like a race car --Marisa calls it the "Cleo 500"

Here's her exercise routine:

Since she turned 8 months I have been walking her about 5 days a week. Our walks range from 30-50 min on the street (asphalt) or about 45-60 mins on a jungle trail near our house. The trail ground is mud, rocks and tree roots and is canopied by trees and vines. We are usually the only ones on the trail so I let her romp and roam. BTW, her recall is absolutely perfect now; no matter what she's doing, she stops, turns and runs back to me when called

She doesn't get tired, sore or lame on our walks. The one factor that slows her down a bit is the heat. When its hot, we take breaks in the shade and I hose her off with a neighbor's hose (local people don't mind the use of their hose--aloha spirit and all) After a good watering, she's ready to prance off again.

She swims, mostly in our pool but sometimes in the ocean, just about every day. When we get back from our walks, she runs to the backyard and jumps into the pool to cool off. Then she wants to play ball in the pool, so I throw the ball for her for another 10 mins or so. Once or twice a week (though never on walk/hike days) I take her to the park and play frisbee for 10 mins or so then walk her around on the grass for another 20-30 mins. On the non-walk/park days I swim her for 30 mins or so -- at her request, of course

I've been following the 5-10 minutes of walking for each month of age rule for walks. But after reading some comments here and elsewhere, I wonder if that's a good rule of thumb.

My question is: Is this too much exercise for a large breed dog like her? She so loves to exercise, I don't want to deprive her, but I want her to live a long, healthy, pain-free life.

Thanks in advance.

Think of it this way....

You would know if you were over working the dog if it was stopping frequently and wanting to take a nap. It sounds like you have a live one there, that really enjoys it. I don't see a problem, especially if the dog is swimming alot, swimming is excellent, low impact on the joints exercise for her. As long as you aren't the one pushing her to do all of this I think you'll be fine. I think sometimes, people just over analyze all of this.

Eric,

I think your schedule looks exactly like that of an overly energetic large breed puppy that has a lucky life filled with opportunities to play and enjoy time with her people. Looks a lot, in fact, like Oscar's young life.

My one word of caution - you probably already know this - be careful of any and all heavy impact activity: this includes stairs, jumping over or off of things (like counters) and running up and down steep hills. Swimming is a fabulous way to tire her out AND be kind to her growing joints, and walking is relatively safe (as long as you're sticking to very gradually increasing distance over the months, which you are) - so that's great. I wouldn't be encouraging her to leap after frisbees just yet though... her growth plates have yet to close completely, and she's such a big girl.

We lived in a third floor apartment for Oscar's first 2 years, and I'm really wishing I had been more careful about him bounding up and down 3 or 4 times a day... he has a funky elbow (not arthritic yet, but could be later on) and I'm quite certain it's from lots of stairs, combined with a lot of hilly trail running (off leash) when he was a young guy. My breeder cautioned me on the stair thing, which my vet promptly laughed at, so it was hard to know what to do at the time, in my naivete (in retrospect, 'get a new vet' would have been choice ).

Anyway, if she's anything like Oscar, she absolutely will NOT self regulate on the type or amount of exercise, so keep her geared toward the low impact activity, and give her lots of "down" but busy time by working on training exercises that let her use her head more than her legs. Brain exercise can be just as tiring as a few laps in the pool.

Can't believe she's so big already! You're doing wonderfully with her - the note about her recall is to be seriously commended!

~Natalya

Great to hear from you again, Natalya. Hope Oscar is doing well

 Quote: Natalya Zahn

My one word of caution - you probably already know this - be careful of any and all heavy impact activity: this includes stairs, jumping over or off of things (like counters) and running up and down steep hills.

Thank you for the reminder....

My back is painfully aware of limiting Cleo's heavy impact activity. Believe it or not, I was carrying her downstairs until she was about 6 months old and almost 70 lbs. Finally, I taught her to WALK down the stairs. On occasion, she'll jump the last 2 or 3, but I try to minimize that. I never let her jump down from my truck (I carry her down). And the two times she jumped onto the counter top, I carried her down (counter top hopping is a no-no).

I'm relieved that I'm not walking her too much. She so loves it; it would be a shame to deprive her of that.

 Quote: Natalya Zahn

the note about her recall is to be seriously commended!
~Natalya

Thanks Natalya. I'm extremely proud of her. She has that independent streak like Otis did, so it's even more of an accomplishment for her.

I have to give much of the credit to Leerburg and the good folks of this forum. I bought a truck load of Ed's DVDs. I learned a ton (to Cleo's great benefit). Just her amazing recall alone is worth 20 times the price of the DVDs.

 Quote: Eric Sacks

I've been following the 5-10 minutes of walking for each month of age rule for walks. But after reading some comments here and elsewhere, I wonder if that's a good rule of thumb.

My question is: Is this too much exercise for a large breed dog like her? She so loves to exercise, I don't want to deprive her, but I want her to live a long, healthy, pain-free life.

Thanks in advance.

This thread seems to have died and early death. In hope of resurrecting it for a while:

Do any of you other puppy experts have any opinion or advice on this? I just want to make certain that I'm not exercising her too much.