Hello I was just wondering when everyone started to teach the hand touch? The reason I ask is because my 5 month old boxer, Brutus loves to play this game and I wasn't sure how much jumping he should be doing at his age. I live in Edmonton Alberta and we've recently been going through an extreme cold spell, during which time Brutus hasn't been able to go on to many walks of any duration. I've been using the hand touch to help keep him active but was thinking maybe him leaving all fours isn't such a good idea while he's still growing. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

For everyone else out there who lives in cold climates where it gets down to -40 celcius, what activities do you do to keep your dogs active?

Bryan

Does he have a nice warm coat? It might help some.

The coldest we've gotten here this year is about -25C, so not as bad. I have one dog who gets cold easily (low body fat) so I keep him dressed and usually we are running.

He's not a boxer though, so maybe a coat wouldn't be enough, not sure. And Brutus is I would expect still to be young to be run.

Are there any dog pools in Edmonton? I've taken my dogs there in the winter months before, mostly for physio, but they have a blast, it's good exercise, it's fun, and you get to teach Brutus to swim if he doesn't already know how. Dog pools might all be listed as rehab places for dogs, but if there is one, I'm sure you'd be able to reserve some time for regular swimming. The nice thing about it too is that it should be good for his growing joints.

 Quote: bryan macaulay

Hello I was just wondering when everyone started to teach the hand touch? The reason I ask is because my 5 month old boxer, Brutus loves to play this game and I wasn't sure how much jumping he should be doing at his age.

Bryan,

I assume from the way you describe it that when you say, "teach the hand touch," you mean to hold your hand high up so your dog has to jump up off the floor to touch your hand?

I know opinions on this will vary, but personally, I wouldn't do this with an adult dog, let alone a youngster like yours. I've played this game a lot, but keeping my hand low enough so my dog doesn't have to jump off the floor to reach it.

Why? Dog knees are more fragile than you might imagine. Unless you train your dog to land on all 4 at the same time, you are risking injuries. They can blow out their ACLs too easily, as well as other joint elements.

In the sport of agility, the general rule is not to jump your dog to any significant height until it's growth plates have come together/finished growing. When that occurs varies by breed. I don't think any dog breeds finish this process by 5 months (many don't until 18 mos to two years), so in addition to the kinds of injuries that could happen from the kind of jumping up your dog is doing at any age, at his young age, you're putting a lot of stress on bones that aren't finished yet.

I do realize the challenges of dealing with dogs and harsh winters, tho. Keep in mind that mental exercise is as tiring as physical, so you can teach him lots of tricks. Hide and seek is fun (teaching him to find a toy you hide in increasingly difficult places as his skill develops), and if your floors aren't too slippery, fetch can run off some of that energy. You can teach him to crawl under things on cue (crawling is a great exercise for their rear ends), go around obstacles (chairs, stools, traffic cones, whatever you have on hand), etc.

JMO

leih

There are a couple of good "trick training" books here.
Click on Dog Training Books on the left side of this forum.

Thanks for the responses.... I think I will take your advise leih and keep him on all fours until he's a bit closer to full maturity. There's no rush and the potential harm out weighs any good. I guess I just ned to get a bit more creative with exercising him.

I will also look into the pool option, as I've heard that its great exercise for dogs with very little stress on their joints/ bones.