How long to walk?

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

Bailey is 13 weeks today.  She is walking well on her leash but I don/t know how long to walk her....any suggestions?

 

She has boundless amounts of energy in the AM that needs to be walked off LOL.  We play outside in the backyard but she gets distracted by all the leaves, acorns...sticks and just wants to lay down and chew...

[Zoe, Benny and Tyler]

There is a general rule of 1 minute per week of age while they still grow so in your case that would be 13 minutes per walk. Just try it, if you have the feeling that she gets tired earlier then do not overdo it.

You can still do play time in the yard additionally, she will then lay down when she is tired anyway.

I sticked roughly to the general rule until both of my boys were about 8 or 9 months old. By then they had already a good condition so I sometimes walked up to an hour then already.

Others say as a general rule 5 minutes per month of age which is a bit longer. I sticked to the first rule and it worked fine for me.

Good luck!

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

Thanks..I thought I had read that somewhere..

We just walked for about 15 minutes and she is tuckered out.  It is pretty hot and humid here in NE FL so I think this is a good amount of time for her right now....

 

sshhhh baby's sleeping LOL

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Sounds about right what Zoe said.  Our vet said no more than about 10-15 minutes at a time if it's walking or running until she was done skeletal growth.

 

For natural movements like playing though, she will dictate when she is tired and take breaks so you don't have to worry about that much :)  Just give her a "time out" if she refuses to take one ;)

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

Oh, boy I feel bad.  I didn't know this rule.  I walked Bexter Sunday for the first time out of our neighborhood.  We probably walked 20 minutes to a half hour - I don't know for sure.  I didn't time it.  He did start to whimper toward the end & I picked him up & carried him.  I feel TERRIBLE.  So, if he's 4 months old, that means he can walk between 16-20 minutes.  I'll remember that now.  I hope I didn't do him any damage???

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

A young pup shouldn't be walked past when they start to tire, because it can damage their joints, but I think it's only if you walk them past that point on a regular basis.

 

I'm sure he's fine!

[Sally, Ditzy Mitzi & Sgt. Pepper]

Wow, that rule is new to me, too.   Guess I need to read more!  LOL !

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

Yeah - I hope he doesn't suffer from my one time screw-up.  I was just sooo excited to walk him!  I will watch the clock next time!  I was thinking about taking Bexter on a hiking trip in October, when he's 6 months.  But, we walk for long hikes/miles.  I guess I should rethink that!  I'm sad cuz I was so excited to bring him.  I guess next year.

[Becka]

I've never heard of the one-minute-per-week rule--I started out taking Sadie for 20- or 30-minute walks when she was about 12 weeks; now that she's almost six months we usually go to the dog park for a couple of hours in the morning and then take a long (45-minute) walk in the evening. We're both tired when we get home, but I've never felt like we've gone past the point of her being too tired to walk. My vet seems to think this is fine. I have heard that you should not run with them until they are between 18 and 24 months. Perhaps I'm exercising her too much? She's also never been destructive in any way (only chews on her chew toys) or rambunctious in the house, which I attribute to her being a fairly laid-back puppy but also from getting so much exercise.

[Zoe, Benny and Tyler]

The reason why this general rule exists is that the bones and joints of the puppy are still not fully developed yet. All is still quite soft and therefore too long walks might have an influence on the development. This is also to prevent future problems such as HD. Therefore it is recommended to slowly increase the time of exercise by that rule so that the puppy can build up enough muscles to support the still growing bones and joints. As you walked your dog regularly from on the beginning quite long I would assume that she has build up strong muscles in no time. However, I will aways stick to that rule also for future puppies as I want to reduce the risks as much as possible. I will compensate the shorter walks with longer longer playtime at home to drain the energy and carefully watch the puppy for signs of fatigue in case he or she won't rest on her/his own. The same goes for stairs by the way. You should not prevent the puppy from walking stairs as otherwise they can develop a fear of stairs later on as they haven't learned it but I only did supervised stair walks until they were fullly grown. Meaning: stairs down in the morning once, stairs up in the evening once to go to sleep. I used a baby gate to prevent them running up and down on their own.