How Much Exercise?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My DH and I have different views on how much exercise is too much for Murphy and so I told him I was going to consult with the "Doodle Experts".  Recently we've been putting Murph on the treadmill for an hour at a 3.0 speed with an incline of between 4 and 10.  In addition, we take the boys for good walks every day that isn't raining and send them to Daycare where they run full out most of the day twice a week.  I think this is too much treadmill for Murph, especially since he's losing weight.  He's down to 50 lbs and I can feel his ribs.  I can't seen to get him to eat enough calories to compensate for what he's burning.  I'm back to full home cooking for his night meal and I've increased the carb ratio.  DH thinks that he needs this much exercise to burn off energy.  I told him I thought this was more exercise than other Doodles were getting, but he disagrees with that.  What are your thoughts?

[Katie and Sophie]

We do 1-2 hours of off leash running and either a walk or bike ride every day that its not raining. On the weekends we do significantly more and add in swimming or going to some dog related event that is going on in the area (lure course, etc). We also take them to a golf course a few times a week and we drive a golf cart so they run next to us. Soph does 18 holes and Jade does 36. Soph doesn't necessarily need this much exercise, but her sister Jade does and Soph loves it. So as far as too much exercise goes, I would say probably not. As long as he was in good shape before and used to the exercise he should have no problem with this. I'm sure he gets much more exercise at daycare. If you are worried about it maybe try lowering the incline.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

That's fantastic exercise!  I wish we had the opportunity to do the "golf cart thing"....that sounds perfect!

[Katie and Sophie]

Agreed :) You are so dedicated to him.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am certainly glad that my dh and I got good 'matches' when we got Ned and Clancy. They are couch potatoes like we are. I really think that you didn't need to increase Murph's exercise when you added the meds. and by doing that you altered your ability to evaluate which of the two is more effective or needs tweaking. I think you should go back to what you were doing and allow the meds to settle in and work. The weight loss needs to be attributed to a meds side effect OR an increase in exercise. Once you know what is really happening you can move on. Jane, you really, really know Murphy well and you can accurately evaluate his tension. Keep a log and THEN add in more exercise if you see added tension.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think we've pretty much decided that, Nancy.  We're going back to the 30 minutes on the treadmill and we'll see what happens.  I sure wish Murph was more of a couch potato!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I'm wondering if you can cut the duration of the exercise into smaller sets. Spud gets a lot, but in many small increments.