How much exercise is too much? - Page 1

Just curious to see how much everyone on here exercises their dogs? My new female will be getting her hips and elbows done on the 22nd of December. She gets two walks a day maybe 3 they last approx 20-25 min each. We throw her a ball for about 10min a day and we have a huge field behind our house and sometimes the neighbors dogs come over and play and they can play anywhere from 30 min to an hr. They dont play everyday but probably twice a week. Is this too much exersice?

I would say not, but really need to listen to your dog and do so with the weather in mind.

My own take 3-5 mile 4 wheeler hikes (average speed varies from a quick trot to full out gallop topping out at about 25-30 mph)
plus ball play and training. They could easily go longer and farther.

Melissa

Have a female who can run 5 to 6 miles so fast that i can not keep up with her on my 4 wheeler in the mountains I am doing 14 mph and she is leaving me I am afraid to go any faster on the trails too dangerous and rocky. She can do it all way back as well. My males can do a couple miles but never keep up with her.

I'll agree with with Melba and Herd. Are you asking for the immediate or long term? I think you were asking for the immediate. I would think most any dog that is a physical dog could probably do more than we the owners/humans are putting them through. Except I would think the sled pullers, the sled pullers with weights also. It's all about conditioning just as with humans or athletes. At times I think we the humans are holding our dogs back on certain exercise/tasks.

I don't jog/bicycle my dogs but I definitely run them. And at times run hard. There can be casual, hard and sprint and long distance. When I first got my service dog he was coming from Indiana. He was solid black and was an import. Once he was in Maryland and I started conditioning him as my others I was literally amazed how fast he got hot. My first black dog and he literally was worse/hotter than my LC. My LC would rarely pant even when worked hard so I had to figure out a gradual way of conditioning him to Maryland. And then depending on if the dog has a job then you have to condition for endurance, stamina, long term, strength and so on.  Depending on if it's play, rough housing, training work just read the dog. I can be hard on the gang and they'll be giving their all and when it's time to quit they could keep going so even if they could be pushed more or a little harder just read them and you'll know when to stop.

After our school graduated and the handlers went to their home states we found out that a few handlers dogs had died "due to the heat". Unfortunately due to where some of them were located the climate was different than in Indiana. Now honestly we never knew what really happened but it could have only boiled to a couple of things; Our contract states that at a certain tempature outside then the K9 in transport must be in AC in the vehicle. So either someone had the K9 in the vehicle without AC and the K9 overheated. Or the handler was pushing the dog too hard in training and didn't read the K9 right and it overheated. Or wherever the K9 was kenneled the tempature was too hot and no cooling system was in effect. Without immediate attention there is no turning the clock back. 

I think there is too much emphasise put on this subject. A young pup should have controlled exercize, nature will tell it when it has had enough when playing.

I take my young 13wk old for 2 15min walks and she plays quite happily with my adult dogs throughout the day, when she has had enough she puts herself in her cage. I do believe though that pups should be supervised when playing with adults, as they can tend to get boisterous.

My regime is not with puppies. I would like to emphasise that not puppy should be doing as much as what
I do with my adults and young adults. The oldest dogs going on runs are 6.5 yrs (2) 5yrs(1) 3.5 yrs (1) and
I've been taking the young one since he's turned a year old.

Melissa

i let my pups decide when they are tired or not. i personelly think a pup must get plenty of exercise in order to develope the muscles properly. he can't do it excerising 30 minutes a day.

I agree, puppies DO need plenty of exercise, BUT free exercise is best and you are absolutely right, let the puppy decide when he is tired for the
most part. The one young male, even as a puppy, would not stop playing ball unless I ended the game. To this day, I am absolutely positive he would
play ball until he collapsed. He is the exception though and not the norm.

Melissa