How do you exercise HIGH DRIVE pup without damage? - Page 2

"In the GSD, the growth plates generally close about 16 to 18 months of age." if that is true why do we have to wait to ofa hips at 24 months? i agree play with your pup but not until she can't breathe :)) "you" have to know when enough is enough.i'd say 10-15 minutes of ball throwing is fine. and i don't mean throwing the ball the length of a football feild 40-50 feet should be fine. can i ask what her lines are? my pup was the same way working lines,enough was never enough!!still isn't.gotta love them.they were breed to work ALL DAY! ;)

No frisbees for my dogs until they are mature. I have seen several hurt. Many get hurt as the wind causes the firsbee to hang in the air resulting in the dog over-running it and leaping backwards at crazy angles. Coming down very awkward on hips and back legs. While landing awkward it does not take much to hurt them. But if you do better be careful.

I don't use frisbees or kongs anymore.

I also heard somewhere that the covering on a tennis ball is too abrasive for dogs' teeth. So what is the ideai fetch ball?

Using tennis balls for fetch i hear is fine, its letting them chew on the tennis ball that does damage to teeth. We play ball twice daily but the tennis balls get put away in between. Kong makes a tennis ball called "Air Kong" that holds up and has a non abrasive fuzz on it. They squeak to boot.

Thank you!

I do stay away from the frisbee. We started with one that was good for her teeth, basically a circular rope with some nylon across the middle so it will stay in the air. She loved it, but it was hard to control. So when I threw it too high and it caught in the wind, she would do some pretty unhealthy jumps and twists. As a result, we stopped that and went to the straight ball fetch. I'm not really worried about her going too hard. She would likely go forever, so I just give her until she seems a little tired. It was more the drive into the ground and the hard stops when she catches up to the ball. I throw it pretty darn far, but she's a fast little bugger and catches up. Anyway, thanks for all the thoughts. I'll stick with the ball for a while (i.e., 7-9 more months).