Walks

[DCs Dad]

How long should I walk DC? I walk him at least 45 min to an hour each night after I get home from work. He is 22 months old, and I was wondering should I up the minutes on our walks?

[SABELLESMOM]

Well how is he for the rest of the evening? Does he seem satisfied with a 45 min walk? Or is he restless, active and needing something more?

At 22 mos he certainly "could" have more exercise than 45 min to an hour. My girl was (also with 2, 30 min walks) vaulting over then back of my high backed couches, so I turned to agility. It stimulates both her mind and her body.

As long as you've got healthy hips and elbows, go for whatever suits you. Even if it's just a nice brisk game of fetch in a fenced yard or on a long (30' polyeurathane 1/2" thick rope from Lowes or Home Depot) lead. The only drawback is, you up the activity level, and they're so strong and athletic, and willing... well, they adjust and challenge you again.

[DCs Dad]

Originally Posted by SABELLESMOM

Well how is he for the rest of the evening? Does he seem satisfied with a 45 min walk? Or is he restless, active and needing something more?

At 22 mos he certainly "could" have more exercise than 45 min to an hour. My girl was (also with 2, 30 min walks) vaulting over then back of my high backed couches, so I turned to agility. It stimulates both her mind and her body.

As long as you've got healthy hips and elbows, go for whatever suits you. Even if it's just a nice brisk game of fetch in a fenced yard or on a long (30' polyeurathane 1/2" thick rope from Lowes or Home Depot) lead. The only drawback is, you up the activity level, and they're so strong and athletic, and willing... well, they adjust and challenge you again.

He's usually pretty tuckered out when we return home, but what I really been thinking about was to try and add at least a 30 min walk in the morning. I just want to make sure that he is getting the exercise that he needs. Thanks for your inputs so far.

[Murphyab]

DC,

I think it's a great idea if you can fit in the morning walk. What is he doing the rest of the day when you are at work? If his only exercise or outing is in the evening, I would say to definitely try to fit in the morning walk as an additional time. I would think that waiting all day for an evening walk would make for a very long day. Just my opinion.

[VANCOUVERISLANDROT]

Oscar's 13 months old and gets a 30-40 minute walk in both the morning and evening every day. In the summer we tend to take him 2-3x a week for hikes and swims in the river instead...just to break up the everyday "same" of "walks". Swimming really tuckers him out. And on weekends we take him for longer hikes around the lake etc.

[Brooke&Ryan]

It depends on the dog.

Julius is a pretty mellow guy, but we're really active people. He gets at least 20-25 minutes in the morning (enough to get the pee/poop out for the morning). Then, around 1:30 or so, we go on a hike. If it's too hot, we'll take Julius for a swim. We typically do that for at least 1 hour or so. Then, at night, we'll go for another hike/swim for at least 45 minutes.

Julius would probably be okay with just an hour or so a day...but if we only do an hour of exercise for awhile, he does tend to get bored. He'll start finding things to occupy his time. If we have training that evening, we will limit his exercise. We'll allow him to walk in the morning & a bit in the afternoon, but we don't want him pooped for training.

We limit his exercise during the hot times. We will do swimming though if it's hot out. It just depends on the dog.

[Rubyhead]

When my dogs were that age 'round 2yo they enjoyed a really hard run more than walks. We'd go to a dog friendly park and throw a ball. Another 'game' we played with the dogs; my partner and I would get really far apart and the dogs would be with one of us, the other would call the dogs and they would run as fast/hard as they could to the other person when they arrived the dogs would be put through a variety of commands, sit, down, heal that sort of thing and thus earn a yummy treat. Then the other person would call the dogs etc. Back and forth, they got alot of great exercise in a highly structured environment which they seem to love. We don't do that anymore because they're older now and enjoy going for walks, hiking, swimming and of course the ever popular zoomies.

[linvillegorge]

My rottie is usually good after a 20-30 minute walk. I think he gets bored. He does much better out hiking in the mountains. He can hike all day. He'll get tired, but he keeps on going. Sometimes I have to stop him and make him (and me) rest. He'll sleep on the ride home and be done for the rest of the night, but he likes those hikes.