exercise

[Dimitri]

could the people of the board share their own exercise regiment for their pooches?

1 - length of time
2 - activity
3 - time of day
4 - toys

PS do not confuse this with obedience training, i just need some feedback on what everyone does to ensure their puppy is at peak physical condition.

[dogsbydoug]

Peak physical condition for what? Being a family pet, an athlete, a competition dog, a conformation dog?

We've got 4 dogs here. The youngest, our 11 month old foster, gets walked twice daily with one of the other dogs. Just a brisk 1-2 mile walk in the morning, and about a mile in the evening. She has boundless energy so that takes the edge off her energy level and allows us to remain sane. One dog always has a day of rest. The other three dogs are 3, 4 and 7 yrs old, and are little lower in energy than spazmo foster girl.

The other dogs are fine with one walk a day as well as daily romps in the yard, everyone chasing each other or butterflies or whatever they find that requires chasing...

If the two of us go for a walk, all four dogs get walked, but with odd work schedules, that isn't happening as much as we both would like, so we rotate dogs - and leave notes for each other as to who was walked, and when.

[brunie's mom]

It also depend very much on the age of the pup/dog.

Young pups (8-20 weeks) do not need more than a 15-20 minute walk a couple of times a day....plus alot of freeplay in the backyard. Throwing the ball, playing tug, playing chase,etc. At a young age...short, frequent amounts of exercise are fine.

From about 5 months on they can take a bit longer walks...depending on the weather, and the pace you are going and what the dog is walking on (cement, grass, pavement,etc?)

It's not recommended to start doing any real hard running or biking with a pup till 18 months of age and they must be conditioned gradually. The growth plates on the bones are still open...and forced, heavy exercise can wreck the growth plates.

Also every pup is different...some are high energy and a pain to live with if they do not get enough exercise...some are more mellow and laid back and they are happy with a short walk with a few minutes of ball throwing.

Gina

[StephanieandToby]

Up until about the age of two...Toby got a quick walk around the block in the morning, and a leisurely hour or two in the evening....

After that, he got a half hour in the morning, a leisurely hour or two in the afternoon(slow walks...off-leash parks, etc.) and an hour to 1.5 hours at night of faster-walking...(at least 7k at night..)

At about 8 years he slowed down a little, and his afternoon walk was only about 45 mins...then at about age 9, we also cut out the evening power-walk.

In 11 years, I only missed a handful of walks with him due to illness.

[SonnyRott]

It depends on the age of the dog. My dog is 3 and this is our schedule (not including playtime):

* 3 mile walk in the morning
* 2 mile walk at night
* 45 minute to 1 hour swim every day in the summer (I decease the distance of 1 walk if he swims longer than usual).
* Longer hikes in the woods a couple of times a week.

[SWEETBREW]

My dog is 8 months and he gets 2 half hour walks a day as well as lots of fetch and tug and backyard time. We usually go for a good hike on the weekends where he has off leash time. I'm sure as he ages I will have to up the length of time on the walks.

[kayozzy]

Mine is 14 months and gets about an hour walk a day. He gets pretty tired out even if it only 70 degrees outside.

[rencook]

I agree-it depends on what you are excersizing them for-my girl-who is getting back into shape to start Schutzhund-gets "sprint time" where we throw the ball or frisbee-about 20-30 minutes each day, then gets "endurance time"-about an 45 min or so walk/run, then "work time" playing with a tug or her tires-about 25 minutes(depending on the mud situation) each day.
Makes her and I very tired come 9pm!!

[Dimitri]

<bump>

how long does everyone play tug-of-war?

[rencook]

I would not consider tug-of-war to be excersize. To me-excersize is mental and physical stimulation.

[Ayoka]

Originally Posted by rencook

I would not consider tug-of-war to be excersize. To me-excersize is mental and physical stimulation.

I'm not sure I would agree.

Bear appears to be VERY tired after a good game of tug! I would think that it exercises the muscles in their hindquarters and back. I for sure wouldn't use this as my only or primary form of exercise but I would think (not a physiologist here) that it does offer a form of strength exercise. It could also offer a chance to teach "out" which is a great training opportunity for his brain!

As for Bear's exercise regimine I wouldn;t call it a regimen as it's not set in stone, I just try and get him out 5-6 days a week!

I would say we do mostly what rencook referrs to as sprints. To let him catch his breath between sprints, we work on obedience training/exercises or short catches to work on his mouth-eye coordination as the flyball trainers suggested.

We also have an opbedience class and flyball at least once a week each and those sessions are VERY tiring for both of us!

If we get a chance, I take Bear out with a friend for some dogy fun with her Border Collie and Mini Aussies, maybe once a week and there's lots of running there, some wrestling, some fetch and some tug.

The walking I am sure is good for him (get the cobwebs out) but he has never come home from a walk and appeared "tired" even if I take him with me on a jog, he is a total maniac when I get home!

All I ever need is a tennis ball, a tug , his collar/harness, leash (6foot or 25foot) and some water and a water bowl.

Because of my work schedule during the week we go out in the evenings, but weekends are random.

Now that I have written this all down i realize how busy I am with him!!!!

[VANCOUVERISLANDROT]

Originally Posted by StephanieandToby

Up until about the age of two...Toby got a quick walk around the block in the morning, and a leisurely hour or two in the evening....

After that, he got a half hour in the morning, a leisurely hour or two in the afternoon(slow walks...off-leash parks, etc.) and an hour to 1.5 hours at night of faster-walking...(at least 7k at night..)

At about 8 years he slowed down a little, and his afternoon walk was only about 45 mins...then at about age 9, we also cut out the evening power-walk.

In 11 years, I only missed a handful of walks with him due to illness.

Okay you just made me tired reading that! LOL!! I thought my dog had it good with his 2-40 minute walks every day.

[JemarsSerena]

My pup's 14 weeks, she gets 15 minutes in the A.M., 15 Minutes in the P.M.. I'm trying to get myself back in shape so we'll increase our walk time together as she gets older. She also gets as much time as she feels up to chasing my kids. (the kids are forbidden to chase her).