Puppies and the 5 minute exercise rule - HELP!

[bluebirdonmyshoulder]

Very confused. Have a 4 month old black lab and I thought the rule re exercise was 5 minutes per month of age twice a day. So 4 x 5 minutes = 20 minutes twice a day so 20 minutes in the morning and 20 in the afternoon.

However a friend has told me it's 20 minutes TOTAL and should be 10 minutes in morning and 10 in afternoon. Googled it and people are saying both things - can someone tell me definitively, don't want to hurt our girl. Thanks.

[tabulahrasa]

20 minutes per walk, 10 minutes isn't enough to do any socialization or well, anything, lol.

If your puppy's parents have good hip and elbow scores and your puppy isn't too heavy tbh you probably don't have to worry anyway...I'd always stick to it just to err on the side of caution, but don't get too stressed about it.

[Lilcamper]

It's meant to be for on lead structured walking too. A pup mooching about sniffing in a field off lead and resting when they want is fine.

[JulietBravoJuliet]

I've got a 15 week old pup and a 6 year old and all I'm doing differently with regards to walks is not physically walking as far. We still stay on the park for an hour or so, as otherwise big dog wouldn't be happy, but pup tends to have a play, then rests for a while, then plays for a bit, pretty much the same as he does when at home. The only difference is I'm not going on 5 mile walks a couple of times a week.