Anyone have golden (s)? Just wondering about walks

[Jointhejoyrun75]

We take our 6 month old on a 2 or 3 mini walks a day. Is around 30 minutes in one walk ok? I know there is a concern about putting strain on the hips while they are still growing, which shows up later as hip issues. It would be great to hear from some other GR owners.

Secondly can I ask what food your GR prefers?

[Hoppinggreen]

Plenty of Goldies on here.
Check out the " meet Jess" thread for piccies.
I think there is a formula for puppy walks, which from memory is something like 5 minutes per month of age. At 6 months we did 2 X 15 minute walks most days rather than one long one
My Goldie isn't too grabbed by most dog food but he has Arden Grange large dog puppy food and a couple of times a week he has sardines in oil mashed in for his joints and coat.

[Jointhejoyrun75]

Thank you Hopping, I'm a little worried though as before I was aware of the restrictions on the walking she probably did more like 40 mins to an hour's walk. Not often though. She seemed fine on it. Strictly half an hour now I am aware.

[Jointhejoyrun75]

She is also very fussy, and we have tried a few of the dry foods. Dry (Science plan) mixed with a wet food seems to be working well. The sardines are a good idea, I'll try that!

[TrionicLettuce]

There's quite a lot of debate as to whether the "five minutes per month of life" restriction does much to avoid future hip problems.

At most it's a guideline and is more applicable to things like walking on lead at a sustained pace on hard surfaces, such as pavement walking. If your puppy is bimbling around a field at their own pace then you don't need to worry about being out a bit longer longer than the above rule would allow.

Obviously puppies aren't great at self regulating so you need to make sure they're not running themselves completely ragged but you don't need to stress over an extra 10 or so minutes here and there. Keeping your pup at a healthy weight and avoiding too much high impact or repetitive exercise is more important than sticking religiously to the five minute rule.

[RhodaBull]

30 mins at a time is fine. Otherwise they're liable at that age to go bananas anyway and zoom around banging off the walls (and mine still does sometimes and he's 3!).

Regarding food, my gr is the fussiest . He doesn't even like treats. He prefers human food, particularly buttery toast.

He started off as a puppy on Royal Canin. He hated that. He retched when he smelled the bowl of James Wellbeloved. Finally I settled on Harringtons. He likes that ok. It's pretty mild and doesn't smell very strongly. And the trick I learnt is always to put a dollop of wet food on the top. I have been using Waitrose own brand for ages, but have just received Pedigree wet pouches (in the MN trial) and dog hoovered that up this evening (I'm not a Pedigree employee!).

[Jointhejoyrun75]

Thank you Trionic and Rhoda, so much! She is very active and bouncy and the walks definitely help calm her down. I truly hope we haven't over done it walking with her. It is interesting to hear of other fussy GRs! This girl loves human food (stealing mostly!), but hasn't liked any dry food we've given her and we've tried so many. It just sits in her bowl until it is thrown away. I will look into Harringtons and Arden Grange.

[TrionicLettuce]

Mental stimulation is great for wearing them without needing to worry whether you're overdoing the exercise. Age appropriate trick training, feeding dry food from a treat ball or scattering it in the garden, hiding treats round the house/garden or at the bottom of a cardboard box with screwed up newspaper in. All great ways to get their brains really working.

Is she still on three meals a day? If she is it might be time to drop one. I find that pups I've had tend to lose interest a bit at around 5-6 months which I take as a sign they're ready to skip lunch. If you're leaving her food down all the time I'd start putting it down for a set time (say 15-20 minutes) after which it gets taken up until the next meal time. If she knows the food is there all the time she'll be less inclined to eat it straight away, especially if she's a bit of a thief and thinks she might be able to nick something tastier!!

[RhodaBull]

Yes, dog leaves his bowl of breakfast when dh is working from home... because he knows that dh will come into the kitchen and make some toast later and where there's toast, there's dog.

[Jointhejoyrun75]

Haha, Rhoda, they are clever aren't they! Trionic, she's only on 2 meals now, breakfast and dinner. I take it up after around 30 mins if she hasn't eaten it. I have had a go at some of the tricks on the weekend, thank you for those!