Exercising pup

[foolserrand]

Ratdog is nearly 6 months. Going by what I've read, he should only be walked for 25/30 minutes. However, I've also read that a longer period of exploring is good for puppies.

I was hoping to take him out for a long walk. 15 minutes of road walk then a good explore of some local countryside. Does that sound too much? He's a cross breed and both are high energy. He's also very nearly fully grown if not already.

I think he'd love it, but I'm wary of overdoing it.

[BiteyShark]

To be honest I only exercise mine off lead and he can run around like an idiot and never tires. He gets about 40 mins which apparently is far too much for his age but also some of it is spent sniffing around on the ground. I know the risk to the joints but given he jumps off things in garden and runs straight into raised flower beds he is at more risk at home than on the softer forest floor.

[ImBrian]

Mine has had longer then that since before he was 6 months or we would have both been climbing the walls. He's a mix (I was lied too) and much more high energy then I was expecting. At 6 months he would quite happily spend an hour on the beach or in the woods. I also found that taking him out meeting new people and dogs seemed to tire him out as well.

[BiteyShark]

It's hard to know what is right because joint problems certainly hip dsyplasia is hereditary but over exercise can make it worse from what I have read. Equally not exercising and being overweight is equally as bad.

I just went with off lead exercise is similar to exercise in the garden in that he could lie down if tired and to decide by how he acts if it was too much. There has only been one time when he had too much when he was with a friends dog and I just stopped and took him home.

[Opentooffers]

Lol, I had an expectation of 5mins per month too. Nowhere near that and he is 5 months old (surpassed that ages go). When he's off lead, its like watching a dog do agility assault courses in the woods and he's started leaping over medium sized dogs, just for kicks - he also springs up from all fours.
However, if the alternative would be to keep him on his lead, where he'd be miserable and also be climbing walls at home when not tired, just in case of something that may not happen anyway in the future, I'd rather take his lead in what he wants to do. He's happiest then