Golden retriever

[Stoney666]

Puppy 18 weeks with endless energy. How much walking is too much because he seems to want to keep going?

5 minutes for each week of age, so 90 minutes of proper walking as a rough guide to what's enough.

Wear him out with training, or playing with another dog. Play in the garden, get him swimming - there's masses you can do!

Oh
Gosh really I
Had seen somewhere 5 minutes for every month. Wow we can do
Loads more lol. Thank u x

I am going mad. I meant to type month!

Sorry and I've got your hopes up too!

It is 5 min per month!

x post sorry

But 5 min per month twice a day

Lol that's fine. I did wonder. Twice a day is still a bonus x

Have a read of this.

It isn't supposed to be twice a day - just once. But it is a guideline not a rule and there is masses you can do to wear your puppy out.

The article should help, I hope!

The Kennel club say twice per day - so it just shows how random the advice is exercise and puppies

Also I think it is Burns nutrition who promote more exercise and argue that it is the type of exercise that is the problem. eg walking is good and needs to be done to strengthen the muscle, tendons etc as they grow whereas ball chasing and climbing onto furniture and up and down stairs is what causes the problem.

I followed the 5 mins per month of age once a day for my lab because I wanted to do everything possible to prevent hip problems. Puppies will keep going as the adrenaline kicks in once they get excited, I found he'd get really hyped up being with other dogs or off lead on his own running about, and be naughty and disruptive when we got home. What seemed to tire him out and calm him down was heel training or short periods off lead teaching him to sit and stay and then go find things - treats or toys hidden in grass behind trees etc

I almost had a heart attack when I read daisydotandgertie's first post.

The KC do say twice a day, btu for years they said once a day. Personally, as a breeder of Goldens, I prefer to see as little as possible, but allowing for good socialisation and training. Also, no going up or down stairs and no jumping in and out of cars. The breeders I know whose dogs have the best hip scores do no formal lead walking early on (or ever!) but instead offer mainly free exercise on a grassed area and obviously puppies get socialisation at ringcraft, puppy 'walks' (informal shows for puppies not old enough to be shown yet) and in the show ring later on. Maybe that's a coincidence, maybe not. It's sensible, IMO, to include some on lead pavement walks.

Most puppies do have boundless energy, but could maybe what you're feeding him be having an effect? Lots of foods contain sugars and colourings. If not, lots of short training sessions will tire him out without over-exerting him. Also, bones, kongs etc will keep him amused and tire him out too. Plus, plenty of enforced rest is good, either by ignoring him when you want him to crash or using a crate for 'quiet time'.

So would it be best do u think midori, to keep the majority of any walking he does now or later to off concrete? It's easy for us to go as we back on to countryside and there are loads of places he can walk. Also at present when we walk him he is off lead 99% of time, at present recall is fab but I have long line ready for if / when that changes. I attend training and am in process of trying (not easy) to find classes that do outdoor training, would this be instead of pavement walking?? Information I've got from mn has been great and helped so much

I think you need to do some on lead pavement walking for training and socialisation.

You can do lots of training on your own (not in a class) too, 5 mins while the kettle is boiling, dinner is cooking etc.

Well just had an absolute nightmare as was off lead always been fab before but ran after (not to impressed) jogger and was coming back for nobody . Very embarrassing . Went straight on long line and now I feel all my good work has gone [angry