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12 week Golden Retriever and walks

2 replies

BerryPie · 15/09/2012 21:41

All the vaccinations are done, and on Tuesday I will finally be able to take our lovely girl out for a walk, and not in my arms!! Good thing, too, as she is getting ridiculously heavy.

Anyway, I know I can only do 15 minutes a day at the moment - 5 minutes per month etc. But what exactly qualifies as a walk? We live near some lovely beaches and fields, and I always have my two year old DS in tow. If I go the beach and sit down while DS throws pebbles in the water, the puppy will presumably have a fab time running around, digging, chasing waves etc (at least that's the idyllic picture my mind is painting - in reality she'll probably find a dead fish and eat it and DS will fall over and end up soaked and miserable). So we're out of the house, she's getting some much needed exercise, but does it count as a walk? Would we have to leave after 15 minutes? Would we not be able to take her put again that day?

Also, a slightly different scenario: because of DS actual walks tend to be very slow. So we'll walk around the block, but a walk that would take a normal person ten minutes can easily stretch out to 30 minutes because we stop a million times to look at worms, sticks, blackberries etc. So the puppy would be on her feet, but it would be very gentle and slow. So, would that count as 10 minutes, or 30?

Please help - I want to make sure I get the balance right! I want to protect her hips but l also want her to experience the world outside as much as possible!

OP posts:
Canidae · 15/09/2012 22:51

Another goldie owner here but mine is a mature (haha) 5 year old.

I didn't really stick to the 5 mins per month thing when it came to off lead walks. Walking/sniffing/rolling etc on the beach is nothing like a leashed pavement walk where the pup keeps up a more brisk pace.

shoutymcshoutsmum · 16/09/2012 08:10

Based on my puppy over the last 6 months, we would have been on a beach digging - he would be charging backwards and forwards, he would then find another dog friend and they would bound backwards and forwards - that would definitely not be so gentle and slow ;) If you popped the pup back on a lead though when it had done 15 minutes of proper exercise, that surely would be ok?

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