Rainy days

[AnnieP1]

Just wondered what everyone does with their puppy on rainy days? I have a 14 week old labradoodle x border collie. I know I can do a bit of training with her but how to get rid of the boundless energy usually expended on walks in the woods! I would happily still take her out but she is not so keen. Can I give her a cooked knuckle bone to chew on or is this only for dogs over a certain age e.g. six months or so? Any advice gratefully received.

Never give dogs cooked bones - they should only be given raw. And I would say a knuckle bone is far too much for a 14 week old dog - at that age mine loved pigs ears (they lasted him hours, now, not so much!) antlers and puppy teething toys. Things like frozen kongs are good too.

And how long are you normally walking her for? It should only be five minutes per month at that age - even if she's running off-lead I wouldn't take her out too long at 14 weeks.

But there's plenty you can do with her inside. Hide her food in the garden/around the house and get her to sniff it out. Training tires mine out - have some high value treats and practise recall or walking to heel, or even teach tricks if you want. You can do it all in the house and it should knacker her out.

Fetch up and down the landing really used to tire my boy out when we were stuck indoors.

I hide tiny piles of training treats around the house and get my dog to 'find them' when I need to tire him out and the weather is bad.

I just walk mine in the rain - he won't melt and neither will I. He is used to it now and the weather doesn't put him off. I bought waterproof trousers!

I, too, walk mine in the rain. They get used to it, especially at that age. Border Collies are built for rain and I can't see farmers letting a dog have the day off because it's a bit wet out

Some dogs do refuse to go out in the rain - mine will run out to pee and run back in again ASAP!

yes, I had two great ninnys when it came to rain....one of them even turned tail on dh and started to head for home when they were out and it started raining :o
I see lot of folks dogwalking in the rain and tbh I think there is one critter who genuinely seems to be enjoying it, the rest all look like resentful sulky teens on a family outing!

Mine has always hated heavy rain. Light rain is fine but when the heavens open he refuses to budge and when a dog run alway and hides when you get his lead out you know he means business.

*away

Roxy is also fine with light rain but not so keen on the torrential rain we had this morning! Many thanks for the advice everyone, some ideas to try out inside. So another question - the advice of only 5 minutes exercise for each month of the puppy's age, is this once a day, twice a day or every time she goes out?? Even the vet was a bit vague on this just saying that it is not set in stone and can depend on the breed of dog but not to over exercise. The reason for the time limit is that it can damage the bone growth in large dogs but even this is apparently a theory Also some websites say this refers to the time lead walking but not running off lead. I am taking her out for about 20 mins walk at a time but she is definitely not tired and is full of bounce when we get back. Also the puppy socialisation class is an hour with a walk to and from the bus stop and two 15 minute bus rides and nobody has suggested that this is too much for her. As you can tell I am a bit confused.com!!!

Just get them used to rain. You can’t spend every rainy day indoors. That isn’t good for your dog. I guarantee that once the dog is outside, they won’t care about the rain.

The 5 minute per month is a guide and from what I have read isn't something that is scientifically qualified hence the confusion.

I tried to use common sense which my vet also agreed with so I roughly kept to it on lead (and on pavements) because the puppy has to keep up with you whereas I relaxed that off lead because they could more easily stop if tired so did longer. Also off lead was in the forest so on bouncy surfaces so not as hard on the joints. Let's face it dogs tear around like mad in the garden just as they do outside off lead and I see it as being no different. When he was playing with other dogs I would monitor it more because again he might feel like he needed to keep up with the adult dogs rather than stopping when tired.

Easier said than done! If you have a big dog that refuses to move in the rain, there's not really much you can do about it!

Oh and we have had many weeks where we have been told not to exercise outside due to injuries, accidents or recovering from operations so investing in some techniques to tire them out inside the house (and not just for torrential rainy days) can be invaluable.

Oh how happy am I to read that BiteyShark - I am also going down the common sense route and I have also read that the exercise limit is not actually scientifically proven yet. We are lucky here to be surrounded by parkland, fields and woods all of which are easier on the joints than pavements. I plucked up courage this afternoon and let her off lead in a huge open field and you could tell she was delighted and actually didn't run off too far AND came back when called although we were the only ones on the field so not too sure what would have happened if she spied another dog or person! I have met and spoken to more people in the last six weeks since getting Roxy than in the five years we have lived here and everyone is so kind and patient with her puppiness! This forum is also the busiest and most informative I have found so will continue to ask advice as things crop up as they most certainly will.

Such a good thing to cement recall when they are so young they stick to you like glue.

We nearly made the mistake of leaving it too late until a trainer showed us he wouldn't go far as a puppy. Recall does typically go out of the window when they hit the independent teenage phase but at least it then comes back when they eventually grow up

Seriously get them used to the rain. It is a nightmare to have a dog that does not go out in all weathers. They have to go out to wee etc whatever the rain.

So if it rains you need to get outside and play play play and give happy associations with the weather.

However do not walk them in the rain I love my rainy deserted walks when everyone else stays inside and we have the hills to ourselves