Puppies - the five minute walking rule.

[thistimelastweek]

When does the five minute/age in months walking advice no longer apply?
We have a puppy who is five months old so we are aiming for 25 minute walks. That's easy. But when do we stop timing the walks?
The puppy in question is a small stocky terrier. She's game but I don't want to get it wrong.

1 year

Thank you.

Oh god this drives me insane
I ignored it from 4 months
I have an active breed and either I walk him or he exercises himself in the house which is far more annoying
I think the only evidence for joint problems are in big dogs, in medium/small dogs if they are happy I don't see the issue

@QuentinWinters so do you think the size/ breed of dog makes a difference?

Our 6 month old springer pup would go insane on 30 mins! We are careful not to have her pounding the pavements for long, as that’s harder on the joints. But she gets a good hour on the beach or in the fields.

Never. It's nonsense - no evidence base to it at all.

www.mylamedog.com/post/what-is-the-logic-behind-not-exercising-puppies-until-the-growth-plates-are-closed

What's more key imo is to build any exercise gradually - a hour romp might be fine if they're used to it but isn't great as a one off.

It’s not nonsense btw... just people for some unknown reason only ever remember part of it.

It’s supposed to be a handy rule of thumb to remind you to build up certain things slowly... so walking on lead at your pace, playing fetch, things that are real exciting and they’d do till they pretty much collapse with exhaustion, that sort of thing.

But not off lead where they’re setting their own pace, not pootling about the garden...

So a ten minute pavement walk to somewhere they go off lead, their offlead time and the ten minutes back is only twenty minutes.

It’s the having to walk without setting their own pace or being able to slow down and rest if they want to and the sharp jolts from things like fetch you’re trying to limit, not all exercise.

And yeah it’s usually about a year because by that point it’s an hour... and why would you be doing any of those things for an hour or more anyway?

It does seem to have been a simplified guide to avoid over doing it which instead confuses many.
I think there are people that would want to totally tire pup out in hope it behaves but not pay attention to signs maybe too much as often folk with a dog that is then obviously stiff/ limping with long walk don't think maybe they should then cut it back as its their routine, what they like to do & think dogs happy/ok as following them.

It was debunked by orthopedic vet Mike Farrell on this CAM talk too (which relates to hip dysplasia but be similar issues with other joints) and one of bigger risk factors is overweight puppies and do need proper muscle growth to support skeleton properly which if incorrectly restricting with 5min rule would be an issue. They certainly waste away pretty quickly when on restricted exercise post op.

I would definitely avoid the typical fetch game as that running, skidding to halt or twisting to catch a ball does cause damage & injuries, along with over arousal issues. There's alternative games to play but ball chucking for dog is very ingrained as thing to do.

I understood it to be a helpful guide to make you think about the exercise you are doing.

For example, pavement walking on lead is hard on the joints and they feel they have to keep up with you at your pace. This is where I roughly kept to the 5 min rule.

Off lead on nice bouncy forest floor I ignored it because he could bounce around at his own pace and stop when he needed. I just built up that time slowly so whereas I might walk 20 mins on the road I was probably doing double off lead.

My understanding is that is the maximum amount in one block. So if you have an energetic dog like someone mentioned above then you can do a couple of 30 walks a day with a six month old dog. And my understanding is the advice is to do this until they’re a year old.
It’s advice to minimise the risk of joint problems. Not following the advice doesn’t mean your dog will have joint problems but massively increases the risk if your dog happens to susceptible (and you don’t know this until it happens - although, yes it can be more of a risk in some breeds/sizes, it does happen in all dogs breed/sizes) and following the advice doesn’t remove all risk but it does minimise the risk massively.
Like taking advice to take folic acid supplement and lie a newborn baby on its back to sleep, its generic advice that has been shown to improve outcomes on a population level.

Thank you everyone. All helpful.

It is totally debunked and can actually cause the very damage it is trying to prevent.

Dog need exercise to develop muscles, ligament and strengthen bones.

They do not need jumping twisting chasing exercises.

However self limiting walking and running is good for dogs. Do not force them to walk miles and miles but if they want to run and walk let them.

What is way more important for join health is weight of dog.

Do listen to video posted above and it explains how the incorrect info got posted about and why it is unnecessary.

I wonder if this myth will take as long to die as the dominance in dogs has/still does.

@PollyRoulson

I wonder if this myth will take as long to die as the dominance in dogs has/still does.

Possibly as it was also mentioned by my vet although they were clear to say garden and sniffing don't count . I read somewhere that soft undulating ground was really good for building up their joints and muscles and that is the surface I used to take my dog on lots off lead when he was a puppy.

Tbh my vet still talks about dominance theory

I am not a vet but have close working ties with the industry and majority of vets I know have not been recommending the dominance theory for at least the past 20 years. When I was at uni in the 90s, it was recognised that the dominance theory was based on flawed studies of how “packs” on unrelated wolves acted in captivity when in the wild wolves are in predominantly in family packs of parents, adolescents and pups.
Clearly at a year old, it would be good to build up your dog stamina etc rather than suddenly take your dog on an all day hike having only been walking it for a max of an hour up till that point.
Some people will always spout the dominance theory because it matches what they want to do. You can only explain theories and how they’ve been reached and this guidance is merely that - guidance. You can’t make people understand and/or agree - they’re free to make their own independent opinion.

I was talking to my puppy's breeder a while ago (as my pup and hers tore around a field) and she said in her view it was the same as with horses, just keep the full-extension exercise within sensible limits (which would include tearing about after a ball).

I've always had my doubts about the 5 minute rule, because free-roaming feral dogs and dingos don't seem to pay it much attention.

“I've always had my doubts about the 5 minute rule, because free-roaming feral dogs and dingos don't seem to pay it much attention.“

They wouldn’t need to, never being on lead or playing fetch....

We were concerned as ou puppy so desperately wanted much longer walks very early.

Discussed it with two cents at our practice and both have said it's total nonsense. Why would age be so closely linked to minutes?

He's been doing 1 1/2 to 2 hours walks since about 7 months.

However, it is true that the mental stimulation of a very long walk can be too much for a puppy, and they aren't getting the sleep they need (because they are being walked too much) Then you get a wired puppy that won't settle or reacts on impulse forgetting training ie in high arousal state, nipping barking. Do you think that could be part of the 5 minute recommendation ...remember your puppy needs to spend most of the day quietly pottering or sleeping??

I ignored this advice and just did what I thought was a sensible amount. The main thing is protecting from accidents from slipping, falling or twisting awkwardly at a young age as growth plate damage could occur which would obviously be bad news. Just don’t overtire your pup with too much physical exercise that’s all. A small dog such as a terrier is likely to reach maturity around 9-10 month mark. It’s much longer for large breeds.

I’ve found this really confusing too. Like, if they’re offlead playing with other dogs at the dog park, does this count or not? And if they go to doggy day care, don’t they walk the same amount as the other dogs there or not (I don’t know as not used it yet but wondering!) And if you’re in a multi dog household, presumably/possibly the pup is playing with the other dogs a lot whereas a single dog household wouldn’t be doing that so is that a problem?

Thanks for all the useful posts. I thought this was a massive generalisation- how could the same rule apply to a tiny Chihuahua as a Doberman? Seems unlikely. I do find a too long walk overstimulates my pup, but then just about everything seems to overstimulate her sometimes....