Is there such a thing as too many walks?

[MaryIsA]

14 month old cockerpoo. In laws take her for at least an hour's off lead walk every day - up and down a glen, in and out of rivers. And then often to the beach in the afternoon - again for an hour.

We take her for a sniffy lead walk most evenings - usually 20 minutes sometimes half an hour. Gentle pace. But sometimes she just looks tired so we just take her out for a pee.

At the weekends we'll do a 2 hour walk with her and probably another on lead sniff walk at night.

Is that too much?

She spends most of the evening asleep from about 4pm when they drop her off. Apart from if she'll wake up for a sniffy walk.

My Border Collie would like to answer this. There is no such thing as too much walking, running, fetching, sniffing, and meeting interesting squirrels.

But seriously, it depends both on the breed and the individual dogs. Some large breeds require little exercise, whilst some small ones can walk all day. Does the dog seem to be happy in itself, not resist and generally seem to be enjoying itself? If so, I wouldn't worry.

Cockers can go for hours. I imagine à cocker poo is similar. All gun dogs are expected to go out in the fields for hours at a time. I imagine she is well behaved in the house.

There isn’t really such thing as ‘too much’ exercise for a dog but be aware that the more exercise you give them, the fitter they become so the more exercise they need.
Ie you are basically creating an athlete.

Nothing wrong with that but if you suddenly have to drop to just one walk, you may find she develops destructive boredom behaviours.

For context, my dog runs marathons with me and has done for a few years. If I suddenly just gave him 1 walk a day, he wouldn’t be impressed!

As long as the dog is fit, healthy and up for it then crack on!

I have 4 dogs, I walk them twice a day, which they definitely need. I feel very guilty if I'm busy, miss a walk and they only get out once.

A tired dog is a happy dog. Yours clearly has a great life!

I have one Labrador that I take on 20 mile hikes and another one that would probably start wondering where his bed was and what I thought I was playing at if I did that length of walk with him 😂

I know that for highly strung anxious/reactive dogs there can definitely be such a thing as too many walks because they get over stimulated. I have two dog trainer friends that don’t walk their dogs every day because of it - they play brain games in the garden and house to give the dog a chance to reduce their stress levels. Both dogs can run for miles but a daily walk just isn’t right for them and they are happier without.

If she's happy, then it's all good.

But, it will massively depend on the dog, the breed and the personality as to what works. Reactive dogs often need days off as they find walks extremely stressful. I personally only walk my reactive dog once a day and in the morning, so that he has the rest of the day to de-compress and relax before bed. Sometimes that walk is 40 minutes, sometimes it's two hours, but he only goes once a day. He does get the odd day off, though he doesn't need it as often as others.

I also agree with what a PP said, that lots of exercise often just creates a super fit dog, so you need to keep doing more and more in order to tire them out. I personally don't think it's good to rely on hours of walks each day to tire a dog out - look at brain games or training as well so that there's some variety.

That’s all interesting, thanks.

She’s very well behaved in the house, had very little chewing or boredom playing up.

She can get overexcited on walks, nervy and barks with other dogs, which kind of made me wonder a bit.

I’m v grateful for the amount of time the in laws put in t9 walking her but I do wonder if they are winding her up a bit. They are old school and think lots of walks and exercise is the thing.

We do brain stuff and other playing with her at home. And calmer sniffy walks.

She’s a happy little dog though.

She can get overexcited on walks, nervy and barks with other dogs, which kind of made me wonder a bit.

If this is the case on ALL her walks then yes she can easily be in the situation for too long.

I guess it depends on the walk and what is happening. Quiet remote walks and she is doing her own thing great. Street walks or walks in areas with her triggers not so good and she should not be forced to do this.

Bimble sniffy walks where she is not hassled by other dogs and can relax and chill are great. Full on route marches full of activity and distraction can be stressful and be too much for many dogs.

It depends on the age of the dog and breed... large heavy dogs need limited excercise as puppies as it can damage their joints.

13 months old here, small size dog and walk between 2h and 2h30 a day, with constant throwing and running after a ball.

He does sleep a lot during the day in between his lunch walk. Sometimes he does seem tired and we cut down a bit. Just one day of only 1/2h and he is desperate to go again the next day.

13 months old here, small size dog and walk between 2h and 2h30 a day, with constant throwing and running after a ball.

I really don't want to come across as patronising but I would suggest you have a read up on how damaging this can be on the joints.

Ball play means dogs are stopping and starting very quickly, jerking and twisting about and it can be incredibly dangerous. I would keep the ball at low level if you have to throw it, or hide the ball in some bushes or long grass and ask the dog to find it.

Again I don't want to patronise you but I'd hate to see such a young dog end up needing surgery because they have torn or snapped their cruciate. Please be careful.

I would also add (as a general comment) that the more exercise you give a dog, the more they need to be tired.

Mu husband throws sticks for the dog a lot. I wish he’d cut down on it a bit as I worry about damaging her joints.

Sticks worry me for other reasons - if the dog lands on it funny they can pierce the roof of the mouth or splinter and get stuck.

I don't throw sticks for my dog or for any dogs I walk (I'm a dog walker) and I always limit ball throwing to flat areas like the beach, keep the ball low and limit the time it's done - only in the middle of the walk after the dog has had the chance to warm up and sniff about first.

Breed dependent I would have thought? A working collie can do 50 miles a day, day after day. A chihuahua, probably not!
Is there some kind of breed specific website/resource you can ask?

Sticks worry me too, DH likes to throw them at the beginning of the walk to get it out of her system. It's only in her system because she expects him to do it....and he knows they can hurt dogs.

He's easily bullied by her whereas I just ignore her ... and if I do throw a stick it's when she's fairly calm and usually when she's in water when she likes to paddle after them.

Stick injuries are horrific and very common it is best to avoid throwing them at all.

If you have to throw anything a dog toy is better BUT it does increase the adrenalin in all dogs and generally make them more hyper.

Hiding a ball and letting her scent it out would be way better for her. It is what her cocker instincts want to do. If you work with her predatory motor patterns you will have a happy chilled relaxed contented dog

In my experience, if a dog doesn't want to walk, they won't. You can tell if it's too much for them. Sounds like your dog is very happy with the arrangement!

@MaryIsA

Mu husband throws sticks for the dog a lot. I wish he’d cut down on it a bit as I worry about damaging her joints.

Never throw sticks. I have seen some horrific stick through mouth palette injuries.

I don't throw sticks, but do let DDog have a quick chew if we pass an Interesting Stick (not happening at speed, and she usually drops it after a quick chomp). I dont throw balls either, because I don't want to encourage a 'chase' instinct.

Her breed were historically workers who could keep going all day. So we walk for as long as we're enjoying it

DPup will just look at the ball as it rolls and just lie down instead. Too much effort 😂

DPup only gets 25 minutes walk in the morning and evening. Lots of stopping to chat to people and other dogs means each walk lasts around 1hr in total though!

For a dog under 18 month that's still growing don't over do it.
My dogs go on two long walks a day every day. The actual tell me when it's time. They soon get into a routine and my routine has not changed through Covid. The problem is with many people now once they go back to work the dogs will miss their walks. Routine is important .

I don’t know if that’s too much but also don’t know if it’s needed. I’ve a cockapoo the same age and he gets two walks a day morning and evening for 30 mins each. On weekends he gets 30 mins in morning and an hour in the evening. He also gets probably 10 mins of ball time every two days which he loves out in the garden.

He’s very happy, not destructive at all. I read when getting him that cockapoos only need an hour a day so we based his exercise on this