getting the dog out and about

[Hillwalker2021]

hi all

exciting times ahead we get a working lab pup in April.
We like to go out and about walking and obviously until the pup is much older he will be limited to how far he can walk.

So our thoughts are putting him in a rucksack thing that you get for pups. He will grow quickly though and become too heavy . We normally like hills etc but can go flatter areas , is a push chair type thing the answer ,

happy for anyones thoughts

We have a lab x puppy getting a buggy never crossed our minds , she wouldn't want to stay in one anyway. Just go for shorter walks for a while it won't be long til they can go further.

Agree with PP - when he was a puppy our lab would never have tolerated a carrier or pushchair as he was far too energetic snd independent! He also had a tendency to chew stuff so quickly ate his way out of the soft sided crate and I could imagine any type of carrier might suffer the same fate.
We did just have to adapt our outings to be shorter walks or one of us would stay behind with him until he was old enough to do longer walks (5 mins per month of age is the recommended max to protect joints)

You'll have to curtail your hillwalking until his joints are up to it. The only time I took my puppy out in a bag was before he had all his vaccines

Pushchairs are for old dogs that can't walk.

i bought a puppy sling off of amazon for when starpup arrived its just about lasted him from 8 weeks to 13 weeks mostly because hes grown much bigger much quicker than i thought he would. But best its honestly one of the best things i bought and he still loves it and cuddles up with it.

I came on here to post about dog rucksacks and get opinions.
I’m getting a puppy next month (shihtzu) and thinking of getting one so I’m not limited to short walks. It also means I can take her with me to bring horses in without her being around big feet (and out of the muddy bits!).
Never used one before though so following for info

Just do shorter walks for a while - it's only for a year or so, not like it's forever.

We have a beagle and he happily goes all day now, but as a puppy we just did shorter walks - drove to places and walked.

well after looking at the price of strollers there will be no stroller

We had a sling for walks before he was vaccinated, but he wanted to get out all of the time, it was so difficult to keep him in! By the time he was vaccinated at 12 weeks, he was too heavy and too squirmy to carry very far.

Labs grow big and fast. Don’t buy anything - you won’t carry him beyond about 12 weeks.
If you want to go up hills, find those which have forestry tracks that you can drive up and finish off with a walk.
You will be too busy with training and cuddles - the shorter walks won’t be for long,

We have had 2 working lab puppies and neither enjoyed being carried in a bag / rucksack and after about 10 weeks were both far too heavy to be carried for long. They also got really hot in them.
We did have a converted buggy but after one puppy tried to jump out and nearly strangled themselves on the harness we gave up !
We just waited until they’re big enough to walk further .

Just to give you an idea - this is our first puppy at 8 weeks , he grew pretty rapidly!

For a while though I considered one of those bike trailers that can convert into a pushchair but in retrospect I’m not sure that either pup would have been happy

We like hill walking too and tried lots of different back carrier type slings.
Pup hated it. No matter which one we tried he wasn't keen. I was also worried about the position he would be in for extended periods.
End of the day we gave up walking for a year. Now he's almost 3 and loves the hills.
We knew someone who took their 9 month old dog hill walking and he's ended up with a permanent leg problem (can't remember what) so IMO it's definitely worth waiting until he has finished growing and build up the miles slowly.

We just used a normal rucksack but wore it on the front with a fleece blanket in it. He didn’t tolerate it for long but it was great for before his injections or longer walks.

I have a dog rucksack but my mini schnauzer hated it. I tried treats/letting him play with it etc. He's 18 months now so we don't need it now thank God.

5 mins of outdoor walking per month of age till they're 12 months old means only an hour's walk by the time they're a year old. You may have to sacrifice your walk length or alternate a bit of walking and a bit of carrying.

I go to a park and my dog plays with others. Some are only 5 months old but have been running around for well over an hour. Some are large breeds (chow chow, labradors, Bernese). I do wonder if there'll be problems for their dogs later.

I think you just have to have short walks. Take the out and about to get used to stuff they’ll see on walks though. We’d go on forestry walks where there were horse riders, cyclists, kids etc and train her to focus on us rather than anything else....cut up cocktail sausages. And sit on benches with her as things went past.

She’ll still run off after a bird though. And eyes sheep up, if she slipped her lead on a hill walk with sheep we’d never get her back.

First year we left her with someone while we did proper walks. She’s not good being left on her own....

I know a guide dog puppy trainer who uses a pushchair when she's out for long periods. Less to save the dogs legs than because he has a safe place to settle and rest while she's busy elsewhere.

brilliant conversation folks, lots of people tried different things,

yup I think a lot of people go along the lines of the pup can walk a distance and go upstairs etc , which no doubt is true, but as always its not can they do these things its should they. the answer being no .
I know a breeder who was distraught when a pup was brought back to her at about 6months with severe hip issues and requiring major surgery- turns out the owners , although they had been given a comprehensive information pack - had been letting the pup jump down from the sofa and go up and down stairs and long walks. Mostly everything the opposite of the puppy pack.

wont be taking him for anything more than the rule of thumb mins per month until he is mature. MIL going to be doing some puppy sitting me thinks , that wont be a hardship for her, when shes looking after the cat its a struggle to get it to come home with us again

Can you not just leave him at home for a few hours? Take him for a little walk, then go out for your big walk?

@PrintempsAhoy

Can you not just leave him at home for a few hours? Take him for a little walk, then go out for your big walk?

Unfortunately, very few young puppies can be left home alone for several hours at a time without having accidents or becoming distressed and destructive. Labradors in particular are notorious chewers when bored.

We’re getting our lab pup in about three weeks time. Was just looking up puppy slings until second vaccinations. Think we’re going to go for one for school runs mostly tbh!