Where did the 5 mins exercise per month rule come from...?

[LittleMissJenkins]

I can understand not exercising a puppy until it is exhausted or too tired but I can not see the logic in protecting joints by witholding walking.

Surely strong muscles and ligaments protects the joints?

If I give my puppy restricted exercise in line with the 5 min rule he then runs around the house like a loon, jumps on furniture etc and is crazy.

If he has a longer walk he sleeps and is probably less active over all.

This is a bit reassuring, because my 15 week old puppy loves a sniffy wander. He does 15 minutes on the school run so "proper" walk then I do 30 yards to the local park (rural) to sniff for bunnies, badgers and wuff at pigeons, practice recall/stay etc twice a day on a 10m loose line. I was worried it's too much (cocker spaniel) but maybe it's actually the right thing as he just likes to be outside investigating!

It takes a lot of exercise to get a really fit dog so not really a worry and if you are able to give the exercise to get a fit dog then it will not be a problem. A fit dog is a healthy dog!

Physical exercise at the right amount mixed with brain/sniffing will relax a puppy and stop the mad overaroused bitey crazy zoomie stage.

Dogs need regular exercise - more damage is done with the weekend walkers who "take them on a good walk at the weekend" but the rest of the week the dogs have limited exercise.

Regular consistent exercise is good.

I have never restricted my puppies exercise to the 5 min rule. I look at each individual puppy and see what they need. I always exercise the puppy's on their own so they are not keeping up with the big dogs. I encourage training, sniffing, socialising on walks. Which may include sitting down and watching things for a while.

It does not make sense to restrict exercise if you want a healthly mammal of any kind. Work within the puppies capabilities and increase as appropriate.

What is REALLY important in my view is weight. There are soooooo many fat puppies out there and fat puppies lead to fat dogs. We all see the image of the Andrex chubby puppy - he was really overweight!

Puppies should be lean and have a waist and be able to clearly feel their ribs.

Dogs pulling on leads will cause more strain on their bodies so lead walking training is important.

If exercise is creating a hyper dog - look at the type of exercise.

Yes manic ball throwing will increase the hyperness.

Two hour exercise should not overhype a working dog. Look at where you are exercising your dog, look at activities you are doing with your dog. Look at how you are ending the walk.

I do think the over exercising and hyper dog is really being used way to much these days. Healthly dogs feel better for exercise, and they need exercise to stay well.

Obese dogs are way more of an issue than fit dogs. People give chews as a substitute for exercise is being a thing I am seeing a lot.

This is my new soap box! Dogs need exercise and dogs need quality exercise which is not putting them on the lead and walking them around the block 2 times a day whilst owners are on their phone or just matching through the woods without interacting with their dogs.

Walks need to include hunting, chasing (appropriately using their owners), games, sniffing, brain work. This will not over arouse a dog.

I never understand why people say that on lead at my pace is more exercise for the dog then off-lead with them 'pottering'.

When my lab is off lead she covers about 3x as much ground than I do, and much faster than anything she does on the lead.

@PollyRoullson, I 100% agree about weight. One of mine would be a tub of lard, given the slightest chance, but we keep her lean and fit. It's better for their bodies.

Honest, it's harder to get weight onto a reluctant eater than keep it off a greedy one.

@poshme

I never understand why people say that on lead at my pace is more exercise for the dog then off-lead with them 'pottering'.

When my lab is off lead she covers about 3x as much ground than I do, and much faster than anything she does on the lead.

Because they can’t stop when they want or change pace at all ... and adult human walking speed is a fair speed for a little puppy.

@tabulahrasa I suppose for small
Dogs adult walking speed is quite fast. My lab pup always walks much faster than me when off lead...

The only dog I’ve had from a tiny puppy (I usually adopt slightly older puppies) was a rottie and he had tiny legs when we first started walking, lol, offlead, yes he was faster than me, but that’s because he was going faster than walking. He had to do a little trot on lead to start with.

To be fair, there are different types of walking on lead, there’s normal walking speed and there’s well I’m only out here for their benefit, if they want to sniff everything and mooch then that’s how we’ll walk.

I read a post on FB from the chap who originally came up with this 5 mins per month thing - he said it was only intended to be a guide and mostly for large breeds.

Trying to stop my young pup from playing with the older one is my main worry. She wants to play constantly and it's far harder on her joints than a walk on the lead....

@Elphame who was this man? I have been trying to source the origin of the myth and have come up with study fro 1970's. Can you let us know the mans name or facebook group it was on?

Many studies I have looked at over the last few days have said that dog play is not too bad on joints as long as they are not being twist

Off the top of my head no. I’m a member of quite a few. I’ll root around and see if I can find it