Over excercise

[blacksheep2014]

So, I hope I'm in the right place. I have a 14 week old vizsla by the name of Laszlo. He's been amazing. He sleeps thru the night in his crate 10.30 til 7 each night, he's largely house trained with just the odd protest or stress wee and I can leave him for up to an hour without any mess or distress. But I am worried about 1 thing. He loves being out, walks on his lead like a champ, currently we do 8am 15mins on lead, 30 mins mooching off the lead in private little park. Lunchtime repeat but he wants to go further on the lead, I've pushed it to 20 mins, we do the same at tea time and again around 8.30pm. His off lead time is spent training mainly and playing. Between these times we have the odd 5 mins of sharkies, eating, some puzzles and sleeping, proper 2 to 3 hour naps. It seems much more excercise than reccomended though, should I try to hold him back? We've got a relatively small house/garden.

Picture as appears to be protocol

No advice but he is gorgeous

That does sound a lot of exercise. The standard rule of thumb is 5 mins per month of age, twice a day. At 14 weeks I'd be aiming for 20 mins twice a day. He's going to be a big boy so protecting his joints at this age is really important.

I'd look to replace some of the walking with some enrichment work. 10 mins of working their brain is superb exercise and will be great for giving him confidence in the world around him.

He's a stunner by the way!

Thanks both, I was right to wonder. I carry him up and down stairs etc but I'll cut at least one of the lead walks for a week or two and see how we go.

Keeping his ego in check is going to be a bigger problem for future me 😂

@blacksheep2014

Thanks both, I was right to wonder. I carry him up and down stairs etc but I'll cut at least one of the lead walks for a week or two and see how we go.

Keeping his ego in check is going to be a bigger problem for future me 😂

I have an ego monster too. Gorgeous and boy does he know it!

If you're on FB, check out a group called Canine Enrichment for things that you can do to exercise his brain. Things like scentwork will exhaust him and they really do build confidence and that will become so very important once he enters his second fear phase.

The 5 minute rule has largely been debunked, but that does seem a lot of exercise for a young vizsla - they're big dogs and you don't want him to get injured.

Brain games are much more effective than lots of exercise for keeping him calm. Try taking a ball or toy with you and asking him to "find it" in long grass etc. instead.

Mooching about off lead isn't included in the 5 minutes per month advice. The 5 minutes per month advice is about stomping non stop on lead in a straight line.
And let's be honest, puppies run around all over the place in the house between sleeping - what's the difference between that and being in a park and letting him see the world in a safe environment?! Apart from the park being great for socialisation and helping him be confident about the world. I say you're fine.

I think you are giving him too much lead walking. I think if I have worked it out correctly you are giving him over an hour onlead walking a day + 80 mins of free mooching?

I am totally happy with the 80 mins free mooching but think the lead walking where he has to walk and has no choice to stop is a bit much at this age. (if nothing else it can be quite boring for dogs and time could be better spent on maybe scent games etc)

The 5 min rule has no science behind it and in fact can be dangerous as exercise is needed for the dog to have healthy bones, muscles and ligaments. So free exercise is good eg walking trotting off lead and the dog has the choice to continue or not if they are tired. However on lead is usually on harder surfaces and the dog has to keep walking if tired and has no choice but to continue.

Twisting, spinning, slipping, chasing is not great for any dogs especially puppies.

I would look at decreasing lead walking time.

@ThreeB

That does sound a lot of exercise. The standard rule of thumb is 5 mins per month of age, twice a day. At 14 weeks I'd be aiming for 20 mins twice a day. He's going to be a big boy so protecting his joints at this age is really important.

I'd look to replace some of the walking with some enrichment work. 10 mins of working their brain is superb exercise and will be great for giving him confidence in the world around him.

He's a stunner by the way!

That 'rule of thumb' is nonsense, based on nothing and has been debunked.

There's zero evidence of regular steady exercise damaging joints.
I'd avoid twisty/turning like ball throwers etc but otherwise he's fine with exercise

I'm in agreement with the enrichment games which can be as simple as hiding his meal, in dry food form,around the house or garden.
I'd probably start with some simple training too. You can start by naming any behaviour already displayed which you want to develop and rewarding immediately. For example by saying "lie down Laszlo,good boy" and reward (treat/stroke) when he's already lying down to build some word association.

Thanks for the photo,he's a real love.

Thank you everyone, you've given me something to think about certainly. When we're lead walking I'm very careful about pace and pulling/twisting if he stops to sniff and its safe I always stop. When people walk/cycle/run past us I have him stop and sit and wait with lots of praise and probably too many treats 😂. I am going to drop his tea time walk and make that garden play time for now. I'm not too stressed about the 5 minute per month rule as I can see it being impossible beyond 6 months but I really do appreciate all of your input. I've joined the fb group threeB mentioned too. Today he was at the vets and I should have asked her but was too busy getting over his weigh in... 11 kilos 😂 and the fact he managed to sit and lie down for her treats respectively. I'm not a baby mum, a childcare pro and was a distressed daughter at one point which brought me to mumsnet and I'm always amazed by some of the wisdom I can find here. Thanks again from me and my boy 😊