How to know how much exercise dog needs

[uncomplicatedish]

I'm a first time owner. Dog is a golden retriever.

Different sources say 1-2 hours a day which quite a big difference.

How will I know how much she needs?

At the moment she's 8mo so am not walking that much. We have time for 2 hours a day probably over 3 walks but my inexperience is showing here- don't want to be walking too much or not enough!

If you have time for 2 hours a day then do it - a retriever isn't going to tire in 2 hours.

If you go closer to 1 hour then look at her behaviour. You'll see signs that she is bored.

My toy dog gets 1 hour over 2 walks, so I’d say 2 hours or more.

I would be lead by the dog OP. I have "put a rod in my own back" with exercising my two more than they probably needed, and as a result they are fit dogs with very good stamina and almost expect it now. Don't get me wrong they are happy with the odd lazier day but they need a decent off lead walk to be able to chill out

We have a 2 yo golden retriever.

During the week gets one hour off leash run in the dog park in the morning, 1 hour walk in the evening and quick 15 mins walk before bed. Weekends are a bit more active and we hike quite a lot during the summer.

He is fine with this and is mostly sleeping during the day.

If he gets less exercise, he will be a bit restless at home. If we can't take him out for a long off leash run, we use a sniffing mat or puzzles at home (he loves these as he is very food orientated).

They say 5 minutes per month, so you should be doing 40 minutes 2 or 3 times a day. We have a border collie and we did mostly stick to the 5 minute rule, but when he got to 6 months old we did go on longer walks, say once a week, but would stop halfway.

My 22 month old medium size rescue gets an hour first thing, 45-60 minutes mid afternoon and 10 minutes last thing from me and is quite happy.
She’s equally happy with a 10 mile walk with DH or a combination of these.
Sniffy walks are just as important as longer ones.
So long as your dog settles between walks it will be fine.

Same breed here, 1.5 yrs. She gets an hour off lead in the morning. That's enough for her, coupled with some games and fuss at home She can happily go for longer or equally miss a day here or there.

I have a 5 year old Labrador - she needs a minimum of 2 hours a day, preferably quite a bit more. Some of that will be just walking and sniffing, some will be running, chasing a ball and sea swimming. She also just loves to dig sand on the beach.
I think with a lab/retriever you will soon know if they don't get enough as they get quite restless. We do 15 minutes training a day as well which helps and the kids will play games like hide and seek ball around the house with her.
She has at least two long walks a day, morning and afternoon over an hour each and in summer we often take her out for a third potter on the beach in the evening.

Mine get between 1 and 2 hours a day depending on how much time I have, they sleep most of the rest of the time. Working cocker spaniel and Dalmatian. Dalmatian will take as much as you give her but is very happy with just 1 hour.

I was once told by a dog trainer that a dog will just get used to whatever you can offer them as long as you are consistent. Our Springer gets 40 minutes of full on running in the morning and a 20 Minute walk in the evening (longer in summer). We also have large garden so he will take himself off there also. Extra long walks at the weekend (10 miles) when we can

Thanks everyone.

We currently give at least 2x40mins at 8mo with longer /more at weekend. Difficult to do off lead in the week before work in the dark though so it's lead walks mostly but in light we weather we are off on the hills.

Am starting a 20min lunch time round the block today as well.

I’ve always had working dogs and found they have all adapted to what they were offered, generally an hour off lead and then a smaller walk alongside training/stimulation has been enough for most.
The more you run them the more they need, you’ll soon know if they aren’t getting enough as bad behaviours creep in.

I don’t think that sticking to a rigid routine is always the best.
I try and vary it as much as possible, the odd day they might not go out at all and they settle. Some days they go once, sometimes 3, sometimes we don’t go until dinnertime and others 5am. They never expect anything and don’t do that awful pacing wining for a walk thing as a result. I couldn’t deal with that!

Life gets in the way sometimes and teaching a dog to settle regardless of what’s going on is almost as important a skill as running the legs off it IMO.

I have two high-drive gundogs, from working/ field trialling stock. They get 35-45 minutes in the morning, 10-20 minutes at lunch and either a 20-30 minute walk together late afternoon, or 20-30 minutes individual training time. They never get less than about an hour and a quarter, and they very often get substantially more.

IME this keeps them very fit. The key thing is tiring them out mentally - they are both utter pains in the arse, though in different ways, if they miss out on training time. It only takes the younger one a few days to start being restless in the evenings. The older one takes longer, but she gets rude around other dogs. Honestly, you will tire out a bright and active dog much more if you teach it a sit-stay and then build up the time, distance and distractions into a five-minute wait with you 100 yards away. That 5 minutes will tire the dog out far more than the same amount of time rushing about off-lead. The bonus is that you end up with a well-mannered dog. Win-win.

In my experience dogs will take as much as you give them, but they are very routine driven, so start as you mean to go on.

My beagle is equally happy on one hour or five hours. Either way he comes home, has a chew and sleeps the rest of the day away.

The key for us was to never do set walks at set times. Sometimes he's out at 6am, some days it could be as late as midday. If it's really hot or stormy, he might not go out at all. If you set the expectation that they'll get a good run about everyday at 7am, that's what they'll expect and if they don't get it, their behaviour will go downhill.

It's also just as important to tire their mind. Yes, it's important that a dog is fit and healthy but they don't need hours upon hours of exercise everyday to achieve that.

2 hours a day for my labradoodle. 1 hour 15 mins in morning and 45 min onlead in evening.

I know mine hasn't had enough if he's making a nuisance of himself, and I know he's had enough and wants to go home when he's trudging behind me in the park (I don't always let it get to that stage though!)

They are all so different

we have a high energy spaniel BUT we focus on mental stimulation rather than hours of off lead exercise (because it works for our dog we’ve tried both)

so they get a 40min walk each morning which is a mix of sniffing/ doing there own thing and training

then a 20min walk later or some scent work or a training session

try different options to see which works best for your pup x

general rule of thumb a contented dog is one not looking for trouble

Weve got a 19 month old collie, he gets 45mins -1 hour on lead in the morning and the same in the afternoon but off lead on a field and through the woods.

Hes fine to miss an afternoon run but the next morning hes ready to run so that can be a challenege at 5am 🤣🤣.

And I agree with the setting a schedule, we've fallen into that trap due to work but now he expects to go out at 5am at the weekends 😥 ..... im teaching him to go for a pee and back to bed!

I was once told the more you walk/run them the more they will require it and all youre doing is building an athlete.

We’ve got a poodle cross now but have had labradors in the past. There is a big difference in my experience between what a dog from working breed stock needs. So even different Labradors can be quite different in their needs. Our two labradors had the same parents (different litters) - one parent was from “show Labrador stock” and one was from “working Labrador stock”. One of our Labradors was an easy pet - could walk all day if we went for a mountain walk but was equally happy with two 45 min walks and a mooch in the garden. So his temperament was much more “show” Labrador. His sister was much more “working” dog and got very easily bored. She needed much more stimulation on days when she only had two 45 min walks. We found putting her food in different types of purpose made containers (one she had to knock about to get the food out & one she had to use her tongue to get each piece out) and kongs filled with smash (instant mash) and carrot slices which were frozen helped. She was still often bored though and why we went for a poodle cross this time as our life is busy with kids at the moment and he’s happy in the hills all day or going about in the car and quick lead walks to pick the kids up from school etc so long as he has a 20 min walk first thing in the morning.
labradors are adorable. You’ll have a lovely friend in a Labrador. They are high energy dogs though and need brain interest activities. If I still had a Labrador I would try flyball of agility with them.