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  1. #1
    Puppy Iverunamuck's Avatar
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    Puppy Activity.. future running partner.

    Hi all... I have my little black lab pup, Madison. She's a rescue so her exact birthday is unknown but she was born Christmas week so we are saying Christmas. Which makes her a bit over 6 months old.....

    How much activity is too much? She loves walks, LOVES walks. We walk to a park, she runs and plays and blows off a huge amount of energy. We walk home. Not a slow amble, she's on a mission. Then she goes barreling around our big backyard like crazy.

    Later on I hope to have another running dog. I enjoy jogging, trail running, hiking. What is the general rule of thumb? Are there others on here that run with their dogs? What sort of timeline did you follow? HOW do you know when the pup needs to just chill? It's summer now and hot here in Nevada so this is when our outdoor activity is actually not that high, winter is when we are out and about more. I just want to mold now the dog I want later, but safely.

    I have a lab mix that is a running buddy too, but I sorta winged it with him and he was fine. I just really don't want to screw up so thought I'd ask you guys since I had no clue this board existed until recently!

  2. #2
    House Broken Maggie's Mom's Avatar
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    Hello and cute puppies! We are following the leash walk rule of 5 minutes per month of age with our puppy Maggie. She is seven months and I walk her for a half hour in the am and pm. Most of her exercise comes from running in our fenced yard and playing with other dogs. I did run (only ever on trails off lead) with my dog who passed away last year. I started running with him when he was around 2 years. The longest he ran at a time was about 6 miles. I think 18 months is considered a reasonable age to start running with a lab. I live in a very different climate than you, but my rule for the when it was hot was to run or walk early morning or evening. It gets very humid here, so sometimes I just decided that it was too hot no matter what time of the day and we would trip to head to a nearby lake for swimming.

  3. #3
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    I have heard 18-24 months when growth plates are closed. Also, be careful of the surface she will be running on; pavement is very hard on joints.

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  5. #4
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
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    you want to encourage free play (off leash) as much as possible. You may want to make sure they take breaks but most dogs do. It's hard to overdo free play on soft surfaces (sand, dirt, grass) though i guess if they were trying to follow other dogs that were of HIGH stamina they could. Free play is good to build stamina and muscle which you want to get a dog in good physical condition.

    Ideally you want the pup to get about the same amount of free play daily (more or less, some days can be harder) over the week and avoid "weekend warrior" type exercise where a dog gets limited exercise (or all on leash) then goes to the park for two hours on the weekend. You want something more balanced.

    what you want to limit/monitor is anything on leash or when the dog is following a human (so even if they are off leash but chasing you on a bike) and on hard surfaces (anything on pavement). It's a question of the strain on the growing joints from repetitive impact on hard surfaces. If you watch a dog in play there is lots of stops and rests in between hard running.

    I ran with my dog for years. Summer is hard so either very early morning or not at all (my dog was not good in the heat). You have to start small and build up. Not all active dogs really enjoy running with a human as it can be boring but most do fairly well.

    And yes you want to wait until they are done growing, better to wait until 18 months ish to be safe even if she's a mix.

  6. #5
    Puppy Iverunamuck's Avatar
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    Hi all and thanks for the replies. I prefer trails, and have always ran through our many parks here. When going through the parks, I'd have my other dog offleash and he'd gallop off in the grass while I ran the paved trail. No she's not a mix, she's a lab. I think I will continue as I am, seems I am doing it right. She gets a lot of regular off leash time at two nearby parks, plus her huge back yard. And then regular walking. No she isn't a weekend warrior. And no she's not chasing a high energy dog, usually she's chasing... me. LOL Thanks again.

 



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