Realistically, how much exercise does your lab get per day?

[ArchieSit]

Now that Archie is 18 months old and starting to settle just a tad, I've been wondering this. On the best days, which are generally twice per week, Archie gets an hour-plus strenuous hike (not off-leash, though), then some playtime with the kids in the backyard, then 30 minute walk at night. Other good days include when we have agility class or a day at doggie day care.

Worst case -- 30 min walk in the morning, 30 minutes at night. Luckily this doesn't happen very often, maybe once or twice a month.

He is rarely crated/left alone for more than three hours, and whenever I'm home he has open access to the backyard, and since I have two kids, he sees a lot of people most days.

What are your best/worst scenarios? We live in a pretty urban area, for the record.
-e

[sheltieluver]

Best case which is most of the time Gauge gets about 30 mins in the morning and a few 30 to 45 min play sessions in the afternoon. I bring him to work if thier are dog friendly dogs his size to romp and play with. I usually spend an hour or two playing and training when I get home from work. He's not crated and sleeps most of time.

Worse case is mostly when it rains and I can't get him out to run but we play inside game find it and work on new tricks and training. Udually I will give him raw marrow bones on those days to keep him buisy.

[BaconsMom]

Best Case--1+ hours of retrieving/hunting training --usually 3X per week, depending on work

Most days--either a long walk through the neighborhood or fetch outside with lots of chewing inside, plus some nose work training.

Worst case--30 mins of off leash play/fetch outside or running around while yard work is done.

With both of us working, Bacon is in his kennel typically 8am-2pm, so we make it priority to have lots of time for him to run around. If we have evening activities, we usually bring him with us so he can play at family/friends houses too.

[Tanya]

we do no less than 30 minutes in the morning and at least an hour in the evening of walking. If I have a foster, penny and the foster will play on top of that. If no foster I try to play fetch with Penny during the walk. Then I try for a training session at night. More on weekends.

we had been doing more in the morning but it's too dark now. this is a hard time for exercise as it's dark which limits my options a great deal.

[MikeLynn]

More than an hour every morning regardless of the weather and most of it off leash. It's combined with some fetch depending on Mel's mood, but she usually prefers running around, sniffing around and discovering the wonders of the country. 20-30 minutes around noon and the same thing in the evening both the latter are on the leash because we're in the city. Sometimes we luck out and meet our friendly Bobtail girl who's really sweet and they just love each other; the owners have a fenced in yard, so it's safe for the girls to run around like crazy and play. This, however, happens once a week or less.

[Annette47]

Best case is jogging (with me) and swimming along the way. We do about 4 miles, which with the swimming breaks takes about 45-60 minutes depending on how much swimming she does.

Worst case is a 30-40 minute walk (1.5-2 miles). It's rare that's all she gets - it only happens if we are VERY busy that day, and it never happens twice in a row.

Most days are in the middle and often involve some amount of Obedience training as well, as well as fetch in the yard.

One thing though - she is NEVER crated and has the run of the house and yard (via a doggie door) so spends lots of time running in and out after squirrels, to bark at passing dogs, etc.

That was all for Chloe.

Mulder at 15.5 gets one or two 20 minute walks a day, plus whatever wandering in the house and yard he feels like.

[doubledip1]

Luna usually gets half an hour off leash play/fetch twice a day. She usually gets 2 hours on weekends and Wednesdays (hike, dog park etc.). She also goes to doggie day care at least once a week. She is not crated during the day.

[maczinger]

Skeena's 3, and we don't have a daily schedule, but more a weekly schedule:

Mondays/Tuesdays/Thursdays: short morning walk (15 minutes), mid day walk (45 minutes), maybe an evening walk (15 minutes).
Wednesday/Friday: morning walk, comes to work with me, at least 1 hour off leash walk on Wednesdays.
Sat/Sun: at least one hour of off leash and one other small walk.

He also gets some play time/training/stimulation in the house every day.

[Archie]

Archie is loose in the house all day and alone from 9:30-4:30. When DH leaves in the morning, Archie is on our bed. When I get home, he's still there, so he's clearly getting what he needs, lol!

In the morning he gets a half hour walk or off leash fetch time in a huge field on our street. In the evening, usually a 30 minute walk, lots of indoor fetch/tug time, and a short training session.

Weekends he always gets at least one long off-leash hike, a trip to the dog park, or some other bigger activity.

For his age, he's pretty low maintenance.

[shellbell]

Monday through Friday we get up early and walk for about an hour before I go to work. When I come home from work in the evenings, we don't really do a whole lot of structured exercise. Cabo is currently in an agility class that meets Friday evenings, and then a couple times a month Tux has Barn Hunt practice on Thursday evenings. On the weekends, I try to make it up to our property in the country so that they can run around off leash and swim in the lake. But now that it is deer season, we won't be going up there until December.

Mine are happy and content with this schedule. When they were younger, we did doggie daycare and did a lot more chuck-it and frisbee in the backyard. Tux is six and Cabo will be six in January. They still have plenty of energy and will run and go for hours when given the opportunity, but it's not like they NEED tons of activity to keep them from going nuts.