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  1. #1
    House Broken Yolie's Avatar
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    Is it ever too soon to take a puppy for a walk?

    Hi everyone.

    I purchased my first puppy on Monday. Onyx is 8 weeks old and full of energy. My apartment complex forms a circle that is about 1/4 of a mile around. I've tried to take Onyx for a walk around the circle, but he only seems to walk for about two minutes at a time. Then he stops, sits and stares at me. I end up carrying him while I walk, so now I just let him guide me around the grassy area of my apartment to do his business and then I take him back inside where he loves to run around and play.
    Do you think he's just being stubborn or is he too young to go for "long" walks?

  2. #2
    Real Retriever Laura's Avatar
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    Yes! It is too soon, not from a behavioral standpoint, but from a disease-exposure standpoint. I would be inclined to walk him only in an area that you know there have been no sick dogs. Parvo is very difficult to eradicate and can remain in soil for a very long time. Even if he has one set of vaccinations on board, he may not be safe.
    Hidden Content Theo 8/14/14

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    happy_blackbird (03-20-2015), POPTOP (03-19-2015), SnappinSami (03-19-2015), Snowshoe (03-20-2015), Yolie (03-19-2015)

  4. #3
    Senior Dog ChoppersDad's Avatar
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    He is too young for long walks. Puppies get tired very easily. The next phase will probably be more interest in smells in lieu of taking a long walk. Once he gets accustomed to his surrounding and he builds up his stamina, he will love the longer walks. As mentioned above, make sure your pup has had all of his vaccination shots prior to exposing your puppy to possible diseases.

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  6. #4
    House Broken Yolie's Avatar
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    Thank you Laura. I'm such a newbie, I didn't think about the health aspect, and he doesn't go to the vet until Saturday!

  7. #5
    House Broken Yolie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChoppersDad View Post
    He is too young for long walks. Puppies get tired very easily. The next phase will probably be more interest in smells in lieu of taking a long walk. Once he gets accustomed to his surrounding and he builds up his stamina, he will love the longer walks.
    Super! Thanks for the info!

  8. #6
    Real Retriever sipsi's Avatar
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    Awww he is too young now. Wait for it. You WILL have long walks soon.

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  10. #7
    House Broken Yolie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sipsi View Post
    Awww he is too young now. Wait for it. You WILL have long walks soon.
    Thanks Sipsi. I'll wait. I'm so looking forward to going on walks with my new best friend!

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  12. #8
    Senior Dog
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    One thing to remember when you take him out before he has all of his shots...stick to paved surfaces. According to our vet, there's far less chance of disease transmission there than there is on grass.

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  14. #9
    House Broken Yolie's Avatar
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    Thanks Sundance. Will do!

  15. #10
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Notwithstanding all the good posts above I say absolutely not. Not if it's safe, not too long, not on a leash. It's going to be harder for you, not having your own backyard, but if you have safe places to walk around that would be great to start teaching COME.

    Teaching COME

    We have a good sized backyard but I also carried puppy over to trails that were not well used by other dogs. We even met up with a safely vaccinated adult neighbour dog and had very short walks in the bush and in a paved but yet undeveloped new subdivision. My pups didn't actually have leash walks till they were safely vaccinated, 4.5 months old for us. Till then they were off leash. Only on leash till we got far enough into the bush trails to not be near the road.

    There is a rule of thumb for puppy exercise that I followed loosely. The 5 minute rule. 5 minutes of forced exercise per month of age allowed twice a day. Forced being anything on leash, hard surface, straight line, constant pace, too cold or too hot. And/or. Unleashed free play on soft surface, safe area unlimited as puppy can stop, rest, change pace and speed at will and is less likely to build up a repetitive injury. Except my puppy did not know when to stop and would run till he was wheezing for breath so I did have to make him stop. I did pretty well follow the 5 minutes even though we were off leash as sometimes it was -30C out. But I made it per outing then, since we were off leash. Have fun.

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