Exercise For Fast Growing Puppy

[Lassman]

While researching this breed (doberman) I've come across information about not giving them excessive amounts of 'forced exercise' since they are growing at a rapid speed and strenuous exercise can cause problems in their joints. What kinds of exercise do you recommend so I can avoid any problems. Just walking? I'm not sure.

Thank you xx :)

Edited March 7, 2014 by Lassman

[Salukifan]

Walking a pup on lead IS "forced exercise".

Free play with similar sized pups or dogs or gentle offlead play would be my recommendations. This does NOT mean taking the pup down to the local offlead park to be body slammed by the local 'thugs'.

Talk to your pup's breeder but five minutes of walking per month of age is what many people recommend with no serious onlead exercise until at least 12 months old.

Edited March 7, 2014 by Haredown Whippets

[dididog]

Gentle play and small walks that are age appropriate are fine and even better if you can stick to grass/sand and make sure you avoid lots of jumping off couches/out of cars etc. On top of not exercising too strenuously make sure you keep your puppy as lean as possible as you want to avoid your puppy carrying anymore weight than necessary on its growing joints. I have a giant breed puppy who's 5 months old now, it was a bit frustrating at first because she had crazy amounts of energy and it was tempting to just let her run around till she was tired but you have to keep it all in perspective, the more work you put into tiring your puppy out with regular mental stimulation, play and limited exercise the better off your puppy's health will be when it's grown. It's probably the thing I worry about the most and even though she's nearing 25kg I still try and lift her up and down off most things, when she jumps off the couch it makes me cringe!

I'm sure your breeder will talk to you in depth before you take you puppy home but don't overlook it's importance.

[persephone]

plus lots of VERY short periods of MENTAL exercise ...(training) and interactive toys ,plus a sand pit , drives in the car ..where you can ,with pup harnessed safely , wind the window down so pup can see/smell/hear kids playing at a park... that sort of thing :)

leash/collar training can be taught in your house/yard (with hardly any walking) , plus little tricks and LOTS of good manners which will make pup's entry into the outside world MUCH more pleasant :) .

A tired brain can make for a relaxed and tired puppy .......................................... ;)

Edited March 7, 2014 by persephone

[Steph M]

What about small bouts of swimming, if pup happens to be a swimmer? Or paddling. Would that be suitable at all?

[Nekhbet]

very short walks, but free play is best as you incorporate training. Swimming and wading is great too :)

[Dogsfevr]

Im the opposite all my active large breed pups are taught how to switch off .

I do walk mine within reason as they need to be lead trained and experience the world but its a short walk

We don't teach leash training in our backyard & all our pups from 5 weeks play in the front garden so they see cars,bikes ,kids & any other noise .

You can simply sit out the front on leash .

As for weight im not a fan of too lean ,my large breeds pups are well covered they grow quickly and a underweight pup can suddenly be anorexic when it grows so adjusting the weight to growth is important ,I see far to many lean pups up to 12 months & then they struggle to get weight or condition on .

Your breeder should be a wealth of knowledge though & don't be afraid to ask them questions us breeders want to hear from our puppy buyers & give them sound breed knowledge

[dididog]

To clarify when I say 'as lean as possible' I mean as lean as you can get within a healthy weight range and fit, not underfed. Perhaps it is less of an issue with finer boned dogs like Dobermans but I know with Danes and heavy set giant breeds there is no need to have a chubby puppy. Having an underfed puppy that is malnourished and finds it hard to then gain weight is just as problematic though.

[espinay2]

Lots of free running play on undulating surfaces if you can (i.e. up and down small hills rather than on all flat surfaces). This is the type of exercise where the pup can self regulate their activity and play in 'bursts'. If you want to take them out to do this sort of play, but dont have a safe fenced area to go to, get a long line or horse lunge line and take your pup to a quiet park or open area. This allows a bit more freedom to have a run around while still safely on lead. you can play a game with a toy too.

You can go out on lead, but this is for the purposes of socialsiation, not exercise. So rather than 'going for a walk', do things like going fun/new places and seeing and experiencing fun/new things etc etc. The importance is placed on the experience, not the 'exercise' (i.e. mental stimulation).

Good muscle development is important, so don't wrap the pup in cotton wool, but while growing, on lead walks should be kept short, and limit stair climbing and jumping down from heights too (all these place pressure on soft growth plates because of their percussive/repetitive nature).

[sandgrubber]

A recent study based on a large number of pups followed until 10 yrs of age (sighted somewhere in pinned Studies about Dogs Topic in the General Forum) found walking was not a problem, but stairs were a big problem. Farm raised pups given free exercise had better hips .

http://www.scienceda...20326112842.htm

" The opportunity to exercise daily in parks up until the age of three months reduced the risk of HD, whereas the daily use of steps during the same period increased the risk. Overall, it would appear that daily exercise out in gently undulating terrain up until the age of three months gives a good prognosis when it comes to preventing HD."

Edited March 12, 2014 by sandgrubber

[wuffles]

What do people do for high energy pups who do not really do 'gentle' play and do not 'self regulate' in the sense that, off leash, they will run and run and run and run and run and run and... you get the gist?

My pup could still run a marathon after an hour of obedience training or an hour of free play etc. We've generally followed the '5 minutes walking per month of age' rule but that's only for stimulation as it doesn't make a dent in energy levels :)

(We've done a lot of work to teach him to settle while in the house no matter how much or little exercise he gets, but it's still a bit of a balancing act in terms of giving him enough to at least dim the 'busyness' slightly. He's a skinny little blighter too, on the go all the time!) :)

[dididog]

I'm glad my girl sleeps most of the time, if she had the energy and mental stimulation needs of a working breed I probably would've gone crazy trying to keep her contained but content. At nearly 6 months old she still sleeps as much as when we got her, must be all that growing she's doing but nothing is more terrifying than an extremely big and uncoordinated puppy trying to do zoomies in a little inner city house but luckily those moments are few and far between :laugh:

[sandgrubber]

What do people do for high energy pups who do not really do 'gentle' play and do not 'self regulate' in the sense that, off leash, they will run and run and run and run and run and run and... you get the gist?

My pup could still run a marathon after an hour of obedience training or an hour of free play etc. We've generally followed the '5 minutes walking per month of age' rule but that's only for stimulation as it doesn't make a dent in energy levels :)

(We've done a lot of work to teach him to settle while in the house no matter how much or little exercise he gets, but it's still a bit of a balancing act in terms of giving him enough to at least dim the 'busyness' slightly. He's a skinny little blighter too, on the go all the time!) :)

I'd let 'em rip, so long as the exercise isn't resulting in trauma (eg, falling off things, collisions) that may damage bone structure.

Has anyone had a case of a high-energy pup given loads of free exercise turning out with problems because they were given freedom? I've never have.

[wuffles]

What do people do for high energy pups who do not really do 'gentle' play and do not 'self regulate' in the sense that, off leash, they will run and run and run and run and run and run and... you get the gist?

My pup could still run a marathon after an hour of obedience training or an hour of free play etc. We've generally followed the '5 minutes walking per month of age' rule but that's only for stimulation as it doesn't make a dent in energy levels :)

(We've done a lot of work to teach him to settle while in the house no matter how much or little exercise he gets, but it's still a bit of a balancing act in terms of giving him enough to at least dim the 'busyness' slightly. He's a skinny little blighter too, on the go all the time!) :)

I'd let 'em rip, so long as the exercise isn't resulting in trauma (eg, falling off things, collisions) that may damage bone structure.

Has anyone had a case of a high-energy pup given loads of free exercise turning out with problems because they were given freedom? I've never have.

We let him go feral when he's outside :laugh: