How much exercise for a young puppy?

cyclonenation10

Active member
My 9 week old golden retriever is doing great so far, will sit, lay, (sometimes stay, come, and rollover). Crate training was pretty much a breeze after the first night, but I've been getting it plenty of exercise (maybe more than optimal) by running him for 30-40 minutes a couple of times a day either in the fields or out shed hunting with my older golden. At times, he will start lightly whining (usually after 25-30 minutes) I'm guessing due to fatigue, which is my queue to start heading back to the truck. I've heard that you can potentially overdo it with a young puppy as they are still developing, however nothing is really forced and we work/walk at a very manageable pace - we are not out there putting on several miles or anything like that. My inclination is that I'm not really doing any harm by potentially being on the higher end of the exercise spectrum (probably a much better place to be that on the lower end), however I just want to know what everyone else thinks? I know this phase won't last long, and he'll probably have more energy than I can handle in a couple of months, but at what age do you quit worrying about "over working" your dog (within reason, obviously). For example, on extremely hot days I will limit my mature dogs time in the fields and make sure we are constantly by water, however outside of that I never worry about over-hunting them as we hunt pretty hard about 5 days a week and I've never had any issues (other than very warm days).

Thanks!
 
I don't know what running a 9 week old retriever for 30-40 minutes a day is, but 30-40 minutes of anything with a 9 week old puppy is too much. At 9 weeks, they aren't crate trained. That dog should spend a good amount of in his crate and eating his meals in there. Sounds like a lot of rushing to me. Pick a training program and follow it. I have yet to see a program yet that advocates running a dog 40 minutes at 9 weeks, I would be taking a short walk for about 10 minutes with a lead and working on sit and here. Taking a few treats and rewarding good behavior, then end with a couple of fun bumpers. 9 weeks is a good time to introduce a clipped wing pigeon and start working on gun intro with a training pistol and acorn crimps. Let the dog be a puppy.
 
Two words: Growth Plates

Short version: https://pethelpful.com/dogs/Puppy-Exercise-Needs-How-Much-is-Too-Much

"So how do you gauge your puppy's exercise? And what forms of exercise are appropriate for young pups? As a general rule of thumb, the U.K. Kennel Club recommends five minutes of exercise per month of age twice a day. This means a four-month-old puppy should get about 20 minutes of exercise at a time. Short walks, brief training sessions and play with other pups is often sufficient for young pups."

Long version: https://www.researchgate.net/public...velopment_of_the_Puppy_Birth_to_Twelve_Months

"Young dogs’ bones are not fully developed and are unable to sustain stress or force due to their epiphyseal plates still being
cartilaginous (Figure 3).

Exercise therefore must be limited until dogs have reached maturity to prevent injury. It is advised that a dog is
exercised for five minutes per month of age.
Stairs and large slopes should be avoided to prevent any damage to the
puppy’s growth plates"

Table 2: Approximate Ages for Epiphyseal Plate Closure. (Hammond and McConnel, 2013)
1615859095592.png
 
I don't know what running a 9 week old retriever for 30-40 minutes a day is, but 30-40 minutes of anything with a 9 week old puppy is too much. At 9 weeks, they aren't crate trained. That dog should spend a good amount of in his crate and eating his meals in there. Sounds like a lot of rushing to me. Pick a training program and follow it. I have yet to see a program yet that advocates running a dog 40 minutes at 9 weeks, I would be taking a short walk for about 10 minutes with a lead and working on sit and here. Taking a few treats and rewarding good behavior, then end with a couple of fun bumpers. 9 weeks is a good time to introduce a clipped wing pigeon and start working on gun intro with a training pistol and acorn crimps. Let the dog be a puppy.
In my case, "running" is essentially taking him out with my older dog without a leash and letting them wander as I walk along. The older dog is looking for birds, the puppy stays pretty close and just explores.
 
I don't know what running a 9 week old retriever for 30-40 minutes a day is, but 30-40 minutes of anything with a 9 week old puppy is too much. At 9 weeks, they aren't crate trained. That dog should spend a good amount of in his crate and eating his meals in there. Sounds like a lot of rushing to me. Pick a training program and follow it. I have yet to see a program yet that advocates running a dog 40 minutes at 9 weeks, I would be taking a short walk for about 10 minutes with a lead and working on sit and here. Taking a few treats and rewarding good behavior, then end with a couple of fun bumpers. 9 weeks is a good time to introduce a clipped wing pigeon and start working on gun intro with a training pistol and acorn crimps. Let the dog be a puppy.
Thanks for the input. I guess the main question is, when I take my older dog out for her 2-3 "walks" a day, am I better off just leaving the puppy at home for those? I always figured the more exposure to new environments, nature, etc., would be best and that I would be better off erroring on the side of over exercising rather than under exercising a young dog. I'm starting to think I was looking at it wrong.
 
My next question is, what do you do with your puppy the other 23 hours and 20 minutes per day (assuming maybe 2-3 15-20 minute play/training/walks per day) ? He sleeps good at night with no accidents ( roughly 10 PM - 5AM), with several 1-2 hour naps throughout the day. However in the mean time, he's usually running around chewing on toys, playing with the other dogs, or what not. Should I be limiting all of that and literally keeping the dog crated for 20+ hours a day?
 
No, you don't have to crate them all day. The point is don't _make_ them exercise steadily more than the recommended 5 min per month of age. Free play, roaming around the backyard, and short races around the backyard with your other dog is ok. Let the pup go along at its own pace and to play how and when it wants to.

They play, they sleep...at their own pace. I had a growth plate issue on one of mine that resulted in surgery. I had followed the time guidelines but the orthopedic specialist figured the cause was probably the play with my other dog in my steeply sloped backyard. It can be that simple and dangerous to a pup. Stairs can be bad too. Those growth plates can be easily injured until they harden up.

When you were walking this pup and it was whining at 25 minutes he was telling you something.
 
My next question is, what do you do with your puppy the other 23 hours and 20 minutes per day (assuming maybe 2-3 15-20 minute play/training/walks per day) ? He sleeps good at night with no accidents ( roughly 10 PM - 5AM), with several 1-2 hour naps throughout the day. However in the mean time, he's usually running around chewing on toys, playing with the other dogs, or what not. Should I be limiting all of that and literally keeping the dog crated for 20+ hours a day?
23 hours and 20 minutes of being a puppy. What program are your following? If you are not following a program, I suggest picking one and following it to a "T". Evan Graham, Jackie Mertens, or Bill Hillman for your puppy then moving on to Lardy's TRT program. But you need to pick one. Your asking "what to do" and these programs will spell it out exactly for you. Do yourself and your puppy a favor and pick one. Just stealing bits and pieces here and there and picking the minds of the amateurs on this forum will leave you with a mediocre dog at best.
 
No, you don't have to crate them all day. The point is don't _make_ them exercise steadily more than the recommended 5 min per month of age. Free play, roaming around the backyard, and short races around the backyard with your other dog is ok. Let the pup go along at its own pace and to play how and when it wants to.

They play, they sleep...at their own pace. I had a growth plate issue on one of mine that resulted in surgery. I had followed the time guidelines but the orthopedic specialist figured the cause was probably the play with my other dog in my steeply sloped backyard. It can be that simple and dangerous to a pup. Stairs can be bad too. Those growth plates can be easily injured until they harden up.

When you were walking this pup and it was whining at 25 minutes he was telling you something.
Is there a general rule of thumb for the growth plates to be developed enough that the pup is not at risk ? I could google it, but sounds like you have done the homework already...
Thanks
 
Big oops.....I see further up the thread your attachment....will give it a study..
In general, it looks like a full year to get into safe territory....
 
Signs of a dog getting tired: in my experience, when the dog walks behind you and his tail is low to the ground it's time to quit.

Looks like you've already been given some excellent timelines.

Good luck with your new puppy!
 
I just want to follow-up on this.

I spoke with my Vet yesterday, and she said not to worry at all about growth plates or anything like that. She has spent countless hours researching this exact same thing, and has yet to find anything science-based to back up these claims. She said that a puppy will lay down or just simply stop before coming close to doing any sort of long-term damage, and not to worry about this one bit. Just wanted to share this, I appreciate all of the feedback.
 
Her exact words were this. Throughout schooling and everything she said she never learned anything about growth plates being a cause for concern or anything remotely close to that. She recently got a young puppy as well and had seen some of the same things online, and decided to do some deeper digging (she's an avid runner and wanted to make sure she was not over doing anything with her dog). After a bunch of research and talks with other colleagues, she didn't find anything research/science based to back up any claims to support issues with growth plates, etc. The general consensus that she came to was that this was just something breeders/etc. (not veterinarians) had grabbed ahold of for whatever reason without having any empirical evidence to back it up.

Maybe she's wrong, I'm in no position to say, but I'm going to trust the veterinarians opinion on this one.
 
I have no concerns about growth plates either, only your method of training your little puppy, which you seem to ignore. Looks like your vet has convinced you to continue, without a plan in place. Kind of like trying to train an elementary age school kid like a college athlete, eventually you will burn out the desire. The goal should be to always put them away with a hunger of wanting more. Working to exhaustion will only leave them unwilling to work when the time comes to work. Good Luck.
 
I have learned so much from this group and know we have a lot of very knowledgeable dog owners/trainers. I appreciate the article links, charts and the vet perspectives. It helps us all to make informed decisions. As this thread developed, I was starting to worry after I read the comments that maybe I did my Viszla puppy wrong by pushing too hard. One thing I noticed in this thread is a lot of "quotes" around words like "exercise", "walk", etc. I would never take my puppy on a jog because, well, I don't jog. I do walk a lot though. I am wondering if what is considered "exercise" isn't part of the issue.

My wife and I walk our two dogs nearly every day. Willow started joining us at about 4 months until we extended to our normal 4-5 mile walks (about an hour). Willow also started hunting at 5 months. She would hunt several hours and with her energy covered a lot of ground. I remember the pheasant opener (6 months). She was a little sore in the evening but never showed any sign of slowing or pain as we hunted. I know she was jumping through cattails which was different than the grasslands we hunted for Sharps and Huns. For the next few months, she was an absolute rock star and never tired. After the season, we continue our walks of 4-5 miles. When we are in the country off leash, I know she puts on triple what we walk. She runs and "hunts" the entire time. To conclude, I did not think of going on walks or even hunting with our breaks as anything out of the ordinary. I was just very cautious to make sure we didn't take her on sustained runs of any sort. I do think we were very careful to build Willows strength and stamina in a progression. I am confident we watched closely for any signs of discomfort or tiring. I pray that I did her right and didn't do anything that may have put her at risk to long term health conditions that will prevent her from doing what my dogs and I love to do.
 
I have learned so much from this group and know we have a lot of very knowledgeable dog owners/trainers. I appreciate the article links, charts and the vet perspectives. It helps us all to make informed decisions. As this thread developed, I was starting to worry after I read the comments that maybe I did my Viszla puppy wrong by pushing too hard. One thing I noticed in this thread is a lot of "quotes" around words like "exercise", "walk", etc. I would never take my puppy on a jog because, well, I don't jog. I do walk a lot though. I am wondering if what is considered "exercise" isn't part of the issue.

My wife and I walk our two dogs nearly every day. Willow started joining us at about 4 months until we extended to our normal 4-5 mile walks (about an hour). Willow also started hunting at 5 months. She would hunt several hours and with her energy covered a lot of ground. I remember the pheasant opener (6 months). She was a little sore in the evening but never showed any sign of slowing or pain as we hunted. I know she was jumping through cattails which was different than the grasslands we hunted for Sharps and Huns. For the next few months, she was an absolute rock star and never tired. After the season, we continue our walks of 4-5 miles. When we are in the country off leash, I know she puts on triple what we walk. She runs and "hunts" the entire time. To conclude, I did not think of going on walks or even hunting with our breaks as anything out of the ordinary. I was just very cautious to make sure we didn't take her on sustained runs of any sort. I do think we were very careful to build Willows strength and stamina in a progression. I am confident we watched closely for any signs of discomfort or tiring. I pray that I did her right and didn't do anything that may have put her at risk to long term health conditions that will prevent her from doing what my dogs and I love to do.
4 or 5 months is much different than a puppy who left the litter at 8 weeks and is being ran with an older dog for extended time at 9 weeks.
 
4 or 5 months is much different than a puppy who left the litter at 8 weeks and is being ran with an older dog for extended time at 9 weeks.
I agree 100%. I just saw that 5 minutes of exercise times their age in months recommendation posted and just said to myself "oops" because I would not have been a good dog owner if that is really the case. I would suspect that is a great rule for the first 3-4 months and may need to be reapplied for those "Senior" dogs.
 
I agree 100%. I just saw that 5 minutes of exercise times their age in months recommendation posted and just said to myself "oops" because I would not have been a good dog owner if that is really the case. I would suspect that is a great rule for the first 3-4 months and may need to be reapplied for those "Senior" dogs.
Dog owners get excited and want to make the best dog possible and push to hard just like most do with their own children. It is really simple, just follow the dvd's by Hillman or Mertens. They will take you step by step on how to raise and train your puppy. They have far more knowledge than any of us.
 
I've never heard of Hillman or Mertens, but I'm not a retriever guy. I don't see a problem with taking pup out for walks, just not over doing it. I think a lot of the issues or concerns with growth plates comes into play when you are talking about heavy roading, or jumping, etc. Things of that nature. Let them be a pup. I'm not sure what the correlation is between picking a training program at 9 weeks and growth plates are at this point.
 
No correlation. That has nothing to do with following a training program. The training program is so that the puppy is trained properly start to finish.
 
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