How old before allowed to run?

[Mrs Helen Kinder]

Hi, I have a puppy who is 14 weeks and full of energy! What is the right age to allow him to run?

I have heard that you have to wait until a certain age, to protect their hips.

[Howard Glansfield]

If the puppy is keen I let them off as soon as their vaccinations are all complete but only for a short while then I recall(using a treat) and finish their walk on their lead.Obviously a very safe area is needed as you never know what a puppy might do.

Arthur has had free runs from as soon as I was able ,then he was restricted because of his leg problems but he is free again and adores being off lead with my other dogs,He is good at coming back and I still don't let him overrun .Puppies will keep on going and have no concept of their own well being! So a little freedom at a time and gradually increase it as your puppy grows.

Howard

PS I had a dog trainer friend who let his GR puppy off on Glebe land which covered a vast area.He just ran and ran,he couldn't be found and five hours later he came trotting back and sat at his owner's feet as if he had only been gone a few minutes! He had to be praised as he had come back...the owner was fizzing and freezing!

[silvia]

We always have been told that the rule is max 5-10' of exercise for every month of age.. so at 3 months is not more than 15-30' walking or off lead and so on.. not sure we have been so literally strict with Oberon, since he loved to play outside, but certainly it is worth to control the time of "energetic" play and walk and keep a strict eye on this, at such a young age.. hips and bones are not strong and they cant take much effort in the growing time :)  Good luck :)

silvia

[Sue Paterson]

I personally exercise off lead for short spells for training purposes only, but a lot can be done by play in the garden still, at that age. Short road walks a couple of times a day at that age, again for training purposes rather than letting off steam, working up to about 30 mins at a time by 6 months. I usually let them run with another setter (usually an older one who self limits) for a short time at 6 -7 months.Steo is now , at 10 months, running freely with one of our other setters in the fields as well as 30 min road walks. He seems fine and can take it. I may be overly cautious, but 2 of mine have suffered panosteitis, and that started at roughly 6 months of age when they started to be let off for free runs, so.....Coincidence?...Maybe...

[Sue and Cash]

I have heard not to force them to run.  Such as jogging with them or biking with them so they can't stop when needed.  But to allow them to run, then play and basically do what they feel like doing for short periods is great.  At 14 weeks I limited the running after the big dogs to just a few minutes since mine would have kept running after them.  We gradually worked up over the first 6-8 months to 2 miles walks with short breaks inbetween each half mile.  

[Mrs Helen Kinder]

Thank you all very much for your comments, some great advice XX

[Ilona & Gina]

That's right. Gina is my jogging companion, and we started one-hour runs when she was about 12 months old. As a rule of thumb, a good exercise time for puppies is to add five minutes for each week of their lives. Now she is 14 weeks, that would be roughly 15 minutes - of course you can't stop her from running and playing in the backyard. But this is not exercise - it's fun. Alternatively, you could play with her - hide and seek in the wardrobes is fantastic! Or find food treats in the laundry basket full of laundry - that is not too hard on her hips!

 

If you mean off the lead exercise, you can start this as soon as she responds to recall. Find a fenced in area, and she'll be fine.