Erm, I could not in all honesty tick any of your boxes! We do very little formal exercise, as such, as my dogs (the adult ones) get access to 4.5 acres every day. I do agility on Saturday mornings as part of formal training and sometimes agility at home, plus competitions in the summer. I throw a ball on a rope, let my adult dogs swim in my pool and if they are being particularly irritating and demanding attention some one to one obedience-type training which usually knocks them out!!
So if I was to answer your questions:
Run and play
Yes
Depends on type of exercise (running/swimming/playing/training)
Definitely
They seem to be
Probably
Good questions and i'll sure you'll get a lot of answers.
Once your dog has grown as much as he is going to skeleton wise, at about 12 - 14 months of age, and if there have been no previous health problems, lameness, or inherited problems with joints and so on, then you can resume any exercise schedule that suits you and your dog.
A varied exercise schedule is best. The same walk round the same park 7 days a week at the same time for 14 years is little life for a dog, they enjoy seeing new places and faces as much as we do and the odd treat walk such as getting in the car and finding a beach. Swimming is great exercise, frantic repetitive ball or toy chasing is not, at any age it just hypes the dog up and strains joints and tendons.
About an hour a day is plenty for the average well fed but carefully cared for Labrador retriever.
If you are the sort of family who like long rambles at the weekends your weekday work MUST give grace to that and get the dog in condition. You can't nip it round the block twice a day then expect it to be fit enough to do 4 hours up Ben Nevis on Sunday Its a fittening process.
Hills are great for dogs, steady trundles up and down do more than miles of flat work. Roadwork on pavements on lead is good for feet nails and hardening tendons.
Thereis no general rule other than to take it VERY easy until the pup reaches physcial maturity, just a few short minutes a day till at least 6 - 8 months of age. If they require mental stuimulation use constructive toy play and training rather than charging about.
If I average it out over the month, then my two adult dogs probably get around an hour a day. If one day it is tipping down with rain, then maybe they'll only get 20-30 mins off-lead run around, whereas if it's a nice, sunny, crisp day we will maybe go awandering (with them off lead) for a couple of hours.
If we are planning on doing a long walk then I build the girls up to that over a couple of weeks.
I try to get Mojo (black Lab) swimming once a week (weather permitting) as she loves a swim and it is such a good allround workout.
I'm the early days Mojo could not be tired out by walking......she would have gone on all day if I let her....So I kept walks short but did lots of training with her at home instead...This seemed to wear her out mentally rather than let her run herself into the ground.
Oyster (Lab/ Goldie x) is happy if I take her out on lead for 10 mins....or once or twice a week she is allowed to go out for a run round with the other dogs for about half an hour...She is a GDBA pup though so most of her exercise comes in the form of training, which she finds very tiring indeed.
Corbie's now 2 and his walk routine is something like:
Mon - Fri will usually have one walk a day between 20mins and an hour - varies between on-lead and off-lead.
At weekends we tend to go to new places, and just this Saturday we had a 5 hour hike in the hills and he was off-lead for most of this.
He will always have a snooze after his walks no matter how long he's been out.
Depending where we walk, I will sometimes take a toy or his frisbee and we play with that whilst out which he enjoys.
Corbie enjoys his walks no matter how far they are or where they are, as long as he has one.
couldnt really tick any of the boxes cos our dogs get out for a run in the garden....7 times a day...mums garden is huge and are out for about 10-15 mins each time thats the older dogs, B & M get out more often but not for so long and they dont get to run around all the time maybe just once or twice a day, you maybe think that its not fair letting them out in the garden, mum stays in the middle of nowhere and her garden isnt a little back garden takes dad 3 days to cut the grass!!heehee
____________ Sarah x
Doesn´t matter you didnt win the first prize you always take home the best dog!
3 Varying amounts she can have short walks then sleep, the same as with long ones and training
4 Yes
5 She seems well adjusted and balanced
6 I think you need to find the right mix for your dog , Fudge loves swimming or walking in the woods, just as much as running round in the park. We also do a small amount of training everyday.
Everyday is different for us. Most days they get 45 - 60 mins per day, but there are days, like Jules says, where weather conditions aren't too great so they don't get such a long walk. Then there are days to the beach on odd occasions and they could be running for up to 3 hours, maybe more!!!
Whatever kind of walk they get, they are always pooped out. I vary my walks too - where I live there are woods and fields and there must be at least half a dozen different walks - we never go on the same walk. And doing this twice a day, I could never stick to the same route! How boring! Their fave walk at the moment is where there is this huge muddy puddle, its fairly deep too. But then I have to climb some really steep steps after, so its not just them who benefit from the walks!
I love walking - there are not many days when I feel like its a chore, or I don't have time. I tend to all the walks in the morning which wakes me up no end, then I have the afternoon to do what I need to do (or do nothing while they snore away!)
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Its a fittening process.
