strange advice from a crazy women?

[kingnewport]

Hi all,

I was walking my 13 week border earlier and this batty women walking her 4 year old border ( with bad hips) said to me I shouldnt walk my pup cos shes to young and only keep her on her lead in the garden. She said its because of her hips arent ready yet or sumthing. Any truth in this or is she nuts, she did keep babbling on.

cheers all

[richie223]

I was told the same when I had my German Shepard ! Don't know if its true or not

[oscarsdad]

You should limit exercise in a young dog in order not have have problems in later life...5minutes of walk per month of age is a good guide so you should only be doing about 15 min with yours at the moment.

[B725]

The batty women has some sense young dog,the bones are still soft so it does not need long walks.

[beeredup]

yup i try to stick to the 5 mins/month of age so Bullet gets no more than 40 mins twice a day at the moment less if he is charging around i like to let him swim as thats low impact on his joints

[scotslad]

Spot on above, it is fine to let pup tear about a garden chasing other dogs as that's 100% natural and will stop when it's tired, but when walking on a lead it has to walk at ur speed wot ever distance u decided.

I don't walk my pups far on a lead only really training heel work vey short time but few times a day and let them run with older dogs or training for exercise.

 

I also don't like young dogs jumping (high) for same reason, not so bad jumping into motor/pick up but i always lift them down from it, esp as my tail gate is fairly high can jar the hips/joints landing

Edited June 14, 2013 by scotslad

[cocker boy]

Borders with bad hips?. That's bad breeding not bad rearing. I have never been one for "walking" the dogs anyway so i wouldn't know. You should have told her to **** off and mind her own business. Why do people with dogs think they need to give advice to other people with dogs in the street anyway?.

[vampire]

The crazy woman was 100% right,labs and sheperds especially, are prone to hip problems form over exercise as a pup,ask your vet what is considered suitable exercise.

[scotslad]

First time i ever heard off it we were working away staying in digs, the owner off the digs had a severly arthtritic collie (only about 4 years old) due to over exercise as a pup, as she knew they were energetic dogs when adults she thought she was doing the right thing walking it for miles and miles when young

 

Breeding is only partly to blame for bad hips, yes some breeds have a history of bad hips but some of it is also due to it's formative months, jumping or jumping down from things or even if ur pup stands on its back legs in run a lot are all things that could infleuence the hips in future if taken to extreme's

 

I must admit i sometimes see people walking a very young pup and think about saying something, althou never have yet, possibly she's caused her borders bad hips by over walking and is only trying to raise ur awareness (which has worked) so u don't cause the same problem

[delburt0]

The batty women has some sense young dog,the bones are still soft so it does not need long walks.

+ 1

[al4x]

Letting them up and down stairs a lot also isn't the best at a young age, fundamentally the woman here gave you decent advice and sounds like it was based on experience

[Kes]

The crazy woman was 100% right,labs and sheperds especially, are prone to hip problems form over exercise as a pup,ask your vet what is considered suitable exercise.

Not only labs and shepherds - big dogs like Great Danes and Mastiffs need the same time to mature - no excessive walk/exercise.

[shakari]

I can understand not letting them jump down from the back of a car etc until they're adult and I can understand not tearing the arze out of exercising any young dog but have to say, I take the idea of 5 mins of exercise per month of age with a pinch of salt.

 

Using the example raised, that would mean that a working breed that has been bred for hundreds of years to earn it's keep by running up and down mountains in pursuit of hysterical sheep could only be expected to work for 2 hours a day when it's 2 years old.

 

I've seen plenty of working sheepdogs and owners in my life but I've never seen a single one that sticks to that rule.

[al4x]

Generally it's only while the dog is growing fastest by a year most development is done

[shakari]

I can understand the logic to a degree & certainly don't profess to be an expert but I reckon an awful lot must depend on breed & even individual animal because of things like hip score, diet & even terrain etc...... I wouldn't dismiss the idea completely so perhaps using it as a guideline rather than a strict rule might be the best idea.