How far to walk puppies? My Breeder says very short distances only until 12 months?

[lone Ranger]

Hello, on my fourth GSD..

Now it may be a case of my Breeder being over protective of young joints... But She wants very short walks...

My pup is the Working Dog type, 17 weeks and about 45 lbs, something over 20 kg... He seems strong, but I am cautious... My Alpha Male has elbow and hip dysplasia, and is on meds. Now the Raw diet has brought him back from the brink of the never never, but I did lots of long walks with him as a pup and I am wondering if I contributed to the genetic weakness he has...

With my new Pup, 17 weeks, I was walking him about a mile around the big block, and the Breeder said that is too much. She is worried about soft unset joints and hips of soft cartiledge and excessive repetitive wear causing problems.

It this being over protective? Or is a mile or two OK? Or should I wait until he is 6 months or longer? Your thoughts please, please qualify your experience if you have any long term experience with raising the pups, like not just one lucky or unlucky, but how many that qualifies you to give an answer with some experience please?

Thank you in advance for your answers...

[MichaelE]

Most days Lisl and I walk around two miles. Some days when I'm beat it's just one and some extra playtime. She's 17 weeks.

I never had a GSD that was diagnosed with HD.

[sashadog]

Having raised 5 puppies, and walking them right about 2 miles by the time they were a couple months old, I've never had any dog with HD or ED. Granted they weren't GSD's but they were medium/large breed dogs with the same general growth pattern. Now, most of the time they were on grass and if we went farther they were off leash in the mountains so no repetitive pounding the pavement.

12 months seems like a really long time to keep a GSD restricted to such limited exercise... I can understand not do miles and miles on pavement when they're under 5-6 months old but after that... personally, I would limit strenuous ball play, jumping, and fast turns/high speeds more than I would worry about limiting leisurely walking, especially if you can find soft ground.

[mego]

Think it's just running excessively/jumping excessively on hard surfaces that really are the problem. Leisurely walks aren't a big deal in my opinion, they're so low impact, especially if you're on grass

[lone Ranger]

Hello Friends and fellow GSD Lovers

My 10 year old Alpha Male suffers from displaysia that I am afraid I might have contributed to.. Hence the question, and I am with you on your answers so far... Thank you..

The problem is we would like to go further and do not want the damage potential.. I think my Breeder might be being over cautious with the soft cartilege joints.

The pup is on the large side for 17 weeks, over 20 kg, maybe 22? now. Anyway because of size we forget how young the babies really are. I want to start increasing the walks, maybe up to a couple of miles at 6 months sort of 7 weeks from now... I was really fishing for what your Breeders or Trainers had instructed you on the distance...

[Galathiel]

I believe I read one time that it's not so much the distance but the rhythmic (i.e. non stop) motion of 'forced' (on leash) walking that can be detrimental. I would be sure to make periodic stops along the way so that there is a change of motion, including brief rests for sniffing and to interrupt the repetitiveness of the walking motion.

[Shaolin]

Our breeder said to slowly increase the distance. She wanted us going no more than a quarter of a mile in a day for the first three months, then every month after increase as we saw fit. By his first birthday, we were walking two to three miles a day. She really pressed into us to keep him from jumping off of things and landing on hard surfaces until he was over a year which was a lot easier than I thought. At 3, he OFA'ed "Good", so I guess it worked.

[huntergreen]

i am not a breeder nor an expert, but subscribe to, "an ounce of prevention......". if you trusted your breeder enough to purchase a puppy from her/him, why not trust their instructions.

[gagsd]

If you are walking your pup to the point of the pup laying down or lagging, then too much.
As long as the puppy is walking with you and happy, all should be well.
I consider it the difference between "forced" exercise (a no-no) and exercise.

[Okin]

Here is how my Vet explained it to me. A lot of breeders believe that walking your dog and having it jump at an early age will lead to HD. At least my Vet's opinion was that HD is genetic and jumping will not cause it to happen, but you may see that they have HD when they jump off of something or run a long distance. Since a lot of breeders "guarantee" against HD for the first year they are realistically sayinig that we want you to stay away from the type of activities that will make HD show itself during the time period your warranty is for.

I am not a Vet or breeder that is just the explanation I got from my Vet who I trust.