How much exercise is too much?

[ChiliD]

Another thread in a different forum has me wondering. How much exercise is too much for a GSD? The reason I ask is couple of friends of mine would run their Golden Retriever 30-40 or more miles a week. They loved it, the dog loved, everyone was happy. At around 7 or 8 years old, the dog became crippled with major joint problems. The vet said the running caused the damage, which devastated my friends even more. What is a reasonable amount of running, at say between a 7 and 8 minute mile pace, depending on the length of the runs?

[Lenny]

My Grandmother passed away from lung cancer and she never smoked. My point is, I don't think you can just say, you run a lot, the dog has joint problems... must be the running. Especially just running. 5 miles at a human joggers pace is barely a trot for a dog. Lots of jumping, running down hills, etc... is a different story.

[N Smith]

It completely depends on the terrain, the age the dog was started, how the dog was conditioned and most importantly GENETICS!

A lot of people recommend only free play, with small walks for puppies, to keep the stress on their bodies down. As they age, you slowly build up endurance and types of activities(hiking, swimming, jumping, running, biking etc). Waiting until joints are fully formed before repetitive activities are practiced is also key, young dogs need diversity in their exercise routines, to break up repetitive stress on joints (swimming being one of the best!). But one of the biggest components is going to be genetics. Having dogs bred from dogs that have low incidents of joint issues/malformations, is the best way to reduce your dogs chances of having them.