[katdog5911]

I am truly impressed by how active everyone seems to be! I must be a real lazy butt....

 

[WendyDsMom]

In my house - it's not THEM that need the exercise.... It's ME! If it wasn't for THEM - I would be overweight and lazy.

God bless THEM that demand the walkies....

But - 4:30 AM - Rain or Shine - 2 miles of brisk walk
5:ish PM - Short poopie run
Tuesdays at 7 - TRAINING for 1 1/2 hours at training center
Wednesdays at 6 - Puppy play hour
9:00 PM - Rain or Shine - 2 miles of brisk walk

 

[wyoung2153]

I realize this is an old thread, but for what's it's worth...

Work days: 2 mile run in the morning, 2 mile run in the afternoon after work.. and then probably a mile or so of walking after that. before dinner or about an hour after, he gets to play fetch for a little while. That boy is a fetch addict.. it's his crack I swear! Haha..

the weekends are a little slower oddly enough. On Saturdays we do SAR training so i don't work him out in the mornings, I need him to be rearing to go when I say so. Later in the day I will play fetch with him on, and off. I will do at 2 mile run on Sunday mornings and play with him through out the day. If I go hiking or to the beach on the weekends, he comes as well.

 

[christinemarie.erickson]

Exercise and the Rest

My husband and I adopted a beautiful East German pup from a breeder last August. He is just about five months old and I just started to jog lightly with him twice a day, for about twenty minutes in the morning before work and then another half hour or so when I get home. Within the jog I incoropate some play time when I chase him around/and or play fetch (make sure to teach your dog fetch). My husband plays with him more after I leave for work. Along with training (5-20 minutes everyday, tricks, obedience, hide and seek, etc..), I would say we plan for a solid 2 hours of dog time everyday. And I mean solid time with dog....that does include your own exercise time, though, if that is a plus.

This is my first GSD, and I don't know how his exercise needs will change but I assume I will have to adjust more as he grows and needs more intense exercise. We have introduced him to the bike just a little bit and plan to incorporate biking riding into his exercise routine, along with fetch.

His breeder said that walks along with 15-20 minutes of intense fetch everyday should do it, but so far it is a little more intensive than that. I imagine it might get less as the dog grows older. We'll see! It is a working dog, so we were prepared to care for him.

I was sick with a cold last week and he did get a little nuts when I couldn't exercise him as well as I usually did.

 

[Narny]

I dont know how Lulu will change over time, but she is really laid back for a puppy (11 weeks). She needs MAYBE an hour of outside play... back yard kind of play. Other wise shes ok with just laying about in the house chewing things lol.

 

[julie87]

Walks 2 times a day for 30 min each, sometimes longer to let her smell things, GSD love to sniff. Training in the house, playing tug in the house after her walk she will usually either settle down and sleep or will play with a chew toy, afterwards she will wake up and play on her own, then she is back to chewing, then its sleep and then itsa another walk usually before bed time,she settles for the night until we wake up in the morning. however, if you for some reason miss a walk she will become very desruptive, for example when I have my breakfast she will cllmb on the table and will try to get my attention, and she becomes very disruptive in the house, she will bite walls, she will pulls items off the tables/shelves, to sum up if you don't keep your GSD busy they will find what to do and you will not be happy with results.

 

[Kyleigh]

Might be an old thread, but I read through the whole thing and it was great to see how many people do so much with their dogs.

I've always liked / wanted active dogs otherwise I'd stay in all day / night and quilt or something ... so Kyleigh is EXACTLY what I needed, even if she does drive me bonkers some times.

During the week:
Up at 5 - over to the kid's park and we play there for about 1/2 an hour - she's a whizz at going down the slide, up the ladders, etc. Her own agility course!

Noon - she gets an hour outside with my dad - he kicks the soccer ball around for her ... he's always amazed at her focus / intensity ... it's very cute to listen to him brag to me about how "awesome" a goalie she'd make LOL

I leave for work / home by 3:45 and we're gone til about 6 or 7 depending on where we are going. It's always off leash no matter where we go

Supper time / chew bone time ... then back out to the park to play soccer / and do her agility course again. Bed time is at 11:30

Saturdays and Sundays
Up at 6, a lazy breakfast for me (1/2 an hour LOL) and then we hit a trail (with my friend and her dog) by 7 am and aren't back til about noon or so.

6 pm or so, we are back out for another two hours ... either at the dog park / a friend's house or someone comes over

Unless it's -40 we are out pretty much all day, with a break in the afternoon for a snooze, warming up and I need to clean the house sometime!!

Some of the things we do on the weekends:

Hikes in the mountains, Cottages in the summer, Farmers fields in the fall (she so loves to jump on the huge round bales of hay!) and lots of walks in the woods so she can chase all those squirrels away.

I'll be getting her dog sled soon so we'll be training with that soon, and I bring her downtown at least twice a week to do "urban agility" and she loves that!

I've "encouraged" Ky to be active so I am paying for it now LOL ... she can relax in the house now with no problems, but she's definitely a dog that is ready to go at the drop of a hat ... she doesn't need ANY coaxing to leave the house!

 

[Crimes]

Apollo is VERY active! lol
I don't complain though As I am a very active person myself.
e's still a baby though, so that might be a big reason why.
He wakes me up around 6 to 8 in the morning with lots of kisses and slobbers, then I let him out the the bathroom, bring him back inside for breakfast, then we like to spend at least an hour at the park with his favorite toys
If it's too cold, we just go for a long walk, weaving up and down through the blocks in my neighborhood. He also usually gets a walk at night, as well as spending most of the day playing and chasing his 'brother' (my sister's dog) Siri.
By the end of the day, he's usually so exhausted, he just conks right out!

 

[triangulum]

This explains perfectly what I feel every day for Bear...don't get me wrong...it can be SUPER annoying....but in the moments when I feel the way you perfectly verbalized it, it's amazing. GSDs are special and really do give what they get. As long as you can get used to peeing with a cute pair of "personal body guard" eyes staring at you...you're good.

Hahaha that sounds like my pup. I haven't been able to use the bathroom or shower without him staring at me since we got him.

Vecna is about 17 weeks old and is insanely energetic. When I first got him I tried to limit his physical activity becase I'd seen so many people saying that puppies shouldn't have walks or exercise that exceeds 5 min/month of age and he drove me insane. And this was with doing a couple hours of training and games throughout the day.

This is Vecna's current schedule:
We work on heeling, sitting at intersections, and navigating city streets without breaking focus for ~15 minutes while he goes out for his morning bathroom breaks and while we head to the park or river. We either play ball and play with other dogs for 1 hour at the park or walk around the river for 1.5 hrs before lunch. If we go to the river, I have him follow 3 trails I've laid for him and have him find a retrieving dummy hidden in the bushes a couple times. He'll usually sleep for 2 to 3 hours and then we head to the park for another hour or so of playing ball, chasing other dogs, and 15 minutes of tracking or hide and seek. Then he usually sleeps for another hour or two and we take short walks around the neighborhood to work on heeling, sit, and down during the evening rush. We play hide & seek, tug, and do training exercises until my husband gets home at 11:30 pm. Then my husband takes over and does a bit of training with him and takes him on a couple more short training and pee walks until about 3 am. Weekends are "puppy days", so we go on longer walks, work on riding public transportation nicely, go to the pet store to get new toys and treats, and take him out to the woods. he really loves the weekends :3

We don't have a yard and live in an apartment so keeping him entertained and tired is a full time job for me, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[InControlK9]

I am truly impressed by how active everyone seems to be! I must be a real lazy butt....

hahaa same here... time for me to setup a schedule

 

[jafo220]

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Well thia depends on a few things. What age they are at. What the weather dictates.

At a youg young age from birth up to say amybe 5 to 6 months, you don't want to be too rough on them as they are developing. If you can get them to go on walks, thats great but don't try to go long distances. Kind of watch them and if they start lagging behind, take them home. At this time, they go on short bursts of energy. A small tug toy or teething toy for a few minutes and it's lights out for a short nap and then it's on again. It's like that for the first few months of life. One thing that really gets a young pup tired is training. Find a quality trainer, either private or you can go to places like Petco or Petsmart that hold training courses and sign them up ASAP. You can start as soon as 8 weeks or so. It will flat wear them out. We started at 3 months with Cruz. You want to make sure they have all there vaccinations because they can pick up infections and the like in pet stores. So don't take them in and walk them or do training classes until all thier vaccinations are done.

Over 5 to 6 months, still not to rough. We play tug and fetch. During work week, we tug in the morning before I leave for work. Then in the evening it's the flirt pole or fetch with some tug before he eats around 5:30 or 6:00. He gets an hour to let his food digest with not too much water intake then around 8 or 9 we go for a good fast pace walk for around a mile or more. Then it's cool down time before hitting the sack. You want to let them cool down before feeding them for at least a half hour or so and a good hour if they eat until they do any exercising. This is to avoid bloat and the stomach flipping. Those are life threatning situations. Better to be safe than sorry.

Another thing we do is if my wife is around, we'll play catch and let Cruz run after to ball for 15 or 20 minutes. It's low impact and he loves it. You have to let him get the ball every 5 or 6 throws to keep his interest.

 

[jafo220]

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Oh, and weekends we throw in an extra morning walk.

Inclimate weather, we do alot of tug and training. Hide and seek with treats. Walks when its not to bad outside ect.

 

[Beckch]

Ares is almost 10 months now and he's really laid back. He has energy, don't get me wrong, hahah - but 30 minutes of play in the back yard in the morning with me and our other dog Xena (Golden), a good 45 minute walk at lunch and then more play time in the back yard after work (I work at home so I am really lucky) and he's good for the day. I also drop him at "doggie camp" every now and then just to ensure that he gets proper socialization coupled with weekend excursions to the doggy beach or out to the country to run through the fields - we also try to camp out every now and again (the dogs do great out in the country and know the tent is their home away from home) Also, visits from all our nieces and nephews keep them occupied - both dogs seem to be very happy and well adjusted so I think am on the right track (knock on wood).

 

[LynneLittlefield]

Luna is 13 months old. We have invisible fence and 3/4 of an acre with a pet door so she can come outside when ever she wants, she is not crated. 4-5x a week we go to a private dog park where she meets up with some of her doggie friends for 1.5 hours of hard play. This seems to suit her just fine and she is in great shape. Her BFF is a Rottweiler named Zena who is in the photo with Luna.

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[lrodptl]

Beginning at 8 weeks old,Fritz has gotten 2 or more hours every day off leash walking/playing away from the yard. In 4 years we may have missed 2 days. He's 107 pounds with some subtle rib showing so I can imagine if he was even half inactive. At home he'll go to his spots and simply relax and is not a pest at all unless someone comes to the door!!!!

 

[Baillif]

It depends. I usually keep mine balanced with a mixture of exercise and training and management. Sometimes I will purposely bore the dog in order to release pent up energy into training sessions for that burst of speed, quickness and, intensity. Others I'll work the crap out of him so that he builds endurance so there is a bigger well of energy to draw from later. If he is being bored I keep him out of trouble through management which is either crating or tethering. It keeps him from finding value in other things for his personal entertainment like chewing a hole in the wall or trying to dig a hole through the carpet.

 

[manisha]

My pup, Kobe, is 13 weeks old but does not like walking at all. We arefirst time pet owner and are not sure about how to make it enjoyable.
he sometimes gets aggresive with toys and me too. We tried to play tug with him but that does not interest him either.....please advise

 

[Eiros]

Warden will take one or two short rests during the day but gets about 2-3 miles of walking, short training session, and short play session(s) during the day depending on the weather.

If he's at the training club then he gets pack play, a 2 mile walk, and usually a training session and he's pretty much pooped out.

On the weekends I expect to spend almost all day with my dog. Weekdays when I'm at work it's about 2-3 hours.


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[Cheyanna]

Thanks God that Fiona is a low energy GSD. She is ok being a couch potato when I need to be one. I have taken her for rides on my bike. The first 100 feet she barks like crazy then tries to kill the tires. Then she starts to run. We go like 5 miles an hour. Her sister, Gilda, gets 2 walks a day and if I take her on my bike, she trots and we go 2 mph.


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[AryaStark]

I notice that Zoe's worn out after two walks around the block, an hour of playing at the park, 20 minutes of obedience training a day, lots of playtime, and a 30-40 minute walk at night. She'll nap a bit in between walks and outings to the park, but by the time I bring her upstairs at night, Zoe's ready for bed.

She was bouncing off the walls when the polar vortex hit NYC a few days ago because she couldn't go for a long walk. So I threw on a movie and we had a rousing game of fetch with a bit of obedience training and a little bit of tug-of-war to get all that energy out.

I hope she'll mellow out a little since she's a mutt, but if not, no big deal. I'm pretty active myself (running, etc) and I like being outdoors. My boyfriend jokes that Zoe takes after me, hah! Can't wait until she's older so we can go for brisk jogs too. She'll love that.