# Off-leash running mileage



## EastBayer (Aug 17, 2012)

Hi everyone,

Milo will be 8 months tomorrow. She usually gets 1-2 hours of off-leash exercise every day, walking/running along a creek trail. Distance-wise, the walk is anywhere from 1-3 miles. And since this is off-lead "walking," she really is running most of the time, going up & down the creek, zooming away, coming back, digging, sniffing, etc. etc. Once a week or so, she goes with us off-lead on the east bay hills up to 4 miles. Last weekend, she inadvertently logged in 7 miles because the group we were with decided to do a loop instead of track back. She did fantastic and could easily have gone longer. I say this because her energy seemed the same at the tail-end of the trek as in the beginning. Head up, curious, bouncing around, stalking & pouncing on the other dogs with us, zooming, etc. We got water 2+ on the trail from us and from ponds.

Of course the distance worried me because it is almost double her longest trek. She had a looong nap afterwards but was her usual self the whole day. No limping or fatigue that we noticed the day after. I am aware that 18 months + is right about the best time for them to increase mileage (and ramp up in the process). My question is, at this age & her ability, is it okay to do a long off-leash trek once a week (6+ miles)?

On a side note, she loves to roll in cow poop! :-\ And the cows are back on the hills so there has been a lot of um, incidents lately. I rinse her off from the garden hose on the front lawn as soon as we get home. Such fun! She has been getting better with the cows, however. Still a lot of "leave it!"s from us when we encounter a small herd or, when the trail gets a little tight, I put her on leash and we walk casually past the cows. 

Here is a photo of Milo after being put on-leash as we encounter cows on the trail; she is being reminded of the rules. ;D


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

I think it's fine as long as she is off leash, she will tell you if she's tired. Ours is 14 months now so we do some leashed running on trails and beach, but try to keep as much of it off leash as we can. As long as she can regulate her own speed she should be fine! 

I would be careful with drinking water found on the trail in ponds, but I know others will disagree. 

We are hoping to head up to the East Bay later this year, glad to hear there will be some good places for Miles to play!


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