# How much to walk a young pup?



## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

Our 9 week old pup just LOVES to go for walks to meet the neighborhood kids and the many dogs in the area. We take him up the street in our development and back at least once per day, sometimes twice if he's in the mood. I would guess it's about a half mile to the end of the street and back, if that.

With the fear of hip problems- how far is too far to walk such a young pup?


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

9 weeks and he had all his shots? 

Elza was about 11 1/2 weeks when she was allowed out in the public after her second shot. 

Anyway, we did max 30 mins at the morning and 30 mins on the afternoons when she was that age, even though she could have run around for hours. We played a lot inside too so that's how we balanced the exercise. Now at 6 months old she gets an hour at the mo and an hour on the afternoon. She must be going through some growth phase cos she sleeps a lot between the walks again. 
After 4 days on the lead she was allowed off leash and now she's just running around me or plays with other dogs or do some ball fetch. No bicycle or running with her before she's 1 year old. 
Hope this helps a bit. :


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## jjohnson (Nov 9, 2011)

We asked both our vet and breeder the same questions, and both of them said to let the puppy walk or run as much as he wanted to. The vet said he's never actually seen a case of hip or other problems caused by too much exercise at a young age. But I know different vets have different opinions. We have let our Gus run as much as he wants to since he was a couple months old. So far he seems great, but I'll let you know for sure in 14 years.

I never worried too much about the shots thing - in my opninion, the benefits of early socialization FAR, FAR, FAR outweight any risk of illness. This coming from a person with an extremely shy and fearful dog...we had him out everywhere with us at 9, 10, 11 weeks, and he never got sick.


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## veifera (Apr 25, 2012)

Same with me. The breeder and the vet told me that socialization is much more important than anything else. Regarding the running, both also told me to have a strict routine (e.g. 1 hour of play followed by 2 hours of sleep) and let her run as much as she wants within those boundaries. 

I started taking the puppy out two days after I brought her home. She's 10 weeks old and has met adult dogs and other puppies, strangers and babies, has seen the passing trains, played with two adult Vizslas (it's amazing how she became a different dog with them, I love how Vizslas play together!) was left without me at friends' house for 2 hours. She has been riding in a car at least once a day for over a week now and the whining went down to only about 10% now.

I have to admit, my puppy amazes me every single day. 

She's fearless, friendly and the whole world is her toy. Of course she gets startled and spooked like all puppies but recovers right away and then curiosity takes over. My breeder is sick and tired of hearing this from me, so I just thank her silently every day. LOL.


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## dmp (Jan 23, 2012)

We let Eva run just about as much as she wants; while we sorta 'walk her' - its more just being outside with her. Course, we're on a lot of land so things flow easier.
She pretty much tells us when she's needing to stretch her legs - the more sharky she gets (cruising the living room looking for somebody or some thing to bit/nibble) the more she say "exercise me!"

Lately, past few days, though - when she gets a little crazy she goes into the kennel area. Before she'd howl and scream - now she walks around it, grabs her bed and pretty much entertains herself with it.


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## ryker (Apr 14, 2012)

At that age we got Ryker on a schedule that he showed us he needed, if that makes sense.

It worked out to about 1.5 hrs of awake/play/training time and then 1.5 hours of sleep. We would take him out for walks until he started to get sharky, then we knew he was tired and would finish. Outside we would let him run and play as hard as he wanted too, because he was WAY more manageable in the house that way. He's increased his exercise amounts drastically. 

We took him on his first off leash free adventure yesterday and he played hard. He was running around for an hour and a half at least, coming back and forth, exploring rocks, or whatever else. We made him take it really easy this morning and gave him a 'walk' break today, and he's been awesome. He would stop every now and then, walk whenever he felt like it, but mostly he was a pocket rocket.

A pocket rocket we love. Our vet warned us on their intense need for exercise and was alright with how we were handling him.


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## Jusdave29 (May 15, 2012)

I actually had the same question. My vet and my trainer both said that walking him before a year would be too much for him. In my head it's always sounded crazy. The first few weeks we had Aston we would take him on quick 15-30 minute walks around our neighborhood. He was really good about staying within 5-10 feet so we didn't really leash him. It seemed almost necessary for his nonstop exploratory needs.

We definitely like to run him in out in the open whenever possible, but walking seems to help. Especially when you can provide new places for them to explore.


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## Mischa (Feb 17, 2010)

It's nice to hear more and more people interested in socializing their dogs, rather than keeping the pup at home for a month or longer. 

There are a lot more un-socialized dogs in my neighbourhood, than their are diseased ones...
Some caution is a good idea, but I don't believe that missing the 8-12 week socialization period is something that Vet's should recommend for the simple fact that they don't have all of their vaccines. 
Vet's focus on health, and of course that is important. Some are missing the fact that a dog should have a healthy body and mind! 

As for the amount of exercise, we basically took her out for as long as WE could take. lol There was no tiring our girl when she was a pup until she got to meet Vizsla buddies to really run with. 2 years later, a good 1.5 hour off-leash run keeps her happy. 3+ hours makes her really happy! ;D


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## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

Thanks all! We definitely don't want to over-exercise him at all and cause hip issues. Based on responses I think we're in good shape. He sets the pace and if he doesn't seem interested in walking then we don't force him to. 

I'm beyond happy with how social our pup is and am actually glad that we went against the "don't let them around other dogs before all of their vaccines" advice. Based on how excited he gets about other dogs and kids in our neighborhood I couldn't ask for a better socialized pup at this point. I think new owners need to weigh what the risks are and what they want for their dog. As a result we have a friendly, happy, wiggling V who HAS to meet every person and every dog he sees and the only worry we have is that he's going to jump up on a child to give them kisses.


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