# Puppy Exercise Advice



## Duncan Cheshire

Hi our wirehaired Vizsla pup is now 14 weeks old.

This website advises 5 mins exercise per day (for each month of puppies age). So at 14 weeks around 15 mins split between two walks!

http://www.hungarianvizslaclub.org.uk/faq-owning/
Orthopaedic specialists say that puppies should be exercised using common sense and what is appropriate. As this will differ for breeds of dogs you will find that Hungarian Vizsla breeders generally recommend that until the puppy reaches the age of 10 to 12 months exercise should be around five to six minutes per month of age, split into at least 2 sessions – so at 12 weeks puppy should have 15-20 minutes of exercise in the way of walks, at 8 months that becomes 45 minutes. As the Vizsla is a fairly slow maturing breed the bones do not fully calcify until they are about 10 – 12 months and so there is no sensation for the puppy that he is stressing his body so exercising on hard surfaces (such as concrete) and running marathons is not a good idea.​
Watson is destroying our back garden by running circuits around it and trying to dig to the centre of the earth. 

How do other people active exercise V. pups at 3 months old?


----------



## harrigab

plenty of mental stimulation!...I share your pain, I've 2 whv's and remember what you're now going through


----------



## baldyman71

Their mental health is just as important in my view. Our HV is 13 weeks and gets 30-40 min walk in the fields beach day plus small walks around the block. He would be climbing the walls if he didn't #happydog


----------



## MikoMN

There is a lot of advice on this topic to be found by doing a search on this forum. To sum up my understanding of it; give the individual dog what it needs. Calculations are good starting points, but some dogs need more than that, and some need less. You will get a feel in time for what your puppy needs. As others said, both physical and mental stimulation are important.


----------



## Duncan Cheshire

Thanks, I did do a search on here, but the exercise advice seemed to relate only to Adult dogs. I'll dig in again and search for puppy advice.

It was the 15mins per day at 3 months that seems a bit low. This doesn't satisfy our Pup's energy levels!


----------



## texasred

Puppy off lead 
On a natural surface 
You walk, and puppy sets the pace.

Under those conditions, I let them romp, run, play till their hearts content.


----------



## MikoMN

From what I understand, if they are on grass, dirt, ext. They can run off leash all they want. They will pace themselves. 
If you are walking them on leash, or on pavement. Go until they seem to slow a little, then get them settled. There were times where we had to actually carry the puppy home because they were slowing too much and we didn't want to push too hard.

Eventually off leash can be a problem, if you don't work on recall. You should probably start little training sessions on that now, while you can still catch it if they decide to chase a leaf instead.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Duncan Cheshire

Thanks for the advice. My wife had Watson off leash yesterday, and was convinced she'd lost him. She got really upset, until he nudged her leg.... he'd been quietly sat behind her! 

I think we'll step up the off leash park ball chasing then and see if we can burn off more of his endless energy!

We did take him to the beach for the 1st time on Sunday.... he had two separate hour long (off leash) walks, with lunch and a snooze in between. Then he did sleep well for the 2 hour drive home 

Just wanted reassurance we weren't over doing it for him (he's our 1st puppy, so we're a bit new to this game!)


----------



## Anida

As many others have said, as long as you are letting him set the pace you should be fine  It's a hard balance because at the same time they need to use all those muscles etc. to develop properly and prevent injuries later in life, but you don't want them injuring themselves while they are a puppy either.

We did lots of walks with Kaylee when she was little and as soon as she slowed we just put her in the stroller basket (since we already had 2 human kids). Now at almost 2 she's obviously too big for that


----------

