Puppy and Exercise

[bsalem21]

Hi Everyone,

I just had a few questions regarding my puppy and exercise. My puppy is 15 weeks old and although I take him out and try and play with him in the yard, many times he does not want to play outside. I live in the south so during the day it is way too hot for him, so I take him out in the early morning and the late evening. He does play, but only for a short period. He will run and run and chase the ball, for only about 10-15 mins and then he runs up the stairs to go in. Is this normal? Also, I want to start walking him and leash training, however my vet said it isn't a good idea until he gets his next set of shots, which will be in 2 weeks. He doesn't appear stir crazy, and I do play with him inside as well during the day, I just wanted some opinions if him playing for about 15 mins is normal, or should I try to keep him out there longer? Also and tips on leash training are also welcome.


thanks,
brittany

[Mattie]

What breed is your puppy?

The general rule is 5 minutes exercise for every month of their lives, at 15 weeks he should be getting between 15 and 20 minutes a day. The breed does matter, high energy dogs like Collies need a little more, big lazy dogs need less.

It is never too early to teach you pup to walk on a loose lease, have a look at viewtopic.php?f=20&t=858

You can take your pup out and about but don't let him on the ground, it will be easier for you to carry if he is in a bag, any bag that is big enough that goes over your body will do. You can give him a good start by taking him out and about like this, lots of new experiences for him to see.

[Nettle]

Very young puppies have short attention spans and small energy bursts. Then they have to rest. You have a perfectly normal puppy. We like puppy photos

[bsalem21]

Thanks for your input. I was hoping that this was normal for puppies. Mattie he is a toy australian shepherd, so from what I have heard they are working dogs. However he loves to cuddle for hours. I am going to take your advice and take him around with me into a carrier, then once he gets this next set of shots he will be okay to let walk around, right? I try to take him on mini car trips so he can see new things and get used to the car.

Nettle I will add puppy pics, where do I go to do that? I am still pretty new to the site!

thanks again

[Nettle]

We have a "photos of your dogs" section, or you can put them on a thread if you'd like to. Lots of photos together are better on the photos section though, as I believe otherwise it upsets the hamster on the treadmill

[Mattie]

Mattie he is a toy australian shepherd, so from what I have heard they are working dogs. However he loves to cuddle for hours. I am going to take your advice and take him around with me into a carrier, then once he gets this next set of shots he will be okay to let walk around, right? I try to take him on mini car trips so he can see new things and get used to the car.

You will find that he will get tired just sitting and looking, lots of information for him to take in and learning. Training sessions will also tire him, try clicker training, he will learn very quickly.

Nettle I will add puppy pics, where do I go to do that? I am still pretty new to the site!

thanks again

You need to put them into somewhere like www.photobucket.com first, then you can put them onto here. Photobucket is free.

[bsalem21]

Oh okay I will have to put them in photobucket.

You mentioned clicker training, I bought the clicker, but haven't used it. I wasn't exactly sure how to, I don't want to "click" at the wrong time. IS there a section somewhere on here explaining this method?

[Mattie]

Your wish is my command viewtopic.php?f=20&t=513 there are a lot of very good information in that section.

[levenshugh]

Your puppy is a normal healthy puppy and you find that he is trailing behind you during your exercise periods, then it is too much. If later that day (or the next) the pup is too tired to do normal activities you have done too much.

[bsalem21]

Hey Everyone,

So I am back with another question regarding my puppy's exercise as I was on google researching. I have a toy australian shepherd, and because he is considered a working dog every site I read says that he needs at least 2-3 hrs of exercise a day... this is for a full grown dog, correct? I also read something that if the dog is under exercised, he will go from fully rested to running laps. My puppy sometimes does this, however I take him out very frequently throughout the day. I do live in the south though, so many times throughout the day I try to take him out but it is incredibly hot, so I play with him inside. As I have stated in my previous posts though sometimes he doesn't want to play at all, so now I am completely confused. Am I really under exercising him as the other site said?

I now am able to start walking him on a leash, as next week he will get his 3rd set of shots. Leash training is great, he walks diligently, sniffs a bit, but walks sometimes next to me, sometimes he walks behind me. I figure he is just nervous, and once he is comfortable he will start walking beside me or in front. I take him on a walk in the early morning, and the late evening. I am starting slow with just around the block which takes us about 10 mins as I do not want to wear him out, and I am also cautious until he receives his 3rd vaccinations. Should I try walking him longer? Another thing is when we are playing fetch in the back yard and I know his is hyper and ready to play he will run after the ball, bring it back, drop it, run up my back stairs and sit in front of the screen door like he wants to go in? I assume that meant he was tired, but then he will run like crazy inside. So tonight I kept grabbing him off the steps, putting him back down and throwing the ball and he went rigth after it, and did the same routine. He obviously wants to play right, so why does he keep running inside? It wasn't hot out, it was the late evening like 8pm.

thanks

[Leigha]

Your 15 week old puppy does not need hours of exercise a day. He's almost 4 months old, so he needs almost 20 minutes a day (maybe a little more since he's a working breed). Puppies occasionally have zoomies (that's what we call those random races around the room). My year and a half old dogs have zoomies and my puppies do as well.

Playing and running around is not the only way to exercise. There's physical exercise and mental exercise. If you're getting the 20 minutes of physical exercise as well as mental exercise through training or puzzle toys then you should be fine.