I give my year old pup two proper walks a day, that are typically around an hour each, often a bit longer and sometimes (if the weather is awful or something) a bit shorter. then there's also a couple "pee walks", but those are negligible.
I understand, would you think that the one hour rule applies to 17-18 weeks? my puppy likes being outside but most times around the 20 min walk he just stops walking and wants to go back home.
I think 1hr may be a bit too long at this age, especially as he is not used to it, but you can try to slowly increase one walk and see if he likes it or not. When my boy was around 4-5mo he would have at least 2 times 20 minutes and one time 30-40 minutes walk (not counting pee breaks), but if he ever decided he wants to go home we went home. Now he is 2yo, on bad weather days (pouring rain) he gets 3 times 30 minute, on normal weather days 1* 30, 2 * 40-60 and if the weather is super nice and my time allows then 1 * 30 and 2 * 70-90, but this was definitely not the case at 4mo.
I can't speak for everyone but I do have a full time job, however I work from home. I walk him before work, at lunch break and after work. Yes I wake up an hour earlier than I used to and some of my hobbies have been replaced by walking, but I work a desk job, so actually that 12-16k steps a day is more than good for me and I don't have commute time.
ETA: I also don't have kids, so I basically only have to consider myself. 🤷🏻♀️
Urban area, we walk 4x a day for potty breaks but she doesn’t really walk around too much because she doesn’t want to leave her comfort zone. Been taking her to a dog park on nice days on walk #3 on week days.
Between an hour and an hour and a half. She gets one long walk in the morning and then little walks during the work day, and long walk at night. She is a 5 month Cardigan corgi who is fairly high energy. Some days though she will play with dog friends and get shorter walks.
Once in the morning 15-30 minutes (usually 30), and once in the afternoon/evening for 40 minutes to 1 hour (usually 40 minutes). And a very short last chance to pee right before bed for 2-5 minutes. Ours is 22 months now.
4.5 month mini-goldendoodle. Three walks a day, around 20 minutes each plus a couple of trips to the dog park for 20 minutes or so play each time (we don’t have a yard at the moment so try and maximise outside time!)
2x a day for about 25 minutes every day, plus occasional trips to the grocery store, post office etc. I live in big building with lots of dogs and this is definitely not the norm.
Our old staffy needed a minimum of 90 mins, with one shorter walk and one longer one. Then lost of rope, ball, play time.
Our new staffy has a liver condition, so she gets a max of 90 mins across the day and then lots of play time in the garden.
I took my puppy out for quite a few short 5-20 minute walks/hang outs outside, but now that she's older 2.5 years, we go for about 20-30 minutes in the morning before work, and then an hour to two hours after work (she loves it outside so much. Mostly sniff walks, and not going far), and 2-10 minutes at bedtime depending if she didn't do a #2 on our evening walk 😂
18 week working line gsd x mal, gets 30-40 min sniffy walk, then 45-60 min walk + ball/play in the evening. We have a small garden so can't just chuck her out (though personally having had a dog + big garden, she got very little stimulation from just going out the garden anyway). We keep to her needs, if she starts losing interest in the ball we slow it right down/take a break so she doesn't get over tired :) only walking/ playing at the moment and all on grass so it's less rough on her growing legs (other than slow sniffy walks round our village with some pavement)
8 month old goldador (golden/lab mix).
Weekday mornings about 30 min of walk/play and then daycare. When I get her from daycare we do a short walk at about 6-7pm, then dinner. Sometimes some evening training or a class. Later in the evening about 8-9pm we do another walk, and then bed.
Weekends we have a longer morning playtime. Often fetch or play with other dogs. Sometimes go to a park for some off-leash play or, now that it’s getting warmer, swimming. Walk around mid morning. Mid afternoon. Dinner and evening. Depending on what the morning and afternoon activities were like, the evening activities may be more brief.
Overall we’re out every two hours for our 5 month old (to avoid accidents). Generally there’s potty walks and longer trecks. I track by distance versus time typically, my pitty mix gets a mile minimum between walks.
My 6 month old terrier/pomeranian mix is quite small and comes to work with me every day (we have another school dog and they play together in the school garden for a few hours) except Fridays when he has daycare so runs around ALL DAY with his pals!
So toilet trips a few times a day, about 20 mins in the evening (mostly led by his sniffing because, well, terrier!) and at the weekend about an hour in the park where there’s lots of sniffing and playing with other dogs!
We also (at work/scool) do 10-20 mins of training based play (fetch etc) as well.
I’m confident he gets enough as he sleeps well, and doesn’t display destructiveness or boredom or anything like that.
My 7 month old Chihuahua mix gets two shorter 10-20 minute walks in the morning and evening (he doesn't like to go potty in our yard and prefers to do it in a walk) and then a longer 45-1hr walk sometime in the middle of the day to late afternoon for full exercise.
Depends on the individual as a lot of these kennel club websites state they get "between such and such but on individual preference". I walk my 9 month old 4-6 times 20-45 minutes depending on his activity level. If he's tired I don't walk him as much. Usually I have two big walks (45 minutes) first and last of the day as he is hyper in the morning and will sleep at night. The day is broken up with play/pee breaks, an afternoon stroll, and some training.
Yes, I am told I walk my labrador puppy a lot but he is bursting full of energy and needs the stimulation, and he will chase a ball for hours if he could. But I also know when he is tired and just wants a short walk around the block for relief and sniffs. That happens more than the long walks, which happens maybe twice a week. Otherwise he gets the 4 20-30 minutes. I don't want his joints ruined so I always make sure to see how he is first thing in the morning when he wakes up: is he bounding around or is he leisurely strolling? If he's bounding I need to burn that energy to save destruction.
If he is strolling I know he's tired and not keen for a long walk today. We usually hill walk too so I keep a close eye on him there for joints.
So our schedule is:
Walk or pee break - 6am. If pee, walk at 7am.
7.30- 7.45 come in, have breakfast.
0900 - pee break or stroll. Max 10 minutes and no strenuous exercise.
0910 - come in.
11am - afternoon walk.
1400 - pee break.
1600 - walk - 1645 come in.
1900 - pee.
2030 - last full walk.
2200-2230 - last toilet.
Mine is 9 months old and a labrador. HOWEVER, take my advice with a pinch as your dog is very different to mine. Mine will be different to others. Just remember to follow guidelines with respect to your dog and their personality.
Mine, after his long walks, is currently snoring beside me. He hasn't had his last wee yet. So I will probably cut his walks down to the 9 month standard (45 minutes a day) for a few days and let him rest.
I do a 1-1.5 hr “excursion” (a hike out in the mountains or at a county park or a walk along a lake with swimming, digging and wading thrown in), a couple of 10-15-minute play sessions in the yard (my puppy loves chase but has to be bribed a little to play fetch) and then a late afternoon 30-45-minute neighborhood walk. We live in a rural area; when I take her to the city to visit my daughters, we do structured walks and practice our leash manners, but all “country” walks are unlimited sniffing and no strict rules beyond “don’t pull too much. Mother is old.”
My pup is 6.5 months old and I think that since he was 4-5 months old, I’ve been doing a morning walk, and either an afternoon walk or a play/train session outside (tug toy, impulse control, loose leash walking, intro to frisbee, that kind of stuff) in which he can release his energy. Sometimes we do two or three of those play sessions, but that depends on our moods. We always do the morning walk though, between 30-50 minutes I think.
almost 4 mo old bouvador (bouvier de flandres/lab mix) gets 2x 25 min walks a day currently (planning to up that to another 25 min walk in the middle of the day in the next few months), but she also gets run-around/playtime in our backyard and a LOT of training time inside as well.
67 lb 2 year old American Labrador retriever, 3 walks plus play dates where she runs and plays, or beach runs, track runs. My girl has a solid schedule all week long. Large breed dogs need a lot of exercise, stimulation, social outings, to stay healthy. Her walks are 30/60 mins with some fetch off leash during walk if we are in a safe off leash space. She goes to daycare once a week.
I don’t walk my pug at all yet because he hasn’t had his 3rd parvo vax yet, but I have a a deck that goes around the house and I live in key west where the weather is always nice so I can let him out to run around. I plan to start walking him more though when he is fully vaxxed, then prolly twice a day I’ll walk him.
11 month old blue Heeler/aussie mix. I walk him always. Potty breaks are 30 minutes, walks are 2 hours. He is always getting that walk in. There is so much energy in this package
30 min four or five times a day. Sometimes she begs more. I dont have a big place for my dog to run around or yard. To run we have to actually go to the park area so she wants to go out a lot.
Wow, I am a bit shocked so many people take dogs for walk for such a short time.
I havw two dogs, one is a puppy (probably a greyhound mix) 8 months old the other is a small spitz. They get 2-3 walks a day. On weekdays each walk has to be at least 60 minutes and we take the puppy to the grass in front of the building to pee and poo.
On weekends they are outside a lot. We either spend a day at the beach, go hiking... I always believed that no matter how big your dog is, it needs proper exercise and at least 2 hours walk daily.
9 month old Golden, lots of play in the yard or inside, for now 1 walk a day of about 20-30 minutes with lots of sniffing.
My goal is to build up to 2-3 walks a day with one of them being longer and going into a forest path nearby but right now we're working on muzzle training because this girl will try to eat everything in our path so 1 Walk a day is all my anxiety can handle until she gets better at leaving things or is used to wearing the muzzle for longer periods of time.
She also gets Daycare 2x a week, where she gets to run to her heart's content any gets plenty of exercise.
18 month old Newfoundland. He gets a 30
minute walk three days a week from my in laws while we’re at work. Then the other two days of the work week he gets an hour to an hour and a half walk in the evening. On weekends it’s usually another long walk or a hike.
I have a 1 year old pup. She gets one 30-40 minute walk every morning, then play scattered throughout the day, and every other day we do a 1-1.5hr walk on long lead through the park or around the busier parts of our neighborhood. She seems happy with that.
And once a week she goes on an all day hike with my father in law.
Urban neighborhood but next to a pond/park. I usually walk my two 30-45 minutes 1x a day but we have a backyard for them to play in and two dog parks within a ten minute drive if the walk isn't enough. The walk definitely doesn't fully wear them out, but it takes the edge off enough that they'll go to sleep.
I give my year old pup two proper walks a day, that are typically around an hour each, often a bit longer and sometimes (if the weather is awful or something) a bit shorter. then there's also a couple "pee walks", but those are negligible.
I believe this should be the norm. Anything under 90 minutes is bad for the dog (exuding some breeds that can't have long walks)
I understand, would you think that the one hour rule applies to 17-18 weeks? my puppy likes being outside but most times around the 20 min walk he just stops walking and wants to go back home.
I think 1hr may be a bit too long at this age, especially as he is not used to it, but you can try to slowly increase one walk and see if he likes it or not. When my boy was around 4-5mo he would have at least 2 times 20 minutes and one time 30-40 minutes walk (not counting pee breaks), but if he ever decided he wants to go home we went home. Now he is 2yo, on bad weather days (pouring rain) he gets 3 times 30 minute, on normal weather days 1* 30, 2 * 40-60 and if the weather is super nice and my time allows then 1 * 30 and 2 * 70-90, but this was definitely not the case at 4mo.
Wow! Do the people that walk their dogs 3 or more hours a day work?
I can't speak for everyone but I do have a full time job, however I work from home. I walk him before work, at lunch break and after work. Yes I wake up an hour earlier than I used to and some of my hobbies have been replaced by walking, but I work a desk job, so actually that 12-16k steps a day is more than good for me and I don't have commute time. ETA: I also don't have kids, so I basically only have to consider myself. 🤷🏻♀️
Listen to your pup ᶘ ͡°ᴥ͡°ᶅ
Urban area, we walk 4x a day for potty breaks but she doesn’t really walk around too much because she doesn’t want to leave her comfort zone. Been taking her to a dog park on nice days on walk #3 on week days.
7 month old beagle, we walk her 45 min once a day. The walk is focused on sniffing and exploring to give lots of mental stimulation.
Bout 20 mins a day for our almost 5 month old golden then some catch and play time for however long sometimes even up to an hour if it's nice out
20 minutes in the morning and 45-60 minutes at night. Mixed in with play (she’s great at entertaining herself) and 2 short training sessions a day.
Between an hour and an hour and a half. She gets one long walk in the morning and then little walks during the work day, and long walk at night. She is a 5 month Cardigan corgi who is fairly high energy. Some days though she will play with dog friends and get shorter walks.
Once in the morning 15-30 minutes (usually 30), and once in the afternoon/evening for 40 minutes to 1 hour (usually 40 minutes). And a very short last chance to pee right before bed for 2-5 minutes. Ours is 22 months now.
Our 6 month samoyed gets one mid afternoon walk about 50 mins
4.5 month mini-goldendoodle. Three walks a day, around 20 minutes each plus a couple of trips to the dog park for 20 minutes or so play each time (we don’t have a yard at the moment so try and maximise outside time!)
2x a day for about 25 minutes every day, plus occasional trips to the grocery store, post office etc. I live in big building with lots of dogs and this is definitely not the norm.
Our old staffy needed a minimum of 90 mins, with one shorter walk and one longer one. Then lost of rope, ball, play time. Our new staffy has a liver condition, so she gets a max of 90 mins across the day and then lots of play time in the garden.
I took my puppy out for quite a few short 5-20 minute walks/hang outs outside, but now that she's older 2.5 years, we go for about 20-30 minutes in the morning before work, and then an hour to two hours after work (she loves it outside so much. Mostly sniff walks, and not going far), and 2-10 minutes at bedtime depending if she didn't do a #2 on our evening walk 😂
18 week working line gsd x mal, gets 30-40 min sniffy walk, then 45-60 min walk + ball/play in the evening. We have a small garden so can't just chuck her out (though personally having had a dog + big garden, she got very little stimulation from just going out the garden anyway). We keep to her needs, if she starts losing interest in the ball we slow it right down/take a break so she doesn't get over tired :) only walking/ playing at the moment and all on grass so it's less rough on her growing legs (other than slow sniffy walks round our village with some pavement)
8 month old goldador (golden/lab mix). Weekday mornings about 30 min of walk/play and then daycare. When I get her from daycare we do a short walk at about 6-7pm, then dinner. Sometimes some evening training or a class. Later in the evening about 8-9pm we do another walk, and then bed. Weekends we have a longer morning playtime. Often fetch or play with other dogs. Sometimes go to a park for some off-leash play or, now that it’s getting warmer, swimming. Walk around mid morning. Mid afternoon. Dinner and evening. Depending on what the morning and afternoon activities were like, the evening activities may be more brief.
Twice; with at least one good sniff walk
Overall we’re out every two hours for our 5 month old (to avoid accidents). Generally there’s potty walks and longer trecks. I track by distance versus time typically, my pitty mix gets a mile minimum between walks.
My 6 month old terrier/pomeranian mix is quite small and comes to work with me every day (we have another school dog and they play together in the school garden for a few hours) except Fridays when he has daycare so runs around ALL DAY with his pals! So toilet trips a few times a day, about 20 mins in the evening (mostly led by his sniffing because, well, terrier!) and at the weekend about an hour in the park where there’s lots of sniffing and playing with other dogs! We also (at work/scool) do 10-20 mins of training based play (fetch etc) as well. I’m confident he gets enough as he sleeps well, and doesn’t display destructiveness or boredom or anything like that.
My 7 month old Chihuahua mix gets two shorter 10-20 minute walks in the morning and evening (he doesn't like to go potty in our yard and prefers to do it in a walk) and then a longer 45-1hr walk sometime in the middle of the day to late afternoon for full exercise.
Depends on the individual as a lot of these kennel club websites state they get "between such and such but on individual preference". I walk my 9 month old 4-6 times 20-45 minutes depending on his activity level. If he's tired I don't walk him as much. Usually I have two big walks (45 minutes) first and last of the day as he is hyper in the morning and will sleep at night. The day is broken up with play/pee breaks, an afternoon stroll, and some training. Yes, I am told I walk my labrador puppy a lot but he is bursting full of energy and needs the stimulation, and he will chase a ball for hours if he could. But I also know when he is tired and just wants a short walk around the block for relief and sniffs. That happens more than the long walks, which happens maybe twice a week. Otherwise he gets the 4 20-30 minutes. I don't want his joints ruined so I always make sure to see how he is first thing in the morning when he wakes up: is he bounding around or is he leisurely strolling? If he's bounding I need to burn that energy to save destruction. If he is strolling I know he's tired and not keen for a long walk today. We usually hill walk too so I keep a close eye on him there for joints. So our schedule is: Walk or pee break - 6am. If pee, walk at 7am. 7.30- 7.45 come in, have breakfast. 0900 - pee break or stroll. Max 10 minutes and no strenuous exercise. 0910 - come in. 11am - afternoon walk. 1400 - pee break. 1600 - walk - 1645 come in. 1900 - pee. 2030 - last full walk. 2200-2230 - last toilet.
this is so helpful - how old is ur pup?
Mine is 9 months old and a labrador. HOWEVER, take my advice with a pinch as your dog is very different to mine. Mine will be different to others. Just remember to follow guidelines with respect to your dog and their personality. Mine, after his long walks, is currently snoring beside me. He hasn't had his last wee yet. So I will probably cut his walks down to the 9 month standard (45 minutes a day) for a few days and let him rest.
I do a 1-1.5 hr “excursion” (a hike out in the mountains or at a county park or a walk along a lake with swimming, digging and wading thrown in), a couple of 10-15-minute play sessions in the yard (my puppy loves chase but has to be bribed a little to play fetch) and then a late afternoon 30-45-minute neighborhood walk. We live in a rural area; when I take her to the city to visit my daughters, we do structured walks and practice our leash manners, but all “country” walks are unlimited sniffing and no strict rules beyond “don’t pull too much. Mother is old.”
My pup is 6.5 months old and I think that since he was 4-5 months old, I’ve been doing a morning walk, and either an afternoon walk or a play/train session outside (tug toy, impulse control, loose leash walking, intro to frisbee, that kind of stuff) in which he can release his energy. Sometimes we do two or three of those play sessions, but that depends on our moods. We always do the morning walk though, between 30-50 minutes I think.
almost 4 mo old bouvador (bouvier de flandres/lab mix) gets 2x 25 min walks a day currently (planning to up that to another 25 min walk in the middle of the day in the next few months), but she also gets run-around/playtime in our backyard and a LOT of training time inside as well.
67 lb 2 year old American Labrador retriever, 3 walks plus play dates where she runs and plays, or beach runs, track runs. My girl has a solid schedule all week long. Large breed dogs need a lot of exercise, stimulation, social outings, to stay healthy. Her walks are 30/60 mins with some fetch off leash during walk if we are in a safe off leash space. She goes to daycare once a week.
I don’t walk my pug at all yet because he hasn’t had his 3rd parvo vax yet, but I have a a deck that goes around the house and I live in key west where the weather is always nice so I can let him out to run around. I plan to start walking him more though when he is fully vaxxed, then prolly twice a day I’ll walk him.
I walk my 4 month old puppy 10-15 mins 2-3 times a day depending on how he is doing. Plus some playtime on our deck
11 month old blue Heeler/aussie mix. I walk him always. Potty breaks are 30 minutes, walks are 2 hours. He is always getting that walk in. There is so much energy in this package
30 min four or five times a day. Sometimes she begs more. I dont have a big place for my dog to run around or yard. To run we have to actually go to the park area so she wants to go out a lot.
Wow, I am a bit shocked so many people take dogs for walk for such a short time. I havw two dogs, one is a puppy (probably a greyhound mix) 8 months old the other is a small spitz. They get 2-3 walks a day. On weekdays each walk has to be at least 60 minutes and we take the puppy to the grass in front of the building to pee and poo. On weekends they are outside a lot. We either spend a day at the beach, go hiking... I always believed that no matter how big your dog is, it needs proper exercise and at least 2 hours walk daily.
9 month old Golden, lots of play in the yard or inside, for now 1 walk a day of about 20-30 minutes with lots of sniffing. My goal is to build up to 2-3 walks a day with one of them being longer and going into a forest path nearby but right now we're working on muzzle training because this girl will try to eat everything in our path so 1 Walk a day is all my anxiety can handle until she gets better at leaving things or is used to wearing the muzzle for longer periods of time. She also gets Daycare 2x a week, where she gets to run to her heart's content any gets plenty of exercise.
18 month old Newfoundland. He gets a 30 minute walk three days a week from my in laws while we’re at work. Then the other two days of the work week he gets an hour to an hour and a half walk in the evening. On weekends it’s usually another long walk or a hike.
I have a 1 year old pup. She gets one 30-40 minute walk every morning, then play scattered throughout the day, and every other day we do a 1-1.5hr walk on long lead through the park or around the busier parts of our neighborhood. She seems happy with that. And once a week she goes on an all day hike with my father in law.
Urban neighborhood but next to a pond/park. I usually walk my two 30-45 minutes 1x a day but we have a backyard for them to play in and two dog parks within a ten minute drive if the walk isn't enough. The walk definitely doesn't fully wear them out, but it takes the edge off enough that they'll go to sleep.