Edie is now 16 weeks old, and the lady who runs the puppy classes that my wife will be taking her to (as I am headed to Nigeria tomorrow :-( ) says that a pup of that age should only ever be out walking for 5-10 minutes. I know there is potential for ligament damage etc, but surely this is inadequate for these little whirlwinds ?

my pup is 15 weeks & no way would I only take him for a walk of 10 minutes long-I'd be pulling my hair out as would he. I dont over walk but put it this way we went for a 40 minute walk the other day & he wasn't even tired when we got back! The rest of the day he just played at home.

I would go with your gut instinct its mainly the bigger breeds that get lots of ligament damage if you over exercise.

Morwenna

This last week, we've been going out for about 30 minutes, which is all "offroad", and as you say, it doesn't even vaguely tire her out. I don't wish to tire her out, but she obviously needs much more excercise (and/or play, which we have plenty of).

i think the kennel club reccommends 5 mins per month of age for young pups. so at 16 weeks i would only be doing about 15 to 20 mins of running or lead walking exercise a couple of times a day, if that!

 people dont realise that running about and having a laugh wont always tire your pup out, sometimes the pup can come home even more hyped up as the brain doesnt have to think much when just free running.

the best way to tire your pup out is to do some basic training with him/her a few times a day, this is much better exercise than just free running.  you can do sits, downs, stays, recalls, leaving it's ... all the basic stuff... it tires your pup out and teaches them at the same time.... far better IMO than just free running over the fields or walking round the block.

Mental stimulation is the key with cockers, ive never in Sooty's 7 months ever walked her more than 20 minits per day as it makes her more hyper!! However she has 6 other dogs here to play with all day! She has learnt time out in her crate to chill and gets a stuffed kong or nylabone to keep her occupied! I also play various games with Sooty which really tire her and it has also given us a close bond as I am the centre of her world which has made her training an abs doddle !!

Well, as soon as she starts attending puppy class this Friday coming, we'll have some basic commands to work with whilst out in the parks every day. As you say, it's fairly obvious that they need mental stimulation alongside physical exercise, as a 30 min walk in the fields is followed by mucho mischief in the house! The ESS's I've known previously would run up dunes all day and all night, and I doubt the WCS are any different.

I've always stuck to the 5 mins per month of age no more than twice a day as far as walks go.  They don't even get much free running until they are about 6 months or so. The more they get, the more they want and too much is bad for the joints. Mine have the others to play with and that gets them hyped up pretty quickly then it's time out in the crate for a rest.  As Vicky and Carol have said, it's their minds you need to keep busy.

Our vet suggested about 20 minutes a couple of times a day as Ollie was 15 weeks and also said no or very few hills or stairs when exercising.  A vet told me years ago not to take pups for long walks as it can damage their joints as they are still very soft, allow play time with romps etc.  Puppy class is about an hour, quite a bit of standing but as it is all new with mental stimulation this tires him out more than a walk.  Did take him on a longer walk the other day lead work and some free running - about 20 minutes each way and he slept like a log when we got home.  Recharged his batteries and raced around the garden like a greyhound for a few minutes latter in the evening.  I generally tend to keep to  5 minute rule, even though the walk is longer as we have to stop every few yards to investigate all the smells.  Regards  Marc

I'd like to throw my two pennies in here...... as I've not had a satisfactory answer to this one either. I'd love to know how all those fabulous young dogs that we see in the pictures on here can go out rabbiting and trialling at one year old, if at six months they are limited to half an hours exercise twice a day? At eight months its twice 40 mins. How do the trainers fit it all in and teach them all they need to know? I kept as close as I could to the KC recommendation for about 4/5 months but after that it became impossible.

My own sports involvement was heavily curtailed by knee problems and three ops. To me its about the surface you're on as much as anything else. Jack is 8 months old. Apart from a very occasional walk round the estate with the wife he only treads on concrete or tarmac on his toilet walks that last a couple of hundred yards- but he's been on the hills since before he was 20 weeks. I agree that it is the gun-dog training (i.e. mental exercise) as much as the physical exercise that tires him out, but he needs the experience and I need the time. The only muscle injury he has ever picked up was a nasty looking one in collision with another pup in a local park- after he'd been out just a couple of minutes. In a way it proves my point. When he's alone and concentrating and training on a surface with 'give'  I'm happy to be out has long as we need to be.

Thoughts?

Apart from allowing three or four,  five maybe ten minute toilet sessions a day I never allow any free running at all, I never take the dogs for a walk with free running.

They go out on short regular training sesssions. keeping them close under control, getting focus on the job in hand,  that's my aim. It's brain work and training my dogs need not free running.

Ollie gets a mixture of free running and training sessions.  He knows the difference and I've not had any problems with either.  It's a case of all work and no play etc in my view.

Most of them would be rabbitting and trialling at around 18 months to two years not a year.  My youngsters get as much excercise as they want, I may be wrong but I thought limiting exercise was only applicable to larger breeds.   We have never had a problem with cockers.

Andy  

Thanks, to those that followed me with their own thoughts and experiences.

I don't have a facility in which to keep my lad under strict control anyway or you could say that all of his exercise is a training session of a sort as he has very little free-play. It depends on your viewpoint. I would agree with Neill and Andy though in the main. 

Surely, the make-up of the dog and the quality of it's rest- just as with any athlete, will ultimately dictate how much exercise it can take?

One of the most common vet visits in pups/young dogs of all breeds is "Limping" because they have been allowed to hare about nd jump. This IMO can do untold damage not only to leg and hip joints but also to their backs. Even if it is an old wives tail id not take the chance  Diet and breeding also play a huge part in bone development not just the excercise thing .:)

I would be very interested to hear Annikkens view on this.  My feeling is that knocks and bumps are all part of  growing up for a pup and we have never had problems.  IMO if the pup has good conformation to start with most cockers, being small (or should be) take litle harm but there again I am not a vet.  

I guess the best people to ask are the Orthopaedic surgeons, they seem to be over loaded with cases. I might just do that as a little project as we have referred a number of cases to our top chap up here. Be interesting to hear it from the real experts

I had a leggy cocker that I couldn't stop jumping up and down like a yo-yo as a pup. It really was impossible! He could run about even in a restricted space   Sadly, at the age of four, he shattered his left shoulder.He had been running back to me and cornered sharply when it happened. It was pinned and despite this the dog still managed to leap up and down, even when I collected him from the vet after surgery. He did that at the beginning of the February, made a brilliant recovery and was back out working by the November (limited work) At the beginning of the December I was convinced that he was limping slightly on the right front leg and took him to my vet. The vet said at the time it was the pin from the left leg making him limp on his right leg  and would have him in three days later to remove said pin. However I had the dog out for a walk and he tripped over , screamed with pain and I knew that he'd done something bad. Sure enough it was his right shoulder that had also shattered. This time it was very bad and took him longer (actually he never really did  ) to recover. However that little dog was soooooo determined to work I took him out  the following season (after consulting my vet) but restricted the amount of time he was out for.  

 I had never heard about the 5 minute rule when my dog was a pup and had let him run freely.I don't know for sure but  I feel that this is what caused his problems.

 The vet couldn't find any particular reason, ie., bone cancer, but said that his bones weren't exactly formed as he'd expect them to be round the joint.  He did say it wasn't  a hereditary thing.

You can train perfectly well within the limit. The more excercise you give the more they'll want. It's as has been said, mental excercises are what's needed.

Better to be safe and restrict for a few months and have a healthy dog for years. Sadly my dog had to be PTS a few weeks ago due to being in such pain from arthritis.He had it in all his legs not just his front ones.He could barely walk. He was only 9 years old

I prefer to let pups and youngsters exercise as much as they want. I also give them very short sessions in basics, to make sure we keep in contact..... IMO they need to learn to control their body and build up strength to develope into the athletes they are supposed to be. Diseases or injuries that occurs because of, for instance, growth, should not be a problem in a well built, healthy cockerpup.

In my experience this kind of puppyhood leads to mentally and physically strong dogs.

The risk of injury will always be there, even in the adults. A pup that has been "protected" from learning to use it's physical skills will probably not be better off than mine in that matter. They are bred as working dogs, and should be treated as such.

Having said that, the value of walking the pup (or adult, for that matter) along a road on a lead, is IMO limited.

I'm really sorry to hear about your dog, Ruraich. It sounds like he had some kind of degenerative joint disease.

I have seen a few pups WCS included, with damage due to over exercise, so I err on the side of caution.