Giving your puppy the right amount of exercise

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Getting a puppy is an exciting time. For everyone. It’s very easy to over exercise the puppy during these first few critical months of your new canine chum’s life but it is vitally important not to overdo it.

A puppy goes through a lot of physical changes in their first year. When they are first born their bones are not fused and are prone to being malformed if the wrong type of exercise is undertaken. At around 8 months to 1 year, the bones will harden and fuse but until that time, exercise must be taken with caution as injuries can easily happen through pressure on their bones and joints as well as general clumsiness through a lack of co-ordination.

You should restrict the length of walk to 2-3 shorter walks a day and gradually build this up. Despite a young dog’s desire to run and jump, this should also be restricted and running up steps, jumping in and out of car doors and too much running on hard surfaces such as concrete should be dealt with carefully.

Of course, the flip side to this is that if you don’t give your pup enough of the right exercise you will end up with a bored and under-stimulated dog, maybe even puppy aggression.  All puppies should be given regular exercise in some form or it will lead to some of the many common behavioural problems, plus not getting enough of the right exercise will affect your puppy’s health. Exercise helps to strengthen the muscles and joints and helps the respiratory system develop and a lack of it will mean that they are more prone to injury and will tire easier through lack of fitness.

  

Many puppies have issues when they are left at home alone and become bored, so turning to self-amusement such as chewing, being destructive or over-grooming. If you have given him/her the right type of exercise, they will hopefully be tired and will want to rest while you are out!  Not taking them out enough will contribute to a lack of socialisation skills and therefore affect how they interact later on in life with people and dogs. Just being in a different environment, like a shop or garden centre will be stimulating for a puppy as they see, smell and hear new and exciting things.

 

Mental stimulation such as puppy training is great as it will tire a young pup out without putting too much pressure on delicate joints and it also strengthens the bond between puppy and owner. Here you can practise your commands in recall, sit, stays and heel or close.

 

Good puppy advice can always be sought from your local vet, as well as a puppy trainer or behaviourist. Plus, your local friendly dog walker can always help you out.