Good way's to exercise my dog

Stressica

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Aren't these puppies all a little bit young to doing such hard work? Running on a hard surface will be putting an awful lot of stress on their joints which are still growing. I don't think I'd be cycling with a beagle until they were a year and half old and I'd be building it up very slowly with very short bursts of running to start with.

Yes i really see your point.. i would definetly agree with you if we were talking about a large breed eg rottie, dalmatian, newfie etc
These breeds must have restricted excersize due to their large bones and risk of athritis/osteoperosis later on in life or hip displasyia around 2 yrs.

But the springer and beagles are high strung working dogs... if you could imagine ... if they were kept for hunting and shooting .. they'd be running for hours non stop from as young as 6/7 months on hunts and shoots.
They are fully grown by around 8months.

and It is not as if I take her cycling eveyrday perhaps once a weekdepending on when i have the timeand on the wweather of course..
Normally its a long walk in the mountains everyday or a run down the beach..

cycling is only when we are going somewhere local and i like to bring her along...

we have just come back from visiting my nan's 3 miles there and back.. she loved it and is still full of beans!

as you called it earlier i don't agree that it's forced ..if it were they wouldn't run at all .. they wouldn't enjoy it so much.. dogs love to run


i think its much safer then them running in a field near a road which they could dart across and be killed. :cool:

Cherry Blossom

Stressica wrote: »

Yes i really see your point.. i would definetly agree with you if we were talking about a large breed eg rottie, dalmatian, newfie etc
These breeds must have restricted excersize due to their large bones and risk of athritis/osteoperosis later on in life or hip displasyia around 2 yrs.

But the springer and beagles are high strung working dogs... if you could imagine ... if they were kept for hunting and shooting .. they'd be running for hours non stop from as young as 6/7 months on hunts and shoots.
They are fully grown by around 8months.

I don't have to imagine, I spend a lot of my own time exercising proper working hounds from hunting strains. Yes they run for hours non-stop but definately not at 6/7 months old and never for any length of period on a hard road.

and It is not as if I take her cycling eveyrday perhaps once a weekdepending on when i have the timeand on the wweather of course..
Normally its a long walk in the mountains everyday or a run down the beach..

cycling is only when we are going somewhere local and i like to bring her along...

we have just come back from visiting my nan's 3 miles there and back.. she loved it and is still full of beans!

as you called it earlier i don't agree that it's forced ..if it were they wouldn't run at all .. they wouldn't enjoy it so much.. dogs love to run

Walking on a lead is forced exercise, forced exercise is when the dog isn't doing it of it's own accord.

i think its much safer then them running in a field near a road which they could dart across and be killed. :cool:

It's not safer than them running in a securely fenced area on soft ground. Genetic disposition to skeletal problems doesn't have to come into it (although hip-dysplasia is top of the list for hereditary springer problems), the risk is completely ruining the dogs joints and when they are still growing their bone structure. I have a 10 month old Westie and isn't fully grown so please don't tell me springers are fully grown at 8 months. Swimming is the best exercise for a high energy dog but in most cases the problems come from incorrect feeding, if it's a pet or a young dog don't feed it and treat it likes it's a hunting adult especially if an appropriate means of exercise isn't available to you.

robdunne

Well, lots of goings on since I last spoke,

I have tried cycling without the bike attachments and I must say it's great. I have only done short spins as I am on the country roads and want to get more confident that the mutt wont pull me into a ditch!

Also, it's been a while since I cycled but thankfully it's just like riding a bike (boom boom)!

Just like adrenaline_junkie though, I am worried that it may be too much too soon as my lad seems to be slacking off after about roughly 1K so I walk him for a spell then cycle again. Maybe he's just getting bored and want's to sniff about, I'm not sure, he could be just not ready for the intensity of the exercise.

I am not looking to hunt or shoot so I don't want him to track etc. His parents were show dogs (not that I'm interested in that either) but as I live in hunt country I don't was him tearing off at the first sound of horses so I'm not sure about those tracking games!

I may look into the attachment for the bike soon though as I believe he will get fitter for the work. It may be forced, it may not, but I'd rather make sure he's healthy.

So thanks all for the feedback, and I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Robbie

moving_home

I have a year old cocker and thought the 5mins per month of age finished at 1??
we obeyed that rule until recently but I started training for a 10k so she has started training with me too! I am not very fit so am starting from a very basic level so both of us are working the fitness up - some light jogging and brisking walking up to 5k at the moment. I don't wanna do any damage to her so is this ok? discovered she loooooves running with me!!:D:D

**Vai**

"Walking on a lead is forced exercise, forced exercise is when the dog isn't doing it of it's own accord."

So why doesn't every dog just lie down and refuse to walk on a lead? The time they get to go out may be forced but the dog naturally wants to go out with its owner and walk with us. Maybe Im picking u up wrong but forced exercise seems a bit much. Maybe your lucky enough to live in the middle of nowhere, where your dogs are safe from traffic etc but not many of us are.

robdunne

I don't think anyone is trying to criticise or condemn anyone else's methods on this thread. We all care a lot for our mutts and want to see them treated well. Running and cycling may not be to everyones taste for their young dogs and I appreciate all the advice given from every aspect.

Thanks again.

Robbie

Cherry Blossom

http://www.exercisemydog.com/puppies-and-exercise-probably-not/

http://www.squidoo.com/dogandcycle

madon

moving_home wrote: »

I have a year old cocker and thought the 5mins per month of age finished at 1??
we obeyed that rule until recently but I started training for a 10k so she has started training with me too! I am not very fit so am starting from a very basic level so both of us are working the fitness up - some light jogging and brisking walking up to 5k at the moment. I don't wanna do any damage to her so is this ok? discovered she loooooves running with me!!:D:D

I would imagine it would be fine- I'm speaking for myself here but I know when I started off doing what you are doing now my jogging wasn't much faster than a brisk walk. I would mention it to a vet if you are going for the years check up just in case.

jamesd

cocker5 wrote: »

can i ask do you use a harness?? i use a harness with my guy and its grand, he is strong but not strong enough to hurt me or himself....

You could try this....

http://www.dogmatic.org.uk/

This is excellent in stopping a dog pulling, plus they can breath easy, open their mouth etc... so this and the attachment for the bike would really help you....

I use this to stop my cocker pulling while walking on lead.. he can breathe perfectly even drink water....:D

Got the dogmatic - its brillant - our dog is like a different dog with it on.

round tower huntsman

take him to a field where there's rabbits and leave him hunt after them for few hrs, you'll never see a happier more content dog. an dont worry if your not into killing there very little chance he'll catch one so he'll have all his natural instincts fullfilled and you'll have a clean conscience.
beagles like all hounds have very high hunting drive and they happiest following a scent.