How Much Exercise is Too Much for My Puppy?

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Purely Puppy is the perfect blog for puppy parents. It is written by Dr. Lisa Radosta, a board certified veterinary behaviorist in southeastern Florida, who has a great love of dogs, and a special fondness for Rottweilers.

How Much Exercise is Too Much for My Puppy?

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June 01, 2011 / (5) comments

I actually get variations of this question a lot (it was even the first question I got on Purely Puppy). When can I jog with my puppy? How far can my puppy walk/jog? When can I start agility training for my puppy?

I usually stumble through some kind of vague answer involving letting the puppy set the pace and not overdoing it. Turns out, after a search of VIN (Veterinary Information Network), many vets do exactly what I do.

Several vets say they "waffle" an answer; one said she "wings an answer." That technique isn’t taught in vet school. You reach a point where you take all the info that you can gather from your brain and present it to the client and hope against hope that it bears some relevancy to their question.

My search yielded cold hard answers, though. (I told you I would learn through this blog too!) Incidentally, the question was even in the "Medical FAQ" section of VIN's website, so I’m definitely not the only one asking.

Anyhow, the VIN consultants (a consortium of boarded veterinary specialists) point out that there is no "hard and fast" answer. However, there is evidence to support that there is an increase in the severity and incidence of elbow dysplasia and OCD in dogs who experienced "forced exercise" before their growth plates closed. Note that OCD is not obsessive compulsive disorder! Clients usually look shocked and laugh uncomfortably when joint OCD, which stands for Osteochondritis Dessicans, comes up. OCD is basically growth abnormalities in the cartilage that can cause lameness.

Forced exercise is defined as "anything beyond what the dog would engage in with dogs of the same age." Gentle play time with other like aged puppies? A-OK. Running around with adult dogs, meanwhile, is bad (the puppy will overdo it trying to keep up with the big guys). Fence-running, excessive ball/stick/Frisbee chasing, and jogging with the owner are considered "forced exercise," too. (Does the concept of doggie "forced exercise" bring to mind little army puppies in camo gear doing forced "boot camp" runs with little rifles over their heads, or is it just me?)

When it comes to agility training, Joni L. Freshman, veterinarian and agility expert, says she doesn’t start "any jumping training, any weave poles or any contact (climbing) obstacles until the growth plates are closed as well."

In large breed dogs, the growth plates close generally around 12 months of age. The recommendation, according to VIN's Medical FAQ Exercising Puppies, is "waiting until these dogs are 12-15 months old [will] allow the owner to enjoy many more years of exercising with their pets by allowing adequate skeletal development."

So there’s the scoop. No more waffling, winging or stumbling for me on this issue.

Dr. Vivian Carroll

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puppy running, exercising with dog, puppy growth, exercising safely with pets

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COMMENTS (5)

Left, Right, Left

by on 06/01/2011 07:25am

"little army puppies in camo gear doing forced "boot camp" runs with little rifles over their heads,"

That's exactly the thought that crossed my mind, too, and admit it started my day with a smile. Surely there's a picture somewhere one the web that would illustrate that.

Very interesting post, Dr. Carroll. It never would have occurred to me that a puppy could "over exercise".

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Agility

by on 06/01/2011 05:11pm

Thanks Dr.Carroll for answering my question. My vet couldn't give me a definitive answer on the question of when to start a puppy in agility. I planned on waiting until she was at least a year but now I'm more inclined to wait until she's a year and a half. I do agility with my beagles for fun and nothing more so I'm in no rush to start her. Thanks again.

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Too much exercise

by on 06/02/2011 05:52pm

When my American Bulldog mix was 7 months old we took him camping at the Grand Canyon.We drove to the rim and got out to take pictures.We walked a bit and then a bit more(it was only about 80 degrees that day)and found ourselves a few miles from the car.Despite having enough water,Bruschi pulled over under a tree and "flumped".My husband had to go get the car and drive up a fire road to pick us up.He ended up being fine after a nap,but I realized his short little legs worked really hard compared to us and our much taller shepard mix.Lesson learned.Even now,he is great on short bursts of speed,but he is not much on walks over a mile.

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#2 Common Question

by on 06/03/2011 04:10pm

Being a member of various Siberian Husky forums I think that is about the 2nd most common question after UGH, bowel movements. I cringe so often when I read about members taking their pup(s) for a 5 mile run as that has to be killing them and even the pups not knowing better love every step of it. We usually tell members 18-24 months to be safe not sorry. Myself 2 yrs before I let them run or work to extremes to safe guards their joints.

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by on 06/08/2011 02:13pm

I would like to concur. Although I just now have my first Aussie pup, I am still in contact with my breeder and many other breeders via newsgroups, facebook and the Aussie board. I too asked this question and the consensus is - no jumping, no hard play and no long walks and to try to limit time spent on concrete, which can be a challenge if your like me and live in a city. The rule of thumb I was told for walks - 5 minutes of walking for every month old your pup is. 3 months old = 15 minute walk - at a time. The best exercise for puppies (and older dog who may have joint problems or other special needs) is swimming. They can tire themselves out (and even enjoy some light jumping, since they are landing in water) and their developing joints wont suffer.

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ABOUT PURELY PUPPY

VIVIAN CARROLL, DVM

…is just a regular old (well, not old-old, but kind of old by teenager standards) general practice veterinarian. Her professional interest and unofficial specialty is internal medicine. She doesn't do major surgeries. In fact, the last animal she spayed was in 2010.

After graduation, she went straight into private practice at a corporate owned veterinary hospital in Dallas. Corporate veterinary medicine was not quite for her, so in May of 2000 she started working at Animal Medical Center of Plano as an associate veterinarian. That is where she has been ever since. And did we mention she loves puppies? But honestly, who doesn't?