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How often should I walk my dog?



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 3rd 06, 05:22 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
[email protected]
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Posts: 2
Default How often should I walk my dog?

Hi,

I'm new and I have a question, I can't find the answer on the web. How
often should I walk my dog? We recently moved to a condo, she had a
yard prior to that. We walk now 3 times a day for about 20 minutes
each. She is a 19 month old Lab/Rotweiller mix. My condo is big and I
play and chase her (she would catch me too easily, so I have to do the
chasing) a couple of times a day. We play until she is ready to quit,
so the running thing is not something we do on walks. Am I walking
enough? Too much?

Thanks so much,

Sally

  #2  
Old July 3rd 06, 08:02 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
Toni
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Posts: 83
Default How often should I walk my dog?


wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,

I'm new and I have a question, I can't find the answer on the web. How
often should I walk my dog? We recently moved to a condo, she had a
yard prior to that. We walk now 3 times a day for about 20 minutes
each. She is a 19 month old Lab/Rotweiller mix. My condo is big and I
play and chase her (she would catch me too easily, so I have to do the
chasing) a couple of times a day. We play until she is ready to quit,
so the running thing is not something we do on walks. Am I walking
enough? Too much?




If this is the only exercise she is getting I would say not nearly enough. A
sedate walk of 20 minutes duration is next to nothing for a dog of this age
and breed/s.

You need to find yourself a field where she can go offlead and play fetch,
or find a lake for swimming, or greatly increase both the length and the
speed of your walks.

Or all of the above.


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/rules.htm


  #4  
Old July 3rd 06, 08:44 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
Melinda Shore
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Posts: 7,732
Default How often should I walk my dog?

In article , Todd H. wrote:
At 60 min/day you've got a lucky dog that's certainly not being walked
too little.


If that's the only exercise he's getting, it's not enough.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community
  #5  
Old July 3rd 06, 09:41 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
Melinda Shore
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Posts: 7,732
Default How often should I walk my dog?

In article ,
Paula wrote:
To the original poster, I would say that whether a certain amount of
exercise is enough or not depends on the dog. Some dogs are happy
with little exercise and some are not.


You could say the same for people, but it's not just about
whether or not the dog (or person) is happy, there's also
the question of whether or not he's healthy. Even just
turning one of those walks into a jog a few times a week
would make a difference.

This morning I took Emmett up to the national forest for a
walk, and being a holiday weekend there were people camping
all over the place. Lots of 'em had dogs, too - big,
lard-assed overweight dogs, hanging out around their
campsites. What I didn't see was anybody else out walking
in the six or so miles we covered. There was a couple out
riding some handsome, old-style quarter horses, but nobody
walking. Those were some happy fat dogs in the camping
areas, though.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community
  #6  
Old July 3rd 06, 10:15 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
Suja
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Posts: 873
Default How often should I walk my dog?


"Melinda Shore" wrote in message
Lots of 'em had dogs, too - big,
lard-assed overweight dogs, hanging out around their
campsites.


It must be the warm weather bringing people out of the woodworks, but I'm
seeing an awful lot of seriously fat dogs these days. Most common culprits
are Labs; I honestly don't remember the last time I saw one that was in
decent shape. What is it with people that they think that a 6 year old dog
is old, and labs are supposed to look like walruses? And then there's the
Min Pin that looks like a tootsie roll on toothpicks.

What I didn't see was anybody else out walking
in the six or so miles we covered.


That sounds about right. One of our regular walks is near the government
center, with a ton of apartments and townhouses just a stone's throw away.
On most of our walks, we may encounter a jogger or two, and it is a very
unusual day when we run into more than 2 dogs. On all our hikes in the
Shenandoahs to date, we have seen maybe 3 or 4 dogs total (including one guy
with his extremely fit, extremely well trained dog doing the whole AT).

Suja



  #7  
Old July 3rd 06, 10:23 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
Paula
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Posts: 1,726
Default How often should I walk my dog?

On 3 Jul 2006 16:41:10 -0400, (Melinda Shore) wrote:

In article ,
Paula wrote:
To the original poster, I would say that whether a certain amount of
exercise is enough or not depends on the dog. Some dogs are happy
with little exercise and some are not.


You could say the same for people, but it's not just about
whether or not the dog (or person) is happy, there's also
the question of whether or not he's healthy. Even just
turning one of those walks into a jog a few times a week
would make a difference.


I guess I've just never been around dogs who are happy with less
exercise than they need. My dogs go stir crazy if they don't get
their energy out. I tend to assume dogs that are fat are more a
result of feeding too much. I've known lots of dogs that would eat
just about as much as you'd feed 'em, but no dogs that were happy
without exercise. But I can see where it could be the other way
around. Certainly if the dog gets fat enough, from too much food or
too little moving around or, more likely, both, it's not going to want
to do more than lie around even if that's not healthy or what is
normal for the breed. One of the first things the rescue person I got
Molly from said when we went to an adoption day to touch base was that
Molly was looking really good weight-wise. That was when it was still
too hot to jog with her, if I liked jogging in the first place. But
she loves to run around the back yard chasing and wrestling and I
don't feed according to the back of the bag when it's not good for the
dog. So I guess I would revise my question to ask if the dog is happy
and if the dog is at a healthy weight so that it doesn't need to move
more whether it wants to or not.

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay
  #8  
Old July 3rd 06, 10:28 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
Paula
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Posts: 1,726
Default How often should I walk my dog?

On Mon, 3 Jul 2006 17:15:39 -0400, "Suja"
wrote:

"Melinda Shore" wrote in message
Lots of 'em had dogs, too - big,
lard-assed overweight dogs, hanging out around their
campsites.


It must be the warm weather bringing people out of the woodworks, but I'm
seeing an awful lot of seriously fat dogs these days. Most common culprits
are Labs; I honestly don't remember the last time I saw one that was in
decent shape.


Labs are a breed that I would think would be in big danger of being
overweight than many others. They are greedy guts who will eat as
much of anything you give them or they can find on their own as they
can stuff in their stomachs, so if they don't get enough exercise,
they're bound to be tubs of lard in no time. My daughter's friend has
a GR that is hugely overweight. They take it for walks fairly often,
but they free feed and fill the bowl when it gets empty. I asked why
at one point and the answer was that they didn't want the dog to be
hungry. I think a lot of people think dogs only eat what they need or
when they are truly hungry even though they accept that humans eat
when they are bored or because it's there or tastes good.

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay
  #9  
Old July 3rd 06, 11:06 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
Amy Dahl
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Posts: 368
Default How often should I walk my dog?

Suja wrote:

It must be the warm weather bringing people out of the woodworks, but I'm
seeing an awful lot of seriously fat dogs these days. Most common culprits
are Labs; I honestly don't remember the last time I saw one that was in
decent shape. What is it with people that they think that a 6 year old dog
is old, and labs are supposed to look like walruses? And then there's the
Min Pin that looks like a tootsie roll on toothpicks.


One thing that may be unique about Labs is that they are shown in grossly
overweight condition. I trained a show Labrador not long ago--a wonderful
dog, by the way--who had just spent some time with a professional handler
getting trained and prepped for shows. She was obese when she came to me.
It was a concern for field work. I don't know how to quantify the strain on
her heart and her ability to maintain body temperature with hard running or
swimming, but didn't feel it was safe to do any but very close work until I
had her slimmed down. The owner told me that the show handler had put,
IIRC, 15 lbs on her, on purpose, to get her into ring condition.

Labs that come to board with us are often hugely overweight, although
plenty of other dogs are, too.

Amy Dahl

  #10  
Old July 3rd 06, 11:26 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
Melinda Shore
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Posts: 7,732
Default How often should I walk my dog?

In article ,
Paula wrote:
I think a lot of people think dogs only eat what they need or
when they are truly hungry even though they accept that humans eat
when they are bored or because it's there or tastes good.


I think a lot of people also tie together food and
affection, and try to show love to their dog by giving it
food.

But anyway, while I think it's pretty clear that the dog
that started this thread gets more walks by far than the
average pet dog, I also think the activity level should be
ramped up somewhat, for both the dog's physical and mental
health.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community
 




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