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Is this walk too long?
Hi, my wife and I are first time dog owners. Our puppy, Hoola, is a
four-month old miniature Australian Shepherd. He's a great dog- intelligent, good tempered, energetic. Very, very energetic. Long story short, I recently began talking him on long walks on most morning. My guess is that it's just under three miles. It takes us a little over an hour to complete. When we get home he gets pretty rambunctious for about five or ten minutes, goes potty, drinks some water, then goes to sleep for about four hours. On most afternoons, my nephew comes over and plays with him again for half an hour, too. I get the feeling that the official answer is, "Yes, the walk is too long!" But he really seems like a happier puppy on the days that we go for our long walk. Several short walks during the day, even with nephew time, still seem to leave him a little, overwrought, glowing ball of energy at the end of the day. Thanks, Russ |
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Is this walk too long?
I don't think it's too long. If he were stopping part way through and
refusing to walk then I'd say yes but you don't mention anything about that. As long as it's cool out in the moring and not temperatures in the 80's I wouldn't think this was too much. Dogs need excercise and you already noticed on days where he doesn't get as much he's wound up more. Celeste wrote in message ups.com... Hi, my wife and I are first time dog owners. Our puppy, Hoola, is a four-month old miniature Australian Shepherd. He's a great dog- intelligent, good tempered, energetic. Very, very energetic. Long story short, I recently began talking him on long walks on most morning. My guess is that it's just under three miles. It takes us a little over an hour to complete. When we get home he gets pretty rambunctious for about five or ten minutes, goes potty, drinks some water, then goes to sleep for about four hours. On most afternoons, my nephew comes over and plays with him again for half an hour, too. I get the feeling that the official answer is, "Yes, the walk is too long!" But he really seems like a happier puppy on the days that we go for our long walk. Several short walks during the day, even with nephew time, still seem to leave him a little, overwrought, glowing ball of energy at the end of the day. Thanks, Russ |
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Is this walk too long?
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Is this walk too long?
"Gary" wrote in message ... On Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:02:48 -0700, wrote: I get the feeling that the official answer is, "Yes, the walk is too long!" But he really seems like a happier puppy on the days that we go for our long walk. Several short walks during the day, even with nephew time, still seem to leave him a little, overwrought, glowing ball of energy at the end of the day. Thanks, Russ When my Airedale was 3 months, we brought him to the dog park. He ran and played over an hour...and he slept for 2 days afterwards. I've heard some breeds will keep up humans just because it's in their nature, and sometimes can exhaust themselves afterwards. Just keep an eye on him. I was hiking with friends quite a few years ago and we encountered a young guy and his very friendly, energetic young dog, running happily off-leash. Later we saw them again, down by the stream, where the dog was on its side, panting heavily, and the poor guy was very distraught. We did what we could, but we heard later that the dog died. It was a fairly warm day, but not terrible. However, the dog was not much more than a pup, maybe 6 months or so, and apparently was just so excited to be running with his buddy that he overexerted himself. One of my hiking buddies was more experienced with dogs, and said that young dogs who are not fully developed can get into trouble like that. I have heard that a dog's temperature can spike quite high during exercise. I wonder if there is a way to monitor it occasionally to prevent this? Paul and Muttley |
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Is this walk too long?
In article ,
Paul E. Schoen wrote: I have heard that a dog's temperature can spike quite high during exercise. I wonder if there is a way to monitor it occasionally to prevent this? Here in the 21st century we have this new-fangled invention called a "thermometer." Many of those of us who are active with our dogs carry one in this other gizmo commonly referred to as a "first aid kit." How a dog responds to heat is an individual thing. Hyperthermia is a terrible, terrible thing but it won't usually kill the dog. It can, however, cause brain damage and interfere with the dog's ability to thermoregulate in the future (i.e. the dog is more likely to overheat again). I have double-coated arctic dogs and so I'm careful about not asking the dogs to do much if it's warm out (although one of the dogs is fine jogging with me up to about 75F, depending on the humidity). However, in general I do not think an off-leash walk of several miles, where the dog sets its own pace, will be harmful to a younger dog. In warmer weather it's a good idea to give the dog water more often. I question whether or not the dog you saw actually died from heat stress, from your description. -- Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis - Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community |
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Is this walk too long?
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