Are our walks too long?

Munch
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Hi everyone,

I'm posting again because I've got a bit of a... guilty conscience!

My little Conti (Continental Bulldog) will be 3 months old soon (on the 18th). The breeder I got him from at the end of December treated the puppies like they were made of porcelain and really drummed it into me that I shouldn't walk him for more than 20 minutes to avoid any arthritis or joint issues in the future...

But my little pup (carefully selected, Kennel Club registered, hip scores for the whole line – a real cracker! ^^) is full of energy (when he's not sleeping... which is rare! ) and I can only really get him to settle down properly during walks where he’s an absolute angel. If we just play indoors, he goes a bit stir-crazy! Even with a short walk, his indoor play gets quite rough as he gets frustrated and grumpy.

In town, whether it's getting to the car or the park, by the time we've gone there and back, the 20 minutes are up and all we've done is travel!

So a typical day looks like this:

7 am: quick wee out in the street, hardly any walking, just for the toilet.

10 am: a quick walk around the block, about 10-15 mins to do his business and have a sniff.

1 pm: big walk, usually about an hour, though today I lost track of time and it was an hour and a half... which is why I’m worried! We go at a very slow pace and I don't push him, but it's still walking (flat ground, pavement, dirt paths, and grass).

4 pm: walk around the block (same as 10 am but a different route).

7 pm: same again.

10 pm and midnight (if he's awake): just a quick toilet break like at 7 am!

Plus, during the long midday walk, I let him off the lead so he can have some fun, and he’s started jumping more and more. He’ll go up 3 or 4 steps before I can stop him and has started... jumping on and off benches (not very high ones, but still!).

Basically, Contis were bred to improve on the poor physical condition of English Bulldogs, and it’s definitely worked. But even though he doesn't show any signs of being tired after the big walk (he doesn't just flop down on his big comfy bed, he keeps following me around or plays quietly with his soft toys), I can't help but worry. I keep wondering if I'm ruining his joints. Mind you, he seems fine with the pace; he’s naturally quite lazy, so when he’s had enough or doesn't want to do something, he makes it very clear and I don't push him!

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11 answers
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    • Docline
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    I think it’s a bit daft to look for hard and fast rules on how long puppy walks should be. You’ve just got to keep in mind that you shouldn't push them too hard. You need to take into account the terrain, the dog’s build, their motivation, and so on; you have to stay alert for signs of tiredness and avoid repetitive physical strain. Basically, just use your common sense, know when to take a break, and adapt to what you’re seeing.

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    Anonymous user Icon representing the flag French
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    I think I might call it a day with this forum; only two threads so far—one I started and one I replied to—and I reckon my posts are probably too long and just scare everyone off. I’m left with no answers, or just the odd response here and there. Many thanks to those who were kind enough to get back to me, but never mind. It’s a bit of a shame as I was looking forward to sharing things, but I don’t exactly have a common breed and no one here seems to know or care about Sloughis. Too bad... Plus, I feel a bit isolated in a country where it’s rare for a dog to really be part of the family... I thought I’d get some advice from people with more experience than me, but instead, just silence. I’m just going to trust my gut and raise her the natural way. I’ll probably muck things up plenty of times, but that’s just how it is. At least she’ll never be alone, she’ll be able to run as much as she likes and hunt hares. As far as her training goes, she’s a little queen—no real rules except for the coffee table. We let her play and mouth whenever she wants; I don’t really buy into the whole "dominating your dog" thing. She’s still just a tiny puppy and she’s been sleeping right next to us since we got her. Maybe we’ve got it all wrong, but we’ll learn from our mistakes. With love from Morocco from Yahia, Juliette, and Xena. And regarding the topic of this thread, I’m going to keep letting her run around even though she’s not even two months old—dogs are very hardy out here in Morocco...
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    Anonymous user Icon representing the flag French
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    @Patou, same thing today, but she seemed scared rather than tired, especially as she's been bouncing around since this morning. My husband came with me and she was brilliant, she had a good run. She was spooked by a donkey the other day... maybe that was her issue today, whereas yesterday it was definitely tiredness. On the other hand, even though I'm really against using a lead, I might have to start for a few months. Up until now, she only moved when we did and she'd listen, but today she's got more confident and was zooming around like it was a game, and wouldn't come back when called. (Mind you, there was a donkey I hadn't seen) and she thought it was hilarious watching me run after her like a right idiot. There's no risk from cars but there is a risk of her getting kicked by a donkey or a cow, so we're really going to have to work on her recall. I can't even imagine how fast she'll be when she's fully grown, but if it's 25 mph like other dogs of her breed, we'll need to get her properly trained. Another thing, I’ve been struggling with her food for the last couple of days. Up until now, since we didn’t have any dry food (we’ve only just received some), I was making her meals myself—rice, fish, meat, veg, etc. She only ate when she was hungry, not necessarily finishing the bowl, but she ate well. The problem is my husband has also been feeding her "Moroccan style"—which means eating what we eat. Not great for her: couscous, lamb, salt, preserved lemon chicken... basically, I’ve tried to make him understand it’s not healthy for a dog, but that’s just the way they do things here. I've been giving her dry food for two days now, mixed with a bit of meat, but zilch—she won't touch it, it's just sitting in her bowl. I already thought she wasn't eating much, considering how much energy she burns off. Will she eventually eat her dry food or will she starve herself until we cave in and give her my home-cooked stuff? Here are two photos, one where she's leaping about and the other where you can really see the size of her paws for a six-week-old!
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    Anonymous user Icon representing the flag French
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    Hi everyone, I’ve posted once before and I’m asking myself the same question as Munch. It’s even trickier because my puppy is only just over six weeks old and I really don't see how I can limit her to 10 minutes of walking a day; she’s absolutely bursting with energy... (We’ve just got back from the vet, and we did indeed get her at one month old). The other issue is that we have a large three-storey house with outside stairs that she charges down several times a day. (She’s already very big for her age—she’s a Sloughi, a sighthound with long legs) and she has no trouble jumping onto the bed, sofas, and so on, even though they’re quite high. Apparently, it’s not great for her joints, but she seems to love jumping all over the place. If I don’t take her for a walk, she just runs around the garden and the house anyway. (I’ll probably get slated on this forum for this, but we let her on the sofas and our bed). I go out with her for an hour and she doesn't even seem tired when we get back. She’s off-lead, I should add (again, that might not be to everyone’s taste, but there are no roads where we live and I don’t plan on putting her on a lead, except for trips into town), so she goes at her own pace. Except for yesterday, which was the first time she refused to go out; she just sat on the path in front of the house, so we turned back. I thought she was ill all day, but she just snoozed—actually, she was just knackered. So now, I don’t overthink it: if she seems to have plenty of energy, we have a walk and play; otherwise, I let her rest. Once she’s older, we’ll be going on very long walks; we’re lucky enough to live in the mountains with immediate access to some lovely hikes. I’m waiting to do those, but for now, I prefer to go by feel rather than strictly following the five-minute rule. I don't see how she’ll only be doing 25 minutes at five months old; that seems like hardly anything to me...
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    Anonymous user Icon representing the flag French
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    Evening everyone

    With our little girl, we’ve always gone on fairly long walks without really watching the clock... an hour or so, sometimes even whole half-days out. After 20 minutes of zooming around, she just trots along nicely, and we stop quite a bit too—on benches, at café terraces, or just standing around in the woods. It also helps the dog get used to being outdoors so she isn’t always hyper as soon as she’s out. Mind you, ours is always happy ^^ but she was able to stay calm in the right places from a very young age, even around her pals... Oh, I’m always making excuses for her 😅

    Basically, we could talk about joint issues, or high-energy, explosive dogs... but after that bit of bone came loose and got stuck in the tendons, the ortho vet told us she could have done that all by herself just by running... We carry her up and down big flights of stairs and in and out of the motorhome... but then again, accidents can always happen.

    The reason I’m telling you all this is obviously to talk about my girl 😂 but also to say: if you’re really worried that the activity is too intense for your puppy, scale it back a bit, teach them gradually how to settle during play etc... (it’s a long process, we’re still at it ourselves)... but don’t let it stress you out too much either.

    She’s got an operation coming up soon, but even looking back, we wouldn’t have changed a thing. Not that we think we’re right about everything, but she’s enjoyed every single walk, every meet-up with her mates, and if she’s just bust her knee while running... well, she was just unlucky... but she’s had a proper puppyhood (which seems far from over ^^)

    Have a lovely evening and happy walking!

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    Munch
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    @Munch, it wasn’t my idea—in fact, you’ve probably heard of this rule yourself, which is why you’re asking about the potential health risks. You only need to do a bit of research on it to see. What we did was stick roughly to the recommended walking times, excluding play and rest periods, and it wasn’t just formal walking. We’d drive her straight to where we were going, so she’s ended up being really relaxed in the car. We would always stop as soon as she showed signs of tiredness. I definitely know the rule, but even with the best will in the world, I just can’t stick to it anymore! At least, not without my dog getting incredibly frustrated... Phô sleeps a lot; apart from the walks I mentioned, he just eats, plays a bit with me or on his own, and the rest of the time he's just sleeping or having a snooze-cuddle! For almost all our outings (except the midday one), it’s either just a quick toilet break or a little social trip into town so he can see the world. For the midday one, I don’t really call the shots; I just take him to some lovely spots where he can run, play, and meet other people and dogs. I don’t really limit his time—as long as he’s alert and engaged, I assume he’s not tired, so I just let him get on with it. I don’t force anything; we just wander along and I stop whenever he does, but we still end up doing a decent stretch that lasts at least an hour. I’m just trying to listen to what he needs during the walk, but it’s obvious we’re way past the "required" 20 minutes! And just to show off a bit... he absolutely loves the car because he knows it means the beach or puppy classes! 😁 But at the end of the day... he seems perfectly fine, but will it have an impact on him further down the line?
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    Leeleebijou
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    @Munch, it wasn’t my own rule; you’ve probably heard of it yourself, which is likely why you’re asking about the health implications. You can easily find more details with a quick search online.

    In our case, this is what we did: we stuck roughly to the recommended walking times, but that didn’t include playtime or rest breaks – it wasn’t just constant walking.

    We would drive straight to the spot, and because we didn't count the time in the car, she’s now really settled when travelling.

    We’d just stop whenever she started showing signs of getting tired.

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    Munch
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    @Leeleebijou Your idea for a walking rule seems absolutely impossible to me! 😁 Restricting his walks that much (and he loves being out and about; he even goes and fetches his lead for me!) would drive him totally bonkers! He’d turn the flat upside down with growling, barking, the zoomies, and chewing on anything and everything with that look that says, "I’m going to make your life a misery!" 😈 @Damsdams that’s a bit of a relief, but when I read @AmieDesBoxers’ story about Orphée, it’s clear there’s a major issue with the bone structure of molossoid breeds, so I need to be careful. But as Patou says, you shouldn’t overprotect them too much; I watch him and try to stop once he’s starting to reach his limits while keeping a bit of a safety margin... mind you, I’m not sure if that’s enough! As for the photos, I was having some trouble uploading them, so Tania was kind enough to do it for me! ^^ You can find them here: https://wamiz.com/chiens/forum/rochefort-17-lieux-de-promenade-82638/4.html I’ll take some more soon as he’s changing so fast! 😎
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    Damsdams
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    Evening! Good question. Obviously, you aren’t going to go on a three-hour hike, jumping over obstacles and climbing hills at that age, but I don’t think you should go to the other extreme and wrap them in cotton wool either. My dog always had an hour and a half’s walk every day when he was four months old, back when we first got him from a rescue, and he’d still be raring for more—otherwise, he’d start getting destructive once we got home. He’s always flown up and down the stairs at a hundred miles an hour 🤭 with no ill effects; basically, nothing to stress about from my point of view. PS: Feel free to post a photo or two of the little monster ^^
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