How much should I be walking my puppy?

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to this group so I apologise if my question has already been
answered many times!

I need some advice on how long I should be walking my black Labrador puppy.
Lucy is 13 weeks old and absolutely adorable (had to mention that). We live
opposite open fields and lovely walks, Lucy loves ' walking ' off the lead
with us through the fields. We have been taking her most days for the last
10 days for about an hour at a time once a day. She is full of energy during
the whole activity, she NEVER runs off and seems like she could walk
forever!

My concern is are we over walking her? I couldn't bear the thought that we
could be doing damage through our intent to give her so much pleasure. I got
in a bit of a panic the other day when I realised we'd been walking across
the fields for 40 mins, I'd gone the wrong way and had to turn back, so she
had walked for a good hour and 20 minutes.

I would be grateful for any advice on this, I feel I may need some guiding
on this matter as I may be doing more harm than good!

Many Thanks,

Alison.

Alison,

Congratulations! Lucy sound beautiful.

Your question is a very good one and how much a 13 week old puppy walks
should be taken seriously. I would suggest that instead of taking an hour
walk try walking several times a day for a short time. There are so many
problems that could happen with a young dog's bones and you will have to
monitor your time to short walks for about one year. My lab was about 10
months old before I began walking longer walks and over a year old when we
would walk one hour.

I lost my 15 month lab to a bone problem and after two surgeries to correct
it, he died. I never want anyone to experience that. Good luck with Lucy.

Marie



"Diablo ²°°²" <Nik DeleteThis @ld50.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bomdgt$ik2$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm fairly new to this group so I apologise if my question has already
been
> answered many times!
>
> I need some advice on how long I should be walking my black Labrador
puppy.
> Lucy is 13 weeks old and absolutely adorable (had to mention that). We
live
> opposite open fields and lovely walks, Lucy loves ' walking ' off the lead
> with us through the fields. We have been taking her most days for the last
> 10 days for about an hour at a time once a day. She is full of energy
during
> the whole activity, she NEVER runs off and seems like she could walk
> forever!
>
> My concern is are we over walking her? I couldn't bear the thought that we
> could be doing damage through our intent to give her so much pleasure. I
got
> in a bit of a panic the other day when I realised we'd been walking across
> the fields for 40 mins, I'd gone the wrong way and had to turn back, so
she
> had walked for a good hour and 20 minutes.
>
> I would be grateful for any advice on this, I feel I may need some guiding
> on this matter as I may be doing more harm than good!
>
> Many Thanks,
>
> Alison.
>
>