turns out that my 17 weeks old pup is actually 6 months old after visit to vets what needs to change ?

Hey all brought coco last week and seems everything we where told was a load of bull. Where told she was 17 weeks but vet says closer to 6 months, she wasnt micro chipped as led to beleive either and we have also been having to continue house training after being told she was totally fine. Still loving her to bits but i wanted to make sure by how much i should up her food / walks. At the min im taking her on 2/3 15-20 min walks a day and have been feeding her a small handfull on dry food 3 times a day. And at what age can i just walk her for as long as i wish without having to worry about damaging her ??

As a general rule walks should be kept to five minutes per month. This can also include some off leash play that doesn't count toward the total. Any real high impact activity such as running on lead, backpacking or weight pulling should be put off until they are at least 18 months but preferably 24 months.

The food you're feeding should have guidelines as to how much Coco should be fed, and it usually goes according to weight.

As jstaff said, don't overdo it on the walking, but it she's near 6 months, 3 x 20 minutes is fine.

just be patient with the house training, she might have accidents in the house now because of the new surroundings, new owners and new and different smells.

I'd say with the walking, if she is off lead then at 6 months you could do more

Feeding, go with the guidlines and on Cocos appearence and health. Must have been a bit of a shock to you!

Yes well i have never owned a staffy before so had no idea what size she should be but not really suprising dont think she was too well looked after before we got her doubt they cared what age she was. She didnt get walks or anything and to know thats was how she lived for 6 months instead of 4 is very sad but shes got a home for life now and is loving all the attention and walks will stick to 3 20 min or 2 half hour walks a day for now then and will check out the dog food bag

Thanks Nicx & Coco

Oh no! But like you said you love her to bits! She will get there with the house training, now she's got a lovely family to look after her properly

Go by the food packaging guideline amounts, have you tried to weigh her yet?

Just stick with the basic as regards to the housetraining, go outside about every half hour to see if she neeeds to go then lots of praise when she does go.

Must have been a bit of a suprise to find out she wasnt the age she she was supposed to be, I wonder why you were lied to about it.

Oh dear that must have been a shock but sadly proves that we still have so many irresponsible people out there!! I am so glad coco is now in a safe loving home, as you all the other said read the food guide it will advise you on amounts my girl is nearly 6mnths and is actually weaning off her 3rd feed so will gradually cut down too two larger feeds, it maybe worth thinking about a multi vitamin for her or some omega 3 fish oils as it doesn,t sound like she was well cared for in her first few months.
Walks you still have too be careful of damaging joints as her bones are still developing, but if she is off the lead running around 3 walks of 20mins is fine, as you have found out she is 6mnths i am sure the vet warned you but be on the look out for her 1st season too, wishing you both well x

jstaff wrote:As a general rule walks should be kept to five minutes per month. T

Are you sure this is enough, my staffie needs much more than that LOL

Oh wow, what a shock. Goodness knows why the previous owners felt the need to lie.

At 6 months, I would feed two meals a day, morning and evening. The food you're using will have guidelines as said.

As for walking, 2-3 20 minute walks plus some off lead play should be fine. It isn't until about a year that you can walk them for as long as you want. While they're young, you have to be careful of their joints, as it can lead to problems as they get older.

It scertainly sounds as if Coco hasn't had a good start, but she has you now to make her forget all of that and find out what it is like to be a loved and well looked after fur-baby

moffman wrote:

jstaff wrote:As a general rule walks should be kept to five minutes per month. T

Are you sure this is enough, my staffie needs much more than that LOL

Until the growth plates gave closed & the tendons etc have strengthened you need to limit the amount of exercise. 5 minutes per month of age, 3 times a day is fine. But that's on lead walking. If you go to a park then you can walk there (10 minutes) let the pup play as it wants, as long as it's allowed to flop down & rest whenever it wants (15 - 20 minutes) and then walk back (10 minutes). So you'd have a total of 35-40 minutes exercise, but only 20 minutes on lead walking.

Caryll wrote:

moffman wrote:

jstaff wrote:As a general rule walks should be kept to five minutes per month. T

Are you sure this is enough, my staffie needs much more than that LOL

Until the growth plates gave closed & the tendons etc have strengthened you need to limit the amount of exercise. 5 minutes per month of age, 3 times a day is fine. But that's on lead walking. If you go to a park then you can walk there (10 minutes) let the pup play as it wants, as long as it's allowed to flop down & rest whenever it wants (15 - 20 minutes) and then walk back (10 minutes). So you'd have a total of 35-40 minutes exercise, but only 20 minutes on lead walking.

Just curious...why is this? What's the difference between running around at the park and walking straight? Is it the pavement being hard? Sorry if that sounds silly.

Its not silly at all and yes there are afew different reasons but lead walking on pavement is high impact on ligaments and joints plus the overall motion of lead walking, when they run round on grass its gentler on the growing parts plus they do tend too flop and rest when they need it

Rachb26 wrote:

Caryll wrote:

moffman wrote:

jstaff wrote:As a general rule walks should be kept to five minutes per month. T

Are you sure this is enough, my staffie needs much more than that LOL

Until the growth plates gave closed & the tendons etc have strengthened you need to limit the amount of exercise. 5 minutes per month of age, 3 times a day is fine. But that's on lead walking. If you go to a park then you can walk there (10 minutes) let the pup play as it wants, as long as it's allowed to flop down & rest whenever it wants (15 - 20 minutes) and then walk back (10 minutes). So you'd have a total of 35-40 minutes exercise, but only 20 minutes on lead walking.

Just curious...why is this? What's the difference between running around at the park and walking straight? Is it the pavement being hard? Sorry if that sounds silly.

On lead walking makes pupster walk at your pace for X amount of time. With off lead they run around at their pace stopping from a break when ever they need it, so they don't over work themselves

Exactly that. Pups need exercise to strengthen their gluteal muscles (which support the joints) but must rest whenever they feel the need. Also, no high impact exercises at that age should be undertaken.

Great advice from everybody and I was just about to ask some of the same questions as I was an uneducated youth when Tilly was a baby

I hate to hijack this post, but I was reading about the time allotted for exercise per day. Rugeley is 14 weeks old. Because of where we work she can be off the lead and allowed to run free for most of the morning. She is able to sleep whenever she feels, we take her bed with us or she will curl up in a comfy bush.
We get home early afternoon, then she is off playing with the older dog or following us around the farm.
She basically is on the go all day, with small naps along the way.
She does sleep very well at night, looks forward to going to bed at night.
So is this all too much for a young pup,? We don't force her to follow us around, sometimes she does choose to lay on the outside bed and snooze away in the sun.