A bit worried

Hi All,

Well Colin absolutely loves walking on the lead (first trip out this weekend)and was as good as gold yesterday. We took him to pugneys water park and he loved it. He met a gorgeous 6 month old blue/brindle staffie called Stella (bit bizarre, it was my nan's name) and countless other dogs, the bigger the better for him and he was extremely sociable. He didn't pull on his lead one bit (not brave enough to let him off is such a big open space just yet!) The only thing is I am a bit worried that he has been a bit subdued since then. I'm wondering if the walk was a bit much for him, especially with the gorgeous weather yesterday, the walk itself was about half an hour, but because of how gorgeous and friendly he was, we kept getting stopped so it probably took nearer an hour. He has slept for England since and for the first time, didn't want to get up for a wee in the middle of the night. Literally had to lift him out, he then had one and ran back to his bed. Normally on a morning when I'm getting ready for work, I end up playing chase the makeup brush but he got up had his breakfast, went on a small walk with my partner (albeit relunctantly to start with) and then came back and just crashed in his crate. Did we overdo it yesterday with him? He also spent a lot of time just chilling in the garden before we went out for the walk (he had plenty of shade but now I'm worried that we've caused him some harm unintentionally!) Anyone elses pups reacted the same way before and what would you advise?

He's probably just very tired. For a small pup, it can take a little while to build up the energy lost from a long walk. Unless he's showing signs of distress, I'm sure he'll be fine.

For a one off, the long walk wouldn't have done any damage. The damage occurs when it's done repetitively.

Sounds like he is knackered and needs to rest it off. mybe a bit to much for his little legs just yet. He should be fine. Just take it nice and easy on him..

Yeah just let him rest and recover now

A little bit of R & R and he'll be back on track

He just had too much fun yesterday and is tired! Think of a small child, all the running about and excitment really takes it out of them. He will be fine, you will be chasing him around again this evening then you'll want to take him on another long walk!

Thanks everyone, has put my mind at rest. My partner's just called in to check on him as I was fretting.. (at work today) and he seems to have perked up a bit... will take him on a much smaller work tonight. My stepson will be with him again in a couple of hours so will get frequent updates. Probably a good thing that I am at work, he is more likely to rest.... normally he's a nosey little sod hehe!

I remeber the first time I took Chiquito out for a big run around - he crashed out big time when we got home and didn't even get up for dinner .. I was so worried that I had broken him that, I kept checking to make sure he was still breathing He got up the nest day bright as a button and full of energy

haha Kell, that's exactly what I said to my partner..... "oh my god, I think we've broken him!".....

How old is he now?

He shouldn't really be getting walks of that length, especially in the heat of the day. A one off probably won't do him any harm, but any more may start to weaken his tendons, ligaments & bones. Also, if he gets over tired he might start to dread his walks because they make him feel bad.

I'd try & stick to the 5 minutes per month of age rule until he's at least 7 or 8 months old, and then build it slowly from there.

He's 13 weeks today Caryll.... Lesson learnt, we won't be doing that again anytime soon!

I think the thing that would concern me most about his little jaunt is the fact that he didn't really want to go out the next time. It'd be a shame if he started to dislike walks - it makes things very difficult!

Bandit would be up for a walk any time, day or night. Even if he'd just ahd hours of exercise he'd rest for 20 minutes & then be raring to go again; my sheepdogs were always the same. Dempsey, on the other hand, loves his morning walk, but generally speaking isn't fussed about the others. It can be a real pain trying to drag a 28kilo dog down the street when he really doesn't want to go!

apparently on his walk this morning he was only reticent for the first couple of minutes and then wagged his tail and off he went. I've told my partner we will restrict walks to when it is cooler so he gets one at 6 am in the morning, one small one at lunch time and then I will take him about 7 on an evening until he builds up. When you said 5 min per month, do you mean that twice a day or split the 15 mins up... just doesn' t seem much and he is usually giddy as a kipper. I also do training with him for 15 mins and he gets time in the garden.

It's just a general rule of thumb that youngsters should get a maximum of 5 minutes lead walking, per month of age, 2 or 3 times a day. But you can also add to that a bit of off lead running around on soft ground (grass/sand etc) as long as the pup is allowed to flop down & rest whenever it wants. You do have to be careful, though, that they don't overdo it when they're playing with other dogs because they don't always know when to stop!

But that's just out-of-doors exercise. You can also add 10/15 minutes of training at home, plus playing indoors. Again, though, they should be allowed to just rest whenever they need to.

He could get a 15 minute walk 2 or 3 times a day at this age! He sounds like he was absolutely exhausted! It takes time for them to adjust to the exercise especially if they weren't going on any walks before! One time won't harm him, however if you continued to do this it could! So good job coming here and asking, now you know and have very likely prevented doing damage to his joints by over walking! Also start to practice his recall, then you can give him an additional 30 minutes or so a day off lead in soft grass as some extra exercise! As long as he can lay down and rest during this time whenever he needs to! I know it can be scary and intimidating to let them off lead for the first time! We did a lot of recall with Gwen but still when I finally let her off for the first time I was very nervous! She is great off lead now and I find this tires her out more than anything!

Imagine a toddler doing that walk... they would sit and have a paddy.. it must have been too much for him. By all means have him out doors for that length of time but carry him for a bit to rest his little legs..

Oh we did carry him some of the way round pag, we've just been keeping the walks short since then. He's doing fine and bounced back full of energy by the time I got home. Thanks for your advice everyone x

Glad he bounced back and you are doing shorter walks! Can we see some updated pics???

Yeah hun I out one up the other day of him chilling in the sun, need to get some more. He's all legs st the minute