Puppy Exercise

king_bidgoodking_bidgood
edited November 2012 in Akita (秋田犬)
Hey Guys!

I don't have a puppy yet, but soon I will. This question is similar to the other exercise one, not sure if I should have added it there. I think I saw a tread that was similar, it didn't quite answer it though, but here goes...

My question is this; I've heard that you are supposed to wait until a puppy is mostly grown before you take it for walks or hikes so that you don't damage their bone growth and such. Is this true, and if so how long should you wait?

Comments

  • ttddinhttddinh
    Are you talking about Akitas or pups in general?
  • Hinata23Hinata23
    Well for walks you should wait until your pup has most of his shots (3-4 months old). You don't want it to pick up diseases. With hikes, it can depends are how strenuous they are. A walk in the woods or trail shouldn't be too bad. Goro was 5 months before he really started enjoying walks.
  • ZinjaZinja
    edited November 2012
    I waited a year before I started doing extensive agility exercises with my Shiba Inu. Would he have been able to do the jumps, drops, and climbs before the age of 1? Yes, but I would risk joint problems in the future.

    Dogs' bones do not finish maturing until 12-18 months or so. That's when their bones can begin taking a more rugged exercise such as running.

    Doing the Couch Potato to 5k runner helps build your dog's endurance levels. You can't run a 5k marathon over night.. neither can your dog.
  • jellyfishjellyfish
    for an akita, they will be done growing in height by one year of age, which you can run with them after that. (after one year, they fill out afterwards for up to two more years, but i think that differs a lot).

    You can certainly still take your pup on walks and definitely on hikes! :)
    Hikes are good because they trail is dirt, which is safe on their joints. As far as walks go... walks are awesome! Get them learning how to walk on a leash so when they're ready to run, it'll be easy. Having said that, I think that most dogs naturally do much better on run than on a walk. So yes, walking and hiking are good! It is the jogging/running you want to hold off on until one year old.

    I hope that answered you're question
  • king_bidgoodking_bidgood
    Yeah, I meant Akita, sorry.

    Thanks Guys, that makes a lot of sense. People kept telling me that I can't take a puppy to the beach or on a easy hike cause it would hurt it. But I can see that if there is a distinction between running and just walking her, then it wouldn't be so bad.

    As long as I don't over exert her, and listen to what she's telling me, then we should be good? And try and keep the ground soft and pace easy.
  • ttddinhttddinh
    If you plan on going to the beach, you should def take the pup early on (after shots are done of course, lots of bacteria and stuff). The sand is not hard and would be soft on the joints!
  • king_bidgoodking_bidgood
    so there are a lot of "mountains" around here that people hike. One of them people bike up, it has a couple of steep inclines, but it's not too hard core. Would something like that be okay? It is all dirt, with some rocks.

    We also have a lot of beaches, but it sounds like those are okay.
  • ZinjaZinja
    edited November 2012
    Where do you live where you have beaches and mountains? That's awesome!
  • PoetikDragonPoetikDragon
    edited November 2012
    @Zinja Morro Bay area... its beautiful and awesome! @king_bidgood already knows I took Gojira there at 5 months of age, but here's some photo albums for the rest of y'all.

    https://picasaweb.google.com/107561312362040855135/MorroRock
    https://picasaweb.google.com/107561312362040855135/ElephantSealBeach
    https://picasaweb.google.com/107561312362040855135/JuliaPfeifferPark
    https://picasaweb.google.com/107561312362040855135/BixbyBridge
    https://picasaweb.google.com/107561312362040855135/MontanaDeOroPark

    Gojira and Gryphon doing their best to avoid looking at the camera.
    image
    Yes, I had flexi-leashes back then... stop judging me! ;)
  • ZinjaZinja
    ooo. That's beautiful. We just have beaches here in FL.. :(
  • king_bidgoodking_bidgood
    I live in San Luis Obispo. It's in the Central Coast of California (halfway between San Francesco and Los Angeles.) We have these small mountain like formations left over from he shifting techtonic plates. Everyone here calls them mountains, but they aren't like the Sierra Navadas.

    @poeticdragon Oh yeah, you have a point. I forgot you said Gojira was 5mo. I loved those pics : 3
  • ttddinhttddinh
    Nice!
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