# Newfoundland Puppy walks?



## Bircham8 (Oct 17, 2010)

Hi everyone, could anyone with a Newfoundland give me some advice on how long and how many walks my Newfie at 8 mths should be getting, I take him out for about 25 mins in the morning, then 15 mins most evenings, he has a big garden to play in but am worried if it is too much or too little, i,m very aware how brittle his bones and joints are at this age, all replies are most helpful, thanks


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## Kinjilabs (Apr 15, 2009)

Sorry I cant help, never owned one but would love too.
Didnt the breeder advise you?


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## Bircham8 (Oct 17, 2010)

Yes, but just the usual advice upto 5 mins per month and no jumping and stress on joints, but hes a playful fella and likes to be chased round in circles with whatever he can nab! He really enjoys and looks forward to his walks and sniffing about in the grass, but i,d hate to be over exercising him, so really just looking for any guidance from other owners, he is a big lad 45 kg at the moment, so I am being careful.


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## newfiesmum (Apr 21, 2010)

I think you have it just about right at the moment. He has done with his initial growth spurt but you still need to be very, very careful. You already know not to let him climb stairs, jump in the car etc. But I still wouldn't let him actually run for more than about 5 to ten minutes. I know full well how difficult this can be, as he is a puppy and wants to be a puppy, and then you are going to have all those interfering owners of smaller breeds telling you it is good for him to run! Don't listen to them - you know your breed.

Also, try to keep him on a flat surface, no hills and away from holes in the ground. They can injure themselves very easily. I know someone who kept hers literally in a crate until she was full grown, because of being scared of her hurting herself, but I think that is going to the other extreme and would probably result in a very depressed dog.

Don't wait for him to tell you he has had enough - he won't! You sound like you have it about right, just increase the time a little every month. Once they get to adolescent stage, they will take off at a rate you never thought them capable of, so I hope you are working on his recall! Both of mine have been extremely oversexed, and once they get to that stage, there is no stopping them!

Good luck with him. What is his name and do you have any pictures?


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

newfiesmum said:


> I think you have it just about right at the moment. He has done with his initial growth spurt but you still need to be very, very careful. You already know not to let him climb stairs, jump in the car etc. But I still wouldn't let him actually run for more than about 5 to ten minutes. I know full well how difficult this can be, as he is a puppy and wants to be a puppy, and then you are going to have all those interfering owners of smaller breeds telling you it is good for him to run! Don't listen to them - you know your breed.
> 
> Also, try to keep him on a flat surface, no hills and away from holes in the ground. They can injure themselves very easily. I know someone who kept hers literally in a crate until she was full grown, because of being scared of her hurting herself, but I think that is going to the other extreme and would probably result in a very depressed dog.
> 
> ...


Would you recomend swimming at that age to burn off some energy without stressing his joints?


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## newfiesmum (Apr 21, 2010)

Oh, yes. Swimming won't hurt him but again you have to be careful that the time is kept short. I would only ever take mine to a lake though, never a river. I am scared they would swim away and end up swimming down the Thames!


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## Bircham8 (Oct 17, 2010)

Thanks NEWFIESMUM, his recall is pretty good but he can be very stuborn, but guess thats in their nature, yes we have never let him upstairs and now he doesnt try, dont get the oversexed thing(me thick ?) will try and ad a few pix now, tried to put some on on sunday in the newfoundland section, feel free to contact as be good to hear your experiences with yuour 2, we definately plan to get another in a year or so.


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## newfiesmum (Apr 21, 2010)

Give it a couple of months and you will get the oversexed thing! I will message you.


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## monk (Aug 9, 2013)

Hi can any1 give me any info Iv got a14 week old male Newfoundland at the moment I'm.giving him 1 10 min walk a day as he is in the garden most off the day but I'm worried about him jumping around when he is excited is this going to hurt him thanks any Help would be fantastic


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## newfiesmum (Apr 21, 2010)

monk said:


> Hi can any1 give me any info Iv got a14 week old male Newfoundland at the moment I'm.giving him 1 10 min walk a day as he is in the garden most off the day but I'm worried about him jumping around when he is excited is this going to hurt him thanks any Help would be fantastic


Mostly anything he does on his own is not going to hurt him, though I would be inclined to limit the amount of time he actually runs. For example, don't let him go chasing after any springer spaniels! Ten minutes lead walking should be fine, or even fifteen, but they know themselves when they have had enough. Just no stairs or even steps and strictly no jumping into or out of the car.


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## Tyton (Mar 9, 2013)

Length of walks (10-15 min at a time) sounds about right. Playing about in garden is probably ok but just one word of caution.

Our 2 pups at 22 weeks are pretty bombproof; run, tumble, bounce around but our 3 yr old had a bit of a disaster as a pup. We were very careful about no stairs, light walking, no jumping in/out of cars etc but, like you, thought he was ok playing around in the garden. Unfortunately we later discovered his 'playing' involved launching himself of a slope to 'graze' the top of a 5 foot high shrub! He started to limp on his rear ankle and ended up at 9 months with an urgent ferry trip to the mainland for emergency surgery and talk of amputations or even being pts due to the infection in his joint -related to lamb hock that young sheep get from bouncing around too young.

Thankfully all is well now. But please check his playing doesn't involve to much leaping. Normal bouncing and scampering about should be fine in short bursts -have to get the balance beween being cautious and letting them be pups and grow strong as newfiesmum has already said about her friend and the crating. Ours have had a few nose dives down the 2 steps in the garden, and trips over their own feet, but they have to walk/run/build their muscles (and hopefully build their comon sense).


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## monk (Aug 9, 2013)

Hi I'm looking for some help with exercising my newfi puppy here is 14 week old at the moment I'm walk in him for 10 mins at night and he is in the garden most of the day sometimes playing with the kids is this is this amount of exercise ok also he gets very excited and starts jumping around like a frog and it can't be doing him any good has any 1 any tips on how to use his energy without being too strenuous thanks


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

The general rule of thumb is 5 mins per month of age per day for forced lead walking, so 10 mins is about right. Play exercise is great and much better for allowing all the twisting, turning, building up muscles and ligaments. 

It is hard work with a pup, and they can be manic, I've got a Labrador who's 16 months old, she's taking after her mother so far, she's a slow maturer, and drives me up the wall some days, thankfully her mum intervenes and helps use up some of the energy, as do all my dogs but her mum is the most tolerant. If you can find a good play mate or someone else's dogs to help socialise your boy it will be a great help.


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## monk (Aug 9, 2013)

It won't do any l long term harm with him jumping all over Will it.??


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

Normal play is good, but if you think he's overdoing things and running on adrenalin, them pop him somewhere to calm down. The mother of my girl was a maniac as a pup, used to run rings round me inside as well as out, it was like living with a dog that liked to do the wall of death!! She turned out to have 0/0 hips; the thinking is, if they have good hips/elbows and joints *generally* play exercise or any exercise, as long as you really don't over do things, won't do them any harm. But if they do have the propensity to develop problems, over exercise could well exacerbate that. It's complicated because things like diet, even levels of exposure to sunshine, can affect how pups develop, along with all the genetic propensity they carry to develop into adults with or without issues.


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