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Limiting exercise in young dogs


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Hello! We went for our first vet check today and Winter's vet strongly cautioned us against over exercising her young bones. Winter is 6 months old. The vet okayed our short walks and gentle ball tosses but I forgot to ask about self-directed exercise. She runs hard laps around the yard a few times a day. Do you think this is okay? She's not running with other dogs or being encouraged. I'm not sure I could really stop her without leashing her 24/7... Thanks!

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I suspect she will be just fine. My vet and agility coach keep Wallace ( 11 months ) under a little bit of restriction until his growth plates are closed but nothing too crazy. We don't do repetitive exercises with a lot of pressure like full height jumps, a-frames, etc. and we do not practice flat work every day.  We do go for walks, occasional hikes, and play fetch with a chuck-it a few times a week. I couldn't imagine not letting my him run now and then, but we certainly aren't training for any marathons or 20 mile backpacking trips. 

I think of it a bit like human kids, they need exercise and play and sports can be good for them. However, if you religiously make your kid train every day to be an Olympic gymnast from age 4 their probably going to have joint problems early on in life.   

Are you going to to do agility or flyball or anything like that?

 

 

 

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Cyberdog, I want to do flyball but can't find anywhere with classes or a group near me. We will probably dabble in agility but hiking, Nosework and just constant companion is our main focus. That said if she LOVES agility or something else we try we will get more involved I'm sure. 

Edit: thanks so much for your advice! Really appreciate it!

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