Totally agree with everyone who says you can ruin a young dog by over exercise.
A puppy in SOME pet homes will run itself into a hard stringy looking adult as quick as anything.
Whippets love to run and need little encouragement to over exercise themselves, in a family situation where running makes owners shout and clap with glee when you are belting around a field.
Muscle on undeveloped bone and organs, ie stomach leads to poor feeders which leads to owners giving higher protien foods which just leads to more fast fuel then you are just going around and around in a downward spiral and the ruin of an otherwise good looking puppy.
My puppies run as much as they want, as soon as they slow down I know they have had enough, then they rest.
I sold a puppy once, 10 weeks, I rang the owners a few weeks later to see how he was getting on and they said he was great allthough a little tired after his week going across dartmoor on the family holiday. I have to admit I shed a tear for him that night, he must have been so worn out but felt that was what he was meant to be doing.
Sometimes I dispair at some pet peoples idea of what a puppy is (any breed). They want boxers to bounce around all day, they want staffies to play growlly tugging games and baby labs to be diving in ponds after sticks til they can hardly stand. You can do this with a human child, play adult games, but unfortunatly you can with an animal.
I worked with young Greyhounds and they were NEVER encouraged to run. They used to have a little burst of play running during the day but most of the time they were just allowed to grow and mooch about. I would urge people to study young Cheetahs, thier mother knows that they should not be running flat out for months, she makes them sit and wait, and even when she leaves them to fend for themselves they live on worms, beetles and mice for ages before they develope the power to catch larger prey.
A puppy in SOME pet homes will run itself into a hard stringy looking adult as quick as anything.
Whippets love to run and need little encouragement to over exercise themselves, in a family situation where running makes owners shout and clap with glee when you are belting around a field.
Muscle on undeveloped bone and organs, ie stomach leads to poor feeders which leads to owners giving higher protien foods which just leads to more fast fuel then you are just going around and around in a downward spiral and the ruin of an otherwise good looking puppy.
My puppies run as much as they want, as soon as they slow down I know they have had enough, then they rest.
I sold a puppy once, 10 weeks, I rang the owners a few weeks later to see how he was getting on and they said he was great allthough a little tired after his week going across dartmoor on the family holiday. I have to admit I shed a tear for him that night, he must have been so worn out but felt that was what he was meant to be doing.
Sometimes I dispair at some pet peoples idea of what a puppy is (any breed). They want boxers to bounce around all day, they want staffies to play growlly tugging games and baby labs to be diving in ponds after sticks til they can hardly stand. You can do this with a human child, play adult games, but unfortunatly you can with an animal.
I worked with young Greyhounds and they were NEVER encouraged to run. They used to have a little burst of play running during the day but most of the time they were just allowed to grow and mooch about. I would urge people to study young Cheetahs, thier mother knows that they should not be running flat out for months, she makes them sit and wait, and even when she leaves them to fend for themselves they live on worms, beetles and mice for ages before they develope the power to catch larger prey.
