How much exercise for Border Collie puppy

[Fairy45]

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Hello,

I am getting a 10 week old pup next week so the guideline I've read is 5 mins for every month in age which would put her at 15 minutes of walking at once. How many times a da can you expect to do this?

We love being in the country walking and we are both runners only around 5km at a time just enjoy it rather than training for anything. How long would it be before we would be taking the dog for a run with us and getting her out for a couple of hours in a rural off lead walk?

Thanks
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[JoanneF]

The 5 minutes is just a guide and it refers to pavement walking, twice a day. Play, sniffing etc are OK on top of that.

That said, I wouldn't be doing ball throwing, running, long walks or anything similar until the growth plates close at around a year of age.

You will find brain games, training etc are actually far more tiring for him than physical exercise and that also helps reduce the risk of you ending up with a super fit athlete that you can never tire with exercise.

 

[Inka]

Until the pup is vaccinated you won't be out lead walking, however it is a great part of training/socialisation to carry the pup out when you are walking as it learns about the world around them, all the new sounds, sights and smells so they know about them before they walk out on a lead, so the priority is in your home/garden and mental exercise/training alongside toilet and lead training and other basic obedience training.

You need to allow the pup to grow up, bone and muscle structure to mature before jogging/running with it until then several short lead walks is far better option than one long one. Once your BC is 6 months plus you could start to jog/run and again only short times and better on soft ground rather than paths which is hard on their joints and know you will NEVER tire a BC out by physical excerise, they are genetically programmed to work out all day in the fields and always ready to go.

Just an example my 3 yr old BC and a friends 12 yr old BC we ( humans) walked 3 miles and had mileage trackers on us and the BCs, the BCs trackers registered 14 and 15 miles off lead, I expected them to have done more but was surprised at how much more.

I feel very jealous you are getting a BC pup enjoy.

 

[Fairy45]

Thanks for the advice this is brilliant. She's here and oh my goodness is she full of beans. She just had her second jab yesterday so 2 more weeks until she can go for a lead walk. My other half is carrying her round the streets on walks. She is so excited all the time totally in love with her! She's 10 weeks so I guess it's not too long until I can start taking her for off lead walks. By partner has taken some time off in Sept when the kids are back at school so he can take her out and get her trained on and off the lead properly before she goes to doggy day care 3 times a week.
Just another question in case you encountered this. She sleeps downstairs on her own really well, not whining until around 6am but when I get up she is far too busy wanting to play to have breakfast. It must be around 9am before she settles down and actually eats. Should I just feed her at 9am? Or still continue to offer her the food at 6? It's dry food.

 

[JoanneF]

I'd probably put the food down at 6 and let her eat when she is ready. Normally, feeding this way isn't recommended - people will suggest lifting uneaten food after 15 minutes. However that's because some dogs are fussy and don't want to eat that food at all. For your puppy, as long as she does eat it happily at 9.00, that isn't an issue. And the reason I don't suggest just putting it down at 9.00 is because she will be going through growth spurts and some mornings she might be hungrier than others and want to eat it sooner.

 

[Inka]

Thanks for the advice this is brilliant. She's here and oh my goodness is she full of beans. She just had her second jab yesterday so 2 more weeks until she can go for a lead walk. My other half is carrying her round the streets on walks. She is so excited all the time totally in love with her! She's 10 weeks so I guess it's not too long until I can start taking her for off lead walks. By partner has taken some time off in Sept when the kids are back at school so he can take her out and get her trained on and off the lead properly before she goes to doggy day care 3 times a week.
Just another question in case you encountered this. She sleeps downstairs on her own really well, not whining until around 6am but when I get up she is far too busy wanting to play to have breakfast. It must be around 9am before she settles down and actually eats. Should I just feed her at 9am? Or still continue to offer her the food at 6? It's dry food.

I wouldn't be concerned about her not being ready to eat at 6am too many games to play at that age, her 'people' have 'arrived' which is exciting for her, keep training in mind while she is playing as any command words she can learn, like if she is playing with a chew, command 'chew' or a ball/teddy, command 'ball' / 'teddy' that way she learns their 'names'... just make good use of the two weeks before you can lead walk her, getting her used to the lead in home, basic obedience, like recalls, wait and if you let the lead trail you can step on it and utilise that for control... eg step on trailing lead say 'wait' as you open the door and 'free' to release and lift your foot, do that each time and she will learn 'that action' = 'that command', recall is easy learned on a lead and if it is trailing she gets used to the weight of the lead, you can lift it walk a few steps and drop it, so she learn how to walk on the lead ...it is all less stressful for her then when you are off out into the big new world as she already understands the lead....and you can then replace the lead with a line and let that trail in the 'big world' so you can get control easily by stepping on the line nearest to you and you know she is safe, recall and praise then let her go 'free'

Nose games are great for BCs as they naturally tend to be eye focused so can become reactive later on, so it is good to teach them( or any breed) to use their nose more as that gives them lots of information before they 'see' something ... like hiding treats in the house/garden or if you are feeding kibble some of those from her meal and teach her 'find it'

Mental exercise is very important just as much if not more than physical exercise and the more she learns the better she will be and mental exercise is more likely to tire her than any amount of physical execise would.

 

[JoanneF]

I'd add, one of the first things worth teaching is engagement with you. Because everything you teach starts with that, it's the absolute foundation for everything.

So, whenever your pup looks at you, mark that behaviour with a clicker if you are using one, or any sound marker like ”yessss”, and reward.

That should mean that you become a really rewarding centre of focus for your dog. It will make training other things easier, and if your dog is unsure of anything, his default will be to look to you.

And, teach him his name. Say his name and simultaneously reward. We use a 5 x 5 pattern - so repeat the name + reward 5 times, and do the whole exercise 5 times a day.

 

[Ash2021]

I'd add, one of the first things worth teaching is engagement with you. Because everything you teach starts with that, it's the absolute foundation for everything.

So, whenever your pup looks at you, mark that behaviour with a clicker if you are using one, or any sound marker like ”yessss”, and reward.

That should mean that you become a really rewarding centre of focus for your dog. It will make training other things easier, and if your dog is unsure of anything, his default will be to look to you.

And, teach him his name. Say his name and simultaneously reward. We use a 5 x 5 pattern - so repeat the name + reward 5 times, and do the whole exercise 5 times a day.

the engagement is what I did and a local keeper saw us when Ash was 3 months old and said ‘boy look at that focus on you, that’s fantastic’ I have to admit it really made me feel good

I didn’t need to teach Ash her name as the breeder had done that for us (mind you Ash was named by us the day after she was born)

I wish mine would wait until 9am to eat - I have jokingly asked the breeder if they have sold us a lab in disguise

wishing you all the best with your new addition