Whippet puppy 'too much or too little exercise'

[seymourthewhippet]

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Hi there

I have a whippet puppy who is 18 weeks old tomorrow, his name is Seymour and we live in London with lots of lovely parks and other doggies.

One thing I am struggling to understand is how much exercise he should have at this point? I have been told / read so much contradictory info.

I am told the general rule of thumb is 5 mins for every month so currently he should only have around 20 mins of repetitive walking on hard surfaces - What does this mean for park adventures / does this include park play? I have also been told not to let him run because until he's older as he's still growing? When should I allow his to run with other dogs in the park? When will he be fully grown, surely that varies? I do allow him off lead when it's just us and we play games together, he does pick up speed very quickly so I only allow this for about 5 - 10 mins.

This not running in the park with other dogs presents a giant conundrum for me because I want to continue to work on his recall. I was told it best to do this whilst they are young as they still need you. I let him off lead at Hampstead Heath in London which is giant / with other dogs / lots of good stuff to sniff and he was brilliant at just coming back to me and then have subsequently taken him to the beach over the christmas break where he happily ran along besides me. I have noticed that as he's become more confident he does spot dogs in the distance and I cant tell he's going to make a run for them so I distract him and put his lead back on - I guess this is another issue entirely but how does any of this make sense together?

Would love some advice from fellow Whippet owners!

Thanks

 

[gypsysmum2]

How cute is he!?

Exercise is all about moderation. The growth plates are still forming and loads of exercise is not good while that is happening. A vet once told me that we should build up muscle first to that the joints are supported. One short off lead run with another dog will not do too much harm. What the advice is designed to do is to stop people taking young puppies on ten mile hikes at the weekend.

Your most pressing objective is socialisation at the moment. I would just let him have a nice play with any dog he meets and then get him back on lead to rest his joints.

It must be so tempting to wander for miles with him scampering about but you will need to be patient and concentrate on his training and socialisation for now.

 

[dogmatize]

Hello fellow whippet owner! I have a puppy who looks almost like Seymour's double .Mine will be 18 weeks on Sunday. I have 5 whippets of my own and live with 7 more. I have lived with whippets for 30 years and they are the centre if my world! I recommend that you join " the whippet forum" where you will find a wealth of knowledge from fellow owners and breeders.

We have always allowed our puppies as much free running as they want and have only restricted lead walking on hard surfaces. We would always recommend no long walks until they are 6 months old.

I am lucky in that i am able to exercise my dogs on secure land where there is no chance of them encountering vehicles. I am personally very wary of having my dogs off lead where there is any chance of them being hit by a car.

Teaching recall to whippets can be difficult but it sounds like you are doing a good job.The boys are far more biddable than the girls who we say have" selective whippet deafness".