First off I would like to say that I've read through a lot of previous discusions before bringing up a new one. Jethro is now almost 5 months old, he is weighing in at over 42 lbs. He is walked twice a day for at least 3 miles total. Now he wants to run, not pull. I have him trained to walk well. I have started to do small quartermile sprints, and then walking. Is this ok on his joints? I allow him to determine the pace. I am trying to get him worn out. We do a lot of indoor training as well, including games and mental stimulation. He runs on the grass most of the time.

Furthermore he runs a lot with my friends lab. And when I say a lot I mean hours outside in an enclosed backyard. Is this too much for his joints, do I need to regulate the time? Thanks for any replys.

To be honest, my instincts say that that is too much for a 5 month old, although, I struggle with this too. I have a 6.5 month old and am dealing with the same thing. He seems to need SO much exercise, yet I don't want to cause an injury or lifelong problem. I think quarter mile sprints are probably too long, I play little chase games with my pup, but I only run him about a block at a time, and they are really short blocks, less than 1/10 mile. I totally get the need/desire to wear him out, but I think its better to back off a bit until he gets older.

I can't remember where I saw the article, I'll try to find it (somewhere in the facebook abyss), but I was reading something yesterday written by an orthopedic vet. She said that it is extremely common, especially in the 5-9 month age frame, for people to bring in their puppies with joint injuries. She said this time is especially vulnerable to injury for various reasons and that she advised to limit puppies during this phase of growth. In terms of running with the lab outside, personally, I would limit that as well, but I think it depends on Jethro's personality and if he self regulates. My puppy will just go and go and go. I've never seen him take a break or lay down to rest if there is another dog around, so I have to watch him closely for signs he's tired and intervene.

I don't think 3 miles is too much though, as long as you're splitting it up. Something I am looking into, and starting to work on with my puppy is teaching him to settle down and relax. I think sometimes he just gets wound up and kind of operates at a higher intensity level but it isn't necessarily because he needs more physical exercise. It's just a state of mind, similar to a human being anxious, or excited, we don't need to run around the block to calm down, in fact that might just jack us up more, we need to relax, take deep breaths and calm ourselves.

I'll be interested to see replies from everyone else, because this really is something that I'm trying to find a balance with as well. I have noticed though that as he gets older, he seems to tire out faster, although I think he might be in a growth spurt right now so, that could have something to do with it. The best thing I've found for him is doggie daycare. They know his intensity issues and actually make him take breaks. He is so tired when he comes home from daycare I've asked them if they drugged him lol.

Keep in mind too that any exercise is going to depend on the surface. The harder the surface the more risk for injury. My 9 month old pup gets a jog across a squishy soccer field, sometimes back down and considering the field is about a 15 minute walk away this is perfect for him. The surface type plays a huge part.

We do some little sprints with Loki in grassy areas that are longer stretches and let him decide pace on our walks, just for a minute or two. We don't let him run on concrete. Otherwise, maybe he runs around backyard for 15-45 minutes a day depending on the day and how much he is interested in fetch, flirt pole, or playing with my other dog.

I guess when I read it is ok to run around back yard, but not structured, I don't really understand. When he plays in yard, he turns quick, will jump things, and there are just a lot more movements I could see him hurting himself. Whereas little sprints on his walk are straight and he isn't doing quick turns or jumps. As long as it isn't a hard surface, it actually seems safer but I'm no dog expert by any stretch.

Loki isn't super high energy though as he is pretty mellow and with our current routine of back yard playtime, training, and 1-2 1/2 walks per day, he only gets zoomies maybe 1-2 times per week for very short periods. If he was a more energetic dog, I would probably let him run more in backyard or on walks as that is safer then zoomies in the house at my house where I have areas I would not want him to run (tile floors in some rooms).

When this question is asked to the doctors at work the answer is typically "when running with them, don't force them to go longer or faster than they can easily go". Sprints may be a bit much, maybe keep it to a jog?

Hours may be a bit much in the backyard... When my dog was a puppy she'd play off and on for a few hours, but it wasn't continuous...