Lance is definitely one to need to burn energy to behave properly in the house and around other dogs. Since he clearly was not experienced on a leash or halter, I could assume his old owner didn't give him the exercise he needs. Afraid of pushing his body too hard (especially in this Texas heat!), I was doing about 1 mile in the morning, 1.5 in the evening. Though that used to suffice, his muscle is building and we are going on longer adventures to to increased energy levels!

This morning we went on a 2.6 mile walk (around 40-50 minutes)and he seemed to love it, but since I immediately had to run errands, his behavior was extremely off. He got very annoyed with my friend's dog - this is odd because they are usually great pals. Luna (the friend's Schnauzer) is a female and not spayed, and she is in heat so that could have had something to do with it, though Lance is neutered. We returned home, and he has been asleep for close to three or so hours. I wanted to take him for either another 2.5 or so mile walk, if not 3, this evening but...

I'm worried I may have exhausted him? Maybe worked him too much and he needs his puppy naps? I just want to make sure I am keeping up with his body's abilities. I will start taking him on jogs, but due to my current medical state and the state I live in, it's best if I start working on that with him once fall arrives.

So my big question aside from my babbling:
- How much does your Husky or other dogs walk a day?
- When exercising your pups, do you go by distance or time?
- When I start taking him on jogs, what how can I determine the distance of the jog? Like if he normally walks 3 miles per walk by then, start by jogging one mile and walking one?
- I'm aware of the 5 minutes per month of age rule, but when does that rule tap out?

Thanks to everyone on this awesome forum that helps me adjust to being a new Husky mom! My type of anxiety = 100 questions per minute, so again, thanks to everyone on the forum!

When I first got Ami, I had a lot of physical problems and Ami had been tied to a telephone pole with a 6 ft leash for who knows how long. We started with what I could manage - 1/4 mile 3-4 times a day. We worked up to 3 miles in the morning and 2.5 miles in the evening with play time in the afternoon. The limitations were mine, not his - son got a husky mix and they romp for hours on end (at least they do in cool weather - in the hot summer we are having this year, Ami is spending his time behind and under the rhododendrons.

I judge Ami's stamina by his pace and panting - in the heat if he's panting hard and straggling behind me, its time to stop, get shade and give him a drink. If he's tromping and ahead and panting, we keep going...if he looks back at me or stops, I give him a drink and keep going. In hot weather, I (or he, I should say) carry water and offer it frequently.

The 5 minute rule is for the first year. Just watch your dog, if he's eager and interested in his walk/jog, keep going, if he's showing signs of stress (hard panting, walking slow or behind you,) then stop in the shade for a bit. Honestly, I think it would be hard to over walk a healthy young adult husky.

With my two, I use both the timed, and the distance, haha. I'll explain, the morning walk is about 30 minutes, I've never gone and actually measured the distance. The evening walk is 5 miles, it's a good course of steep uphills, which they DO pace themselves on...it takes about 50 minutes to do the 5 miles, with no interruptions, but if people stop us to talk to me/the dogs, ugh, it can turn into anywhere from an hour 15 minutes up to 3 hours!

I probably come close to what Jimmy does, it is a 5 mile walk when we do ours, and it is hilly, so more of a hike vs walk. However, it is 5 mile human walk not 5 mile doggy walk, lol.....I'll explain....both of my dogs are exceptional off leash, and I live way out in the boonies, so distractions like cars, people, other dogs, are non existent, I do not recommend this type of walking at all for the majority of huskies....so back to the walk, I do 5 miles and like Jimmy said takes about 40-45 minutes, Miya my husky will end up doing between 15-20 miles, because she goes a 1/4 mile ahead and I call her back to me, and this is repeated continuously because she doesn't walk, she fast trots, haha, my gsd Sofie, who is a week shy of a year old does about 10 miles because she tries to keep up with Miya, but her stamina is not up to par with Miya's, perhaps this fall it will be, but she prefers staying close to me, eventually, because she will be herded up by Miya and rolled, so best to stick with me, lmao......Being in Texas is tough on our pups, Jimmy's area I think cools off better than here, correct me Jimmy if I am wrong, but where I am it's still close to 90 at 9 pm. So during the summer we do limit our walks, and when Miya was an only pup, we would take her swimming, or during the day I would take her out 20 times for like 15 minutes and we would chase eachother, hahahahaha......yep you have to get creative with the exercise demands of a husky living in very hot climates.

Yes! Renee, you are correct. When it's hot here, as it has been, my walks have been later in the evening, shorter, and less demanding, it's a totally different route that's mostly flat, well as flat as it can be in a neighborhood built on hills

In cooler weather - I will take Gabby on 6-7 mile walks sometimes. With the heat they have been reduced to 3-4 miles and late in the evening. She also goes to daycare 2 days a week which used to wear her out for the rest of the day - even on those days now i take her for 1-2 mile walks later on. She really seems to be loving the outdoors more lately and has had a ton of energy.

My two are a little older (5yrs-7yrs) and we do at least 5 miles a day even with the heat that's been in the upper 90s. Note: my dogs are more acclimated to this heat than most and I have swamp vests for them. On weekends we do much more. We've been going up to 8 miles some days this summer and will be going around 15 a day this fall on the weekends. I am working up to long trail running though and just making them come along. I think they are perfectly happy with the 5 miles a day though at their age and arthritis level.

Man here i was thinking S&J got good walks and you are all over here doing 5+ miles!

age
Sierra (13)
Jack (

our morning walk goes from 25-35min depending on our route, we don't have a large area to walk where we live, we cover 1-1.8 miles in the morning. At night Ken walks them so im not sure how long they are out but when i do take them we are about 1.5miles on the night route.
we do have a pond and a school to walk around and they love sniffing and hunting out food, so they get some mental work to.
weekends we hike, or try to and cover about 5-6 miles a trip.

as for the jogging, i never got mine into it as i really hate running unless i have to. but i would start with it 50/50 give him time to run and time to sniff/pee and just keep upping the run part of it as he gets conditioned.

Artemis and I usually go three miles a day (unless it is raining or otherwise sweltering), plus whatever she runs in the yard. She would walk way more if I could abandon my children for that long. She will walk six or seven miles if we are hiking, with a water play break in between. (We have a state natural area here that has two waterfalls). Pasha and I walk about 2 miles a day, once in the morning and once at night, plus whatever he runs in the yard...and leaping from couch to couch (which drives me CRAZY). He is terrible on a leash still, and has been sickly a little lately so I haven't pushed him. Plus, it has been sinfully hot.

This time of year we are trying to maintain 2mi on bike or 5+ miles hiking. Once we hook the team up we'll be starting at 3-5 miles and increasing from there....by the end of sledding season I'm looking for at least 20+ miles

I have a bit of a special circumstance currently. Simon and I are living in a tiny place with no yard while I go to school. To make this functional we normally walk and bike a ton. Depending on heat we normally go 2-5 miles in the morning normally on the bike. 1-3 miles through out the day on potty break walks and then a long bike ride or walk in the evening. either an hour or more of a slow walk with the ton of sniffing or about 45 minutes on the bike which is normally like 4-6 miles depending on how often we have to stop for traffic or bathroom breaks. We will also sometimes hit up the dog park during the middle of the day so he can run and play or be in the shade on his own.