What would be considered a 'good walk'

buddys_mum

I have been racking my one and only brain cell trying to work out Buddys problems. I have thought that instead of looking at the recent picture of him over the last year, maybe i should be looking at his entire life.

I remember our previous vet remarked a few years back that Buddy had a heart murmur, now our current vet has checked his heart regular and hasnt said anything to me. Even when Buddy went to Langfords Vet Hospital, they didnt say that he had heart murmur. Maybe this would explain why his gums are sometimes pale/white, as his circulation or heart isnt working as it should. So i thought about it and I reacon he sleeps about 16-18 hrs per day. I worked it out on GPS site and he walks 1.1mile per morning and and 1.4 mile per evening.

Before the Diabeties was diagnosed he walked 3-4miles per day.


It doesnt sound much, does it?

Buddy is an setter/labrador (diabetic)

How far does your dogs walk per day?

libra10

My small breed 4 month old puppy regularly walks between 1.5 to 2 miles a day. I carry him a little of the way.

elsien

Mutt when she was a sprightly young thing would keep going for miles - happily do 8 miles, have a half hour kip then be boinging around ready for more.
Now she's old and decrepit we're lucky to get round the block. I walked her a mile yesterday and it was too far - I thought she'd kept trying to go home because she was being idle, and felt massively guilty when she hobbled out of bed this morning tail between her legs.
Having her toe amputated at the end of last year has aged her massively, much more so than I would have expected. After 3 months of not really being allowed to walk, she just doesn't want to any more. I think you sometimes need to take your lead from the dog - mutt was trying to tell me, and I was ignoring her!

How old is Buddy?

By the way I don't think a heart murmer is necessarily a problem, it depends on the cause and can just mean the heart makes a bit extra noise once in a while. I had a heart murmer when I was a kid - no treatment needed and I could do anything I wanted, it had no impact on my life at all, then I outgrew it. If it was a problem I'm sure treatment options would have been mentioned before now?

viktory

I think the idea of a good walk is subjective. For example, my two get roughly two 40 minute walks a day, morning and evening, plus play time. Sometime, I may miss a day. That is pretty good in my opinion. Some might say it is not enough, especially as my girly is pretty high energy. I remember someone once saying that a dog will adapt and adjust to the level of exercise they get and that is very true for my two. I can tell if they have been exercised enough by how well behaved they are.

olias

With ours, they don't get a walk every day as such. We own a horse and the dogs come with us twice a day when we see to it, and they both have the run of the fields (about 12 acres) while we are there (which can be 1-3 hours). We will sometimes incorporate a walk down the lane for a mile when we are there, but as for an 'proper' walk they are few and far between, but when we do go, it's generally 2-4 miles.

Before we had the horse, it was one 2-4 mile walk a day.

Olias

tanith

I saw an elderly gentleman walking his Border Collie today he was walking with difficulty and with a stick but he had the dog off the leash on some fields and carried a long stick with a loop on the end into which he placed a ball, he then swung the stick throwing the ball a long way off for the dog to chase. So he walked in a fairly short straight line and the collie raced back and forth a hundred times thus walking/running much further than the elderly gentleman. I just thought it was excellent as the dog got loads of excercise which the owner could manage even though he obviously couldn't walk very far.. that dog looked so happy every time he raced back to his owner at 100 MPH....

olias

They've been around years - available in most pet shops, pound shops, ebay etc - usually called a ball thrower or ball launcher:



Really useful if you are old or infirm (or lazy:p)

Olias

manda1205

olias wrote: »

They've been around years - available in most pet shops, pound shops, ebay etc - usually called a ball thrower or ball launcher:



Really useful if you are old or infirm (or lazy:p)

Olias

Lol @ lazy, Im just shi*e at throwing a ball though and with those launchers Im amazed at how far I can get a ball to go.
My lab gets one walk a day that takes anything from 45mins to 1hr and half, at the weekends she will get longer going to woodland walks and in the summer the river for a swim and the beach as well. She also has run of our fairly large garden and gets ball games as well. She seems to do fine on this, she's not destructive at all so I guess she has enough stimulation.

buddys_mum

Buddy is 6 years old next saturday.

For anyone wanting to work out how far they go, try this site http://www.maptogps.com/index.php?easting=391500&northing=162500

easy

It isn't just about distance walked tho' is it, it is the dog's whole life that needs to be taken into consideration, Walks balanced against food, playing time, mental stimulation/company with you.

We have 2 Cavalier spaniels. This lovely compact breed CAN walk miles a day, but don't need great walks every day, and our 2 don't get them, being actually taken out for a walk maybe a couple of times a week, with great long exhausting runs in a big country park now and then. BUT they are fed a carefully controlled diet, and they follow me around the house all day (except 2 days a week I'm out at work, when they sleep from about 9 until 5), and they play ball around the house and garden (try sitting at the top of the stairs and rolling a ball down for the dog to fetch, my older dog used to play this for hours, up and down the stairs 20 times or more in a session). This keeps them very healthy indeed.

I got my first dog to make sure I got some exercise and fresh air every day, and it worked for me, BUT you shouldn't have to become a slave to dog-walking, or all the pleasure goes out of it.

buddys_mum

Buddy is also on a controlled diet for his diabeties and he has to have the same length walks everyday. I try and vary where we go, so it doesnt become boring and lethargic for him. He plays lovely with other dogs and i have generally found that peole who say that their dog hate black dogs seem to always okay with Buddy. He does have a very relaxed attitude and goes with the flow. Best dog ive ever had.