Is my Work Out too much?

I have 2 8mo Old APBT's that are great. Every night I take them each on a 1 mile run and then get on my rollerblades and run them each for another mile. Once a Week I run them for 6 miles (they are trotting) and they seem to be fine. Am I overworking them... I want to keep them healthy, but do not want to hurt them... Oh and after the runs they do not seem tired and just play w/ each other through the night.

 

I dont think your working them to much. Just make sure there getting enough food before and after the workouts so when there working there burning off the food not the muscle.

 

You'll get different opinions on how much exercise to give a pup. There's actually a thread that was started recently about pups and conditioning. If it were my dogs, I probably wouldn't do the 6 miles yet, and I wouldn't run them on concrete. (Some peoples' dogs aren't bothered by concrete. But it makes my adult female limp, so I avoid it with my pups.) But in the end, you have to make the decision for your own dogs.

 

On concrete my dogs seem fine except for a few cuts on the pads from sand, dirt, glass, rocks, etc ( I clean them right afterwards), but it seems I have very little choice because I live in the city and w/ city life comes cookie cutter homes, glares from people about my dog, stray, runaway, or otherwise loose(sometimes agressive dogs) and most of all asphalt, cars, and concrete. But I may cut down the 6 mile run... and I am waiting for the dog to be about 15 mos or so till I start the springpole or heavy weights on the pull... Also what would be the max weight I should have my dog on at the time

 

I worked out my dog even more than 6 miles a week when she was even younger and she luckily turned out fine. I used to think it was cute as I ran around the track and she furiously tried to keep up with those eyes of hers... That is what made me fall in love with her - at such a young age she would try so hard for me. Looking back, I wouldn't do it as young as she was and understand how stupid it was, but 6 miles a week at 8 months should be fine, especially if it's around 1-1.5 miles a day.

 

I disagree. They are being worked too much for their age. Joints, Bones, & ligaments aren't fully developed yet, and pushing them can "break" them. Look how many racehorses are always injured or breaking legs...too much too young.


IMO i wouldn't do anything like this until after atleast a year old. Your dogs are still pups, let them be PUPS. There is zero need at this age to do any sort of conditioning. Lots of socialization, love & play will keep them happy and healthy.

 

Well I respect ur advice, but I am not pushing them, they love to do it and when they slow down so do I( still hasn't happened). And when they get home It seems like they expended no energy at home. Anyway at home they are the same way(always full throttle)

 

Im sure they do have loads of energy and love it, but when damage is caused you can't see it when its in the joints, and its usually over a period of time. I am a Vet Tech and have seen related injuries/problems.

I was just giving my oppinion that this is something I def. would not do. To each his own.

 

i wouldn't do the 6 mile thing, probly cause i wouldn't go 6 miles myself, but i would say monitor them and make sure they have positive reactions. no one knows ur dogs better than u

 

hmmm... okay so any suggesions on what I should do... I am all for pups being pups, but I think there should be structured exercise time to help relieve a dogs need to travel, explore, and take their mind off of destructive behavior(chewing on airconditioner LOL) so is it okay to just walk them, but in my mind they are sprinting on concrete in my yard anyway... O n just a quick question, do you know where I can buy quality breaking sticks from?

 

Rofl I am laughing so hard I am crying, I'm not bein an ass but I love how ur reasoning is cuz u wouldn't do it urself LOL... but seriously I may cut that down or maybe all the way out

 

LOL at an 8 month old pup not being able to jog around a track 4 times a day. They probably run around a longer distance if you just let em pay around in the back yard for 10 minutes. Are you saying you won't let them play for 10 minutes?

Just because you can't do it, doesn't mean an animal is even breaking a sweat doing it.

Dammaged joints for a 8 month old pup running, WTF?! As long as you don't have them running while you're riding your bike at real high speeds then I think they should be fine. At 8 months, these dogs will probably out run us and running the speed we run is nothing to them.

 

I don't think you are working them too much! As long as you have had them build up to it and not just decided to push them 6 miles out of nowhere of course. Also, since you said it was 6 miles only once a week than you are giving them plenty of recovery time in between long hard walks/runs. Every dog is different, but if the dogs will do it than let them. These dogs are built for physical exersion. Keep them on a good diet and you shouldn't have any problems with their bones and joints!

 

IMO its seems like 6 miles is a little much. And i dislike the idea of doing any running or jogging on concrete. (Just my opinion tho) I prefer brisk walking on concrete. I save all the sprints, jogging and running for dirt & grass surfaces.
At 8 months some nice long walks in combination with flirtpole,fetch,etc. should be just fine. I also live in an urban setting so i know the feeling. I drive around looking for fenced in areas, or empty parks.

 

I am in agreement with Miss Conduct, as far as not working the pups early.
I would nto even try to do something liek a 6 mile run at all, until a year or so. I am a firm believer that you get a better dog when you allow then to experience as much of the puppy phase as possible.
Mentally and physically, they arent ready for what adult dogs are.
Juat my opinion though.

 

just hand walk them the 6 miles. it will be better for them & you. they will spend mad energy tussling the whole way, youll still be building them up w/ out worry of over work and its good for you to spend that much time w/ em. the whole bonding thing. Id still do the regular running!! What would they be doing at that age any way? Running about, tearin stuff up. At least youre getting them used 2 training. I had my dog Vin running miles a day @ 6months and it was good for him, but he never developed the body structure that his brothers and sons have shown. He got ripped up, but never widened out. Lookin back, I know it was due to me letting him work to much. Dont get me wrong, we never had any problems, and he would pull me on my blades for MILES at TOP speed. He'd Plateau, trot for 1/2m, then burn all out for another 2. We would cool down and take our time walking home, but he couldve kept goin. You as the owner just have to be careful not to let them over work. Ya gotta be the coach.

 

Do you have a backyard? If so, you should do more there rather than a 6 mile walk that early. And especially not pulling weights, I hope you're not, but that's what is sounded like when you said "heavier weights."

The normal day to day walk sounds fine, but like everyone said, cut out the 6 mile walk. JMO here, but even with that, try doing unstructured play one 2 days of the week, since the other 5 they have a set routine sounds like. fetch is a great way to build a bond with your dog, teach them things like following commands, and gets them running around and having fun. You could also try a mini flirtpole with them, but the workout/play should be very different than it would be with an adult. Always keeping the flirt bait low, letting them catch it often, no quick jerky movements, etc. Also, you could make a small spring pole, lie a bike innertube wrapped around the trunk of a tree at his level with a ring of burlap as the bite surface. You could just use these to play with him and let him burn out off all the puppy energy without putting to much strain on his growing body. Like Miss Conduct said, the joints and ligaments are not fully formed until around 2 years old, so if you put too much strain on them early, it could hurt your dog in the long run.

 

ya I dislike running em on concrete, but sometimes while I run there are horse trails where I can run in some dirt, but man I look long and hard for places where there is grass(its like flippin extinct here) or dirt(all dirt is taken up by the homebuilders cuz my area developing fast)... But yea I look for them. But if I could find a grassy area (big abandones park) could I still run em' 6 mi cuz I got this huge caramel monster on me(I need the exercise) LOL

 

Yea I have em pull weights like each of em pull a 5lb bottle of milk filled w/rocks. Also they get unstrctured play after the run okay I'll give u a typical schedule

7-8 Feeding
8-3 play time (I frequently go out to join in on the fun
3-6 more play
6-7 run one mile each( sometimes this goes early in morning)
7-8 feed
8-9 last bit of energy (play)
9-11 crate
11-11:10 let them do their business
11-7 sleep

so there it is a daily schedule. O and how do I stop my dogs from killing mice, birds, opossums?

 

I think they are old enough. Keep an eye on their pads. If you can handle it they can! I take mine to the creek sometimes. Running in sand and water puts them to sleep for the nite.