Running a pup via bike

I have been doing lots of hand walking, tug play, general play, fetching and obedience w/ my pup. She is 3 and 2/3rds months old. The problem is that she gets bored w/ virtually every activity I introduce her to after some initial enthusiasm. She never seems to loose interest in chewing on expensive stuff like Italian shoes and jumping on leather furniture and acting out when I am trying to get her to settle down.

Thus I went out and got a Specialized P All mountain bike to run her with. However, what are her limits? I am running/trotting her for about 5 minutes a day and thinking of working up to 20 minutes over the next 2 months.If she seems to be working too hard I slow way down to a trot. That would put her at 20 minutes of road work a day (5 or so days a week) by 6 months. Is that too much?

Will I do any damage to her joints? This dog really wants to work.

 

It's great to see that your trying to work these dogs but it's just a PUP. Let the pup grow and eventually you'll get to work them. 3 2/3 months old is too early to start working because 3 months ago she was just born.

Running a pup with a bike maybe a little too extreme for her age and these are just my thoughts. Be safe let her grow and feed her properly.

 

Are you saying that if I keep her to a trot/slow jog for under 7 minutes that that is too much? I am trying to keep her on the grass.

 

You need to relax and let that pup grow up a bit.I know you work youself hard but think about it you wouldnt run your kid down the road.Right now what she needs most is to be exposed to real life stuff.Ride in the car, play tug o war,run around the yard,just spend your time with her beleive me she will get so much more from that than running down the road.Just because she wants too dosent mean its good for her.And yes you can screw her up by over working her at this age.

 

I agree with the others. she is losing interest because she is so young. kids get bored quick. let her grow to about a year before really working her.

 

Listen i know what ur going through i have a 4.5 month old pup that is so full of energy that its unbelievable. Just let the pup be a pup, the most i do with my pup is take her for a 15 minute walk and then some tug-o-war and anything else that can keep her busy. Running the pup at that age is a horrible idea, the bones are way to fragile and the muscle structure is still building, u need to wait till atleast 9-10 months before u even think of jogging the pup

 

Is this your first dog? That is way too much for a 12 week old puppy and if you don't slow it down you are going to damage your pups growth plates. It's not a matter of if it will happen, it is a matter of when.

 

Osea: She is almost 16 weeks, not 12 and is my 4th APBT not counting the litter I bred that produced several hunt quality dog. I know that too much road work too young will damage tendons/lig./growth plates but I don't think a 7 minute jog will hurt her if I keep it too a slow trot. I will take people advice by holding off on increasing her bike time, maybe integrate some fetch into her morning routine.

Another thing I will do is maybe only do the bike work every other day to ensure full recovery.

Her morning routine will be some sniffabout/potty walk/tug play, 5-7 minutes behind bike and then walkdown/light play followed by a massage, food, water then crate. She will do 5 hours in the crate starting in 10 days because I am teaching back to back 2 hour classes this summer. My last dog Fargo hit 84 lbs on that routine and was a destroyer.

 

I timed the time she was actually jogging....3 minutes and 37 seconds.

 

whatever man, seems like u know better than everyone on here, do what u want with ur pup, just don't ask for advice if ur not gonna take it
YIS
B

 

Boi,

I am taking the advice...I am reducing the length and frequency of her time w/ the bike. Is you're world only black and white? Let me introduce you to the concept of compromise.

 

ur concept of compromise is totally different than mine. If i were to ask for advice on the same issue as u did, and everyone told me the same thing, then i would most definately take the advice 100% and NOT RUN THE PUP...U aint the only one with an active pup, u would most definately loose ur mind trying to deal with my 4.5 month old. But either way do as u wish, it aint my dog so i don't really care what happens to it, be eazy

 

84 pounds......what type of dog was Fargo? just curious.

 

Why run the dog behind a bike and risk a long term injury later on down the road.She's only a puppy.Let her her be a puppy.If you really want to work the dog i'd suggest taking her in your back yard and throwing a ball or something else for her to fetch.Or take her swimming when the weather is better suited for it.It seems to me that your alittle stubborn or block headed to take some of the good advise that the other members mentioned.We'll be here waiting for you come back on later crying and whining that your dog has a messed up shoulder or she has a torn tendon or the like.But anyways it's your dog you can do what you want with her.

 

He was a son of grand Champion Haunch who was a son of Gd Ch Mayday. I witnessed him being bred to my gal who was out of an ADBA registered 3 time winner. What kind of dogs do you have, Andrew?

PA,

We were playing fetch but she suddenly lost interest. I don't understand why you, or any sentient person would wish harm on an animal. Lets just take a scientific approach here and look at the things rationally: When she is in the mood she will sprint like a mad whore around the backyard at breakneck speed for 4 minutes at a stretch. Clearly she is capable of running for 4 minutes. I don't understand how the laws of physics change just because there is a bike next to her when she is running? She is going to do 4 minutes of running, maybe 5 when she hits 4 months. We are talking about half a mile at about 5 mph. On the grass.

 

Well IMHO i can sum all this up with one of your sentences. You mentioned a "ROUTINE" and PUP(very young) in the same sentence.

Like others have stated....relax....there should be no conditioning/routine at this stage. No need to time activities and such.

 

Im with you BoiBoi.What do I know I've only been raising dogs for about 35 yrs.You can lead a horse to water....

 

I know you want to work and spend time with the puppy , but running her beside a bike makes no sense now , if you are thinking of keeping her in shape in this method , but if you wish to accomodate her for this type of work than I quess you could walk her beside a bike for a few minutes / day .

I wanted the same thing with my first dog , started running him , swimming , uphill sprint , springpole and even pulling at a young age , and he developed nicelly but he remained rather a short dog , and did not grow up at he's real size , so I quees it's better to let them be and gradually get them familiar to the kind of work you want to do with them . I have 2 pups now , and they get bored instantly for no reason , and then get excited quick , and I could not figure that out at first , and then I realized it's hard to focus for a long period of time for them at this age . I walk them , take them to rides in the car , play tug with them , fetch , I let them play and run in the yard all day , and now I discovered they like to chase water coming out of the garden hose so that is great fun and tires them out a bit .

So my friendly advice would be letting her for now get used with going beside a bike , or chasing you a bit , but try not to get to a point where you would have to force her , so she does not get scared or intimidated by this type of work .

 

Thanks Koening...yes, she was initially scared of the bike...now she is trying to attack it and or my shoes, sees it as prey, lol. I have designed a set up to keep her away from the bike, my primary concern are the spokes. We go real slow, just a trot. I do a couple of peddles, talk to her, and then a couple of more peddles.

I am monitoring her real closely for any stiffness/sorenes/pad problems and stick to a 4 minute limit.

I am going to take the bike out and hammer tomorrow morning but I will be by myself.

 

Handwalking is the best excercise for a puppy. Save the bike work for when she is older although bike work does have some dangers.