# Using A Treadmill



## Feathers (May 30, 2017)

What are the general thoughts on using a treadmill to exercise a puppy (6 mths)? Is it a bad idea?


----------



## thegooseman90 (Feb 24, 2017)

There's a learning curve to it for the pups. Sometimes they want to stop and the treadmill doesn't, or they try to step off to the side. The first happened to one of my dogs in the past before I thought it thru. After that incident I just extended the cord on the safety pin to reach his collar so if he stopped or slowed down too much the treadmill cut off rather than sending the dog flying off the back.


----------



## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

Forced exercise is no good for a pup. If you plan to use it later and want to get him acclimated... a couple of minutes tops. When we intro dogs at the training facility where I work (the dogs are 1.5yrs), their intro sessions are 15 secs, 30 secs, 1 minute, 2 minutes, done.... speed is determined by a natural and comfortable trot.


----------



## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

Fodder said:


> Forced exercise is no good for a pup. If you plan to use it later and want to get him acclimated... a couple of minutes tops. When we intro dogs at the training facility where I work (the dogs are 1.5yrs), their intro sessions are 15 secs, 30 secs, 1 minute, 2 minutes, done.... speed is determined by a natural and comfortable trot.


Fodder, is the length of a standard made for human treadmill long enough to accommodate the natural stride length of an older pup or adult gsd or does it even matter?


----------



## Feathers (May 30, 2017)

I was actually thinking of building a manual treadmill when my GSD reaches her full size, which means she would be able to stop whenever she wants. In the meantime though, I'm thinking of looking for a cheap 2nd hand treadmill just to walk her in the house as I've been too sick and weak to actually take her out. She's starting to get bounce-off-the-walls-crazy with pent up energy too. I may not have a choice in type of treadmill in that case as well. 

I agree and had planned on taking it slow anyway. In fact, my only plan was to have her simply walk, not trot on the treadmill, increasing time walking as she builds stamina. I just needed to know if doing so would cause harm to her as a puppy as I know adult dogs have been successfully put on treadmills. 

Thanks for the input, guys.


----------



## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

I personally would not treadmill a puppy, however I have very limited experience with puppies.

Heartandsoul I work primarily with labs and most generally have a more compact body than GSD. That said, we used a standard human treadmill for decades and have only recently switched to one specifically for dogs - more so for ergonomic reason for trainers/handlers.


----------



## goldtwh (Aug 3, 2018)

Getting ready to buy a treadmill for our coming 8 week old GSD puppy. We will put it in his play yard for him to get used to it. Definitely will be a slow introduction to moving treadmill. At first, just going to just let him play around/on it. What treadmills are preferred. This is strictly for bad weather and if my back is giving me fits, so he gets a decent walk every day (inside/outside). I would appreciate any/all thoughts/suggestions. This is the 6th GSD in my lifetime (starting when I was 2yo), plus a litter of 11. I've never used a treadmill before, but saw one on Facebook, and it looks like a good alternative to burn off some steam once in awhile. So far, we have looked at the dogPACER LF 3.1 Dog Pacer Treadmill and the GoPet Treadmill for Large Dogs up to 175lbs. 
*
*


----------

