# Walking a puppy?



## Infamous_GSD (Oct 27, 2010)

At what age can i walk my puppy outside? she is 10weeks now.


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## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

At this age she's going to follow you around-take her outside and get her use to the feel of the ground and outside noises. They tire easily at this age-when she stops to rest let her-don't over do it.

When mine was about 12 weeks I introduced him to a leash-just walking around the yard so he got use to the feel of having one attached to his collar. But it was very casual and for short periods of time. If you your asking for "official" walks-in my opinion she's too young.


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

i took my pup on walks at 10 weeks, but they were very short. maybe 5-10 minutes at the most. and just slow, casual, explore the world sort of walks. not fast paced or anything


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## ZAYDA (Apr 22, 2010)

Good advice above but I want to add even when your puppy gets 10-12 weeks you always should concern yourself with the weather. If it is sunny and hot your walks need to be very very short.


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

Also keep in mind she hasn't had all of her shots so walking her outside your own yard should be limited to areas where there are no other dogs or have been. You don't want to risk parvo or distemper.


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

ah! good point Alpha mom


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## Deuce (Oct 14, 2010)

GSDAlphaMom said:


> Also keep in mind she hasn't had all of her shots so walking her outside your own yard should be limited to areas where there are no other dogs or have been. You don't want to risk parvo or distemper.


Agreed


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## Sunstreaked (Oct 26, 2010)

Okay, I'm really curious now. 

Our pup is 9 weeks. We have a large area about a mile in length where other dogs don't go where she can walk. We do two, somethings three, 30 minute walks a day. She has opportunities to plop down and rest when she wants and then we go when she's up and running again. She is also usually running on the way back. She's been doing this since she was about 7 weeks as we gradually lengthened the time of the walk. 

So - are we doing something wrong or are we meeting her needs for exercise?


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## ahazra (Aug 20, 2010)

I've a 10 week old as well. Since last week I've been taking him out for walks..about 10 minutes or so then break for 5, another 10 minutes..Since he is on a leash I ensure he doesn't get into anything. He is doing good and enjoys his 30 minutes routine (walk, then break, walk again). Since yesterday he carries a tennis ball in his mouth for his walks too !!


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## ChancetheGSD (Dec 19, 2007)

Your dog can get parvo even if you never let him outside your yard. As a kid, we had a Pit/Lab who NEVER left our yard. It was fenced in so it wasn't like dogs could just walk where she was. Yet, she got parvo when she was like a year old. It can be carried on your feet, clothes, tires, ect. If you have an older dog, they can also shed the virus without "catching" it. Unless your dog lives in a bubble it is always at risk for -something- even in the "safety" of your house and yard. Also, if you move into a house and the last owner doesn't tell you they had a dog who had parvo within the last year, your dog can still get parvo because it can live in the ground and on surfaces if it's not bleached.

It is more important IMO to socialize in this very important time frame. Obviously there is a need for -some- common sense. It wouldn't be wise to take him to a dog park or let him walk around a pet store, that's playing with fire. (For more disease problems than just parvo.) But walking the dog up and down your street isn't that big of a deal. It's no different than you walking down the street and then walking all over your house and yard and then letting the puppy walk where you walked.

The world is a big scary place to puppies and I firmly believe we need to expose them to how GREAT the world can be at a young age. Some of the lengths people go to, to "protect" their puppies is just ridiculous and then there is all kinds of questions about why the dog is terrified of strangers or has a problem walking on different surfaces when it's older. I've seen people who wouldn't even let their puppies go outside of their house or let people touch their dogs because "they might catch something". You think that puppy isn't going to get whatever germs are on their hand when you shake their hand and then pet your puppy?! I honestly think that's why our mutt got sick in the first place. She wasn't exposed to enough germs to build up immunities to it.


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## CHawkins (Jul 12, 2010)

been told that parvo has been very bad this year!!!


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## BenjiM (Sep 10, 2010)

ChancetheGSD said:


> Your dog can get parvo even if you never let him outside your yard. As a kid, we had a Pit/Lab who NEVER left our yard. It was fenced in so it wasn't like dogs could just walk where she was. Yet, she got parvo when she was like a year old. It can be carried on your feet, clothes, tires, ect. If you have an older dog, they can also shed the virus without "catching" it. Unless your dog lives in a bubble it is always at risk for -something- even in the "safety" of your house and yard. Also, if you move into a house and the last owner doesn't tell you they had a dog who had parvo within the last year, your dog can still get parvo because it can live in the ground and on surfaces if it's not bleached.
> 
> It is more important IMO to socialize in this very important time frame. Obviously there is a need for -some- common sense. It wouldn't be wise to take him to a dog park or let him walk around a pet store, that's playing with fire. (For more disease problems than just parvo.) But walking the dog up and down your street isn't that big of a deal. It's no different than you walking down the street and then walking all over your house and yard and then letting the puppy walk where you walked.
> 
> The world is a big scary place to puppies and I firmly believe we need to expose them to how GREAT the world can be at a young age. Some of the lengths people go to, to "protect" their puppies is just ridiculous and then there is all kinds of questions about why the dog is terrified of strangers or has a problem walking on different surfaces when it's older. I've seen people who wouldn't even let their puppies go outside of their house or let people touch their dogs because "they might catch something". You think that puppy isn't going to get whatever germs are on their hand when you shake their hand and then pet your puppy?! I honestly think that's why our mutt got sick in the first place. She wasn't exposed to enough germs to build up immunities to it.


I've been browsing the forums for a while and have done tonnes of research, and this is one of the few comments I've felt to reply to and strongly strongly support. Agreed 1000%.


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## fkeeley (Aug 31, 2006)

I realize that parvo is always a potential problem but my vet made a good point. There are more pets in the shelter because they were not properly socialized than cases of parvo (at least in upstate NY). Sure I'm very, very careful and don't take my puppy to pets stores or pet parks, but yes, she walks on the road with me (she loves to play with my neighbor's dogs) and she looks forward to it. I can't make her live in a bubble. It's not good for them. Yes, a risk we must take as owners, but we can take certain precautions too. But let puppies be puppies too or they will end up being anti-social, hard to get along with dogs later on.


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## SARAHSMITH (Sep 19, 2010)

I got my puppy at 7 weeks and we took our first walk about 8.5 weeks. He did great. We walked about 4 blocks to an open field, played fetch for about 15 minutes, then walked back. He did not seem overly tired. We go for a walks about twice a week to the field to play. This field has no evidence of other dogs being there so I feel it's safe to bring him with minimum risk of picking up something.


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## VegasResident (Oct 4, 2006)

We started right at 8/9 weeks. Walks were short cause he got poofed fast. Only like 8 monites each way. We did not let him go nose to ground and when we got home we had a foot bath sitting at the front door that had high clorinated pool water in it. He stood in this for a bit before going in.

We put towels into carts and drove him around home depot and any other store we could. We carried him through the pet store letting people pet him.

Our last one we were too conservative about things and she was not very social will people. This little boy is.


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## JudynRich (Apr 16, 2010)

My Vet insisted we wait until all shots were done...this was at 4 months. Mia did fine, but we really wanted to socialize her. We decided it was better to be safe than sorry!


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