How much is too much

W

Whooo

Forums Regular
Hi, as you know William is about 2 months by now. I take him for a walk every morning, never set certain amount of time we walk for about 15-45 minutes.

Beside walk in the morning, we also play tug, fetch, sometimes it just 5 minutes sometimes more, depend how much time I have. But during this play session, its not uncommon for William to jump high, trying to get his toy from my hand, sometimes he fall in his butt or flat on his back doing so. When play tug, his head might moved in such extreme fashion. By the way is it true that in tug, we should win otherwise he would not obey us in the future? Since he could be so stubborn when playing tug.

Sometimes when I end the play session too early, he will run wild from one end to another end, stumble upon things, fall down and run again.

Now I read that a young puppy bones structure and body is not quite strong yet, and too much exercise or physical work might caused injury. How do I know when too much is too much?

During walk, when we got too far, he will sit more and more in our way home, when such thing happen I carry him home. When playing and he's tired, he will refuse to chase his toy and choose to lay down instead. Is it okay to keep our activities this way?

Do all this stumble, falling down, jumping high, etc which is funny in his way, harm him? Or put him in risk of later injury or growth problem? I just read an article about a dog with a soft tissue/ligament (I'm not sure what to say it in English) in their hind leg damaged. And that's not a pretty sight.

If I stop playing then he seems deadly bored and he just loved to chase things. But if it put him in risk of such problem I'd rather let him bored than hurt. :(
 
Last edited:
Here are a few tips:
1. When you play tug, try not to jerk him sharply. Drag him around, twirl him in circles, just don't yank really hard.

2. I always let my girls "win" in the end, and it's no problem. When I win, they get to grab the toy again.

3. Layla has always jumped for her toys. But we stayed on the rug or lawn when she was a puppy. Try not to have him leaping high on a hard surface until he's about a year old. Even then, limit it to a couple of jumps.

4. The crazy running around is what we call the "zoomies." It's how Shelties burn off excess energy when they get all excited. Layla is a big zoomer -- it's loads of fun and not something to worry about.

5. William sure is good at telling you when he's tired. Most Shelties are. You're right to carry him if you walk too far. Sometimes you can just rest a few minutes and he'll feel more like walking back. But it's ok to give William a lift when he wears out.

6. Our girls would play all day if we'd just cooperate. :lol: Yes, sometimes they act bored when we stop, too. As long as William gets played with a few times a day, even for short periods, and gets his walks, he'll be just fine.
 
Chris said:
Here are a few tips:
1. When you play tug, try not to jerk him sharply. Drag him around, twirl him in circles, just don't yank really hard.

2. I always let my girls "win" in the end, and it's no problem. When I win, they get to grab the toy again.

3. Layla has always jumped for her toys. But we stayed on the rug or lawn when she was a puppy. Try not to have him leaping high on a hard surface until he's about a year old. Even then, limit it to a couple of jumps.

4. The crazy running around is what we call the "zoomies." It's how Shelties burn off excess energy when they get all excited. Layla is a big zoomer -- it's loads of fun and not something to worry about.

5. William sure is good at telling you when he's tired. Most Shelties are. You're right to carry him if you walk too far. Sometimes you can just rest a few minutes and he'll feel more like walking back. But it's ok to give William a lift when he wears out.

6. Our girls would play all day if we'd just cooperate. :lol: Yes, sometimes they act bored when we stop, too. As long as William gets played with a few times a day, even for short periods, and gets his walks, he'll be just fine.
Click to expand...

Summed up very nicely!

I agree on the tug-of-war. I drag and twirl and when I've had enough, the pups win! Yey for them! Which means, I drop the toy, they capture it and I get a break! It does not turn them into "top-dog" in my book. However, when we are in play-mode, I do win sometimes too! Yey for me!

Two months is still very young. They seem like boundless energy, but then it does all of a sudden give out on them (like children, they don't know their limits and then they get overtired!)

You are doing great! Playing and walking William regularly as you do, shows that you are a caring owner.
 
Gabby, my angel sheltie, played like William, and later she developed some hip problems. We still don't know whether it was genetic or not, but now when we got Alfie we try to prevent him from jumping too high and running to much. We are very careful playing tag with him. I read somewhere that you should be careful with young dogs while their bones and joints develop. So we take him for several short walks a day 15-20 mins each instead for one long one.
I also noticed that after a prolonged time of playing he starts running very quickly around the house jumping on furniture and runing up and down the stairs - he does the "zoomies" Chris described. He gets me scared and doesn't respond to anything - calling his name, treats, so I have to block him because otherwise he might get injured he runs so fast. Every time after couple of minutes of holding him he falls asleep.
 
Alfie'sMom said:
Gabby, my angel sheltie, played like William, and later she developed some hip problems. We still don't know whether it was genetic or not, but now when we got Alfie we try to prevent him from jumping too high and running to much. We are very careful playing tag with him. I read somewhere that you should be careful with young dogs while their bones and joints develop. So we take him for several short walks a day 15-20 mins each instead for one long one.
I also noticed that after a prolonged time of playing he starts running very quickly around the house jumping on furniture and runing up and down the stairs - he does the "zoomies" Chris described. He gets me scared and doesn't respond to anything - calling his name, treats, so I have to block him because otherwise he might get injured he runs so fast. Every time after couple of minutes of holding him he falls asleep.
Click to expand...

I call it the "crazies". I don't know a Sheltie that doesn't do it. Maybe I'm wrong and should be more concerned about, but I get a kick out of it. I've never had any worry about injury. Somehow they manage to dodge obstacles while going at top speed.

btw - Bacca hasn't done it since I've gotten Indy. Perhaps they tire each other out enough that they don't have the pent up energy to burn?
 
BarbV said:
I call it the "crazies". I don't know a Sheltie that doesn't do it. Maybe I'm wrong and should be more concerned about, but I get a kick out of it. I've never had any worry about injury. Somehow they manage to dodge obstacles while going at top speed.

btw - Bacca hasn't done it since I've gotten Indy. Perhaps they tire each other out enough that they don't have the pent up energy to burn?
Click to expand...

I call it the "wild rumpus" as it usually happens every evening just after dinner time. 3 of my 4 shelties participate in the wild rumpus; my old man Indy is just not into running around anymore. His contribution is to lay down and bark at the line as they pass him. Last year when one pup was left at 10-11 weeks old HE JOINED THE RUMPUS TOO. Goodness seemed to have no inkling that he was a little dude and the rest were more than twice his size.

This is a toned-down evening rumpus. The puppy gates put a stop to the running laps around the couches...but that didn't stop them from jumping couch to couch to COUCH TOP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA0NU0waLug&feature=channel_page
 
Hi Wooo: Nice to meet you. I noticed that you said you didn't know how to say it in English, where are you from? Just curious. Anyway, when I first read your post I thought "Well shelties are active dogs and need plenty of exercise." Guess I was partly wrong. Went to a website for medical information and read that YES dogs get hip dysplasia from their parents genes, usually not from too wild of exercise. However, they also suggested not to do prolonged exercises including jumping for the first year. If your puppies parents were certified good or ok for hips, then there is less chance that your puppy will get hip dysplasia, but sometimes they can get a stray recessive gene in there and your pup gets hip problems anyway. The website I found has a long address:
www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/medical/medical-info.02.html#l_240904

Thanks for bringing this topic up!!
 
granite said:
I call it the "wild rumpus" as it usually happens every evening just after dinner time. 3 of my 4 shelties participate in the wild rumpus; my old man Indy is just not into running around anymore. His contribution is to lay down and bark at the line as they pass him. Last year when one pup was left at 10-11 weeks old HE JOINED THE RUMPUS TOO. Goodness seemed to have no inkling that he was a little dude and the rest were more than twice his size.

This is a toned-down evening rumpus. The puppy gates put a stop to the running laps around the couches...but that didn't stop them from jumping couch to couch to COUCH TOP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA0NU0waLug&feature=channel_page
Click to expand...

I just love your videos! I must get a video camera myself!

All to say that I don't think a few minutes of crazy play will hurt any pup!
 
Too bad I can't open youtube from here (office), anyway here is the link to the article I read :
http://www.anjingkita.com/wmview.php?ArtID=6619

Its in Indonesian (To Crysta, I born, grow up and live in Indonesia, not so much adventure. :P), but you could look at the pictures and well that pictures scared me a lot. Basically its some ligament on dog's joint torn apart. The one who wrote the article said that the cause is partly genetics. But from most cases he handle, the dog has traumatic history, fall from high place, either fall when you carry the dog or from high platform, which make me worried of this little rampant. He doesn't seem mind with all the stumble though.

EDIT ::
it also said that its hard to diagnose this, when it is only partial. Some symptoms could be limping when walk, dog sit with their hind leg straight (picture 3A) and the joint move further than it supposed to (hyper-extension) when we try to move it forward and backward.

By the way, William might do well with agility, he made his own route now when going zoomies, goes through past a table (jumping over small obstacles), then turn around passing a tunnel formed by stack of boxes in the corner of the room, dashed right to the door and the back to the table.
 
Last edited:
Wow! William sounds really cool, making his own agility course. Interesting that you live in Indonesia too. I looked up that web site you showed and I know how it can freak you out thinking about what can happen to the dog you love. I have had at least 9 dogs in my life and I never had anything happen to their legs like that, and I let my puppies run around and jump and run rampant. I think you have to be careful not to put them someplace where they can fall, like a deck that isn't screened in. I had never heard before about not let them jump too much when they are under 1 year old, but I think it would take something very unusual to have their legs damaged badly when they are young. Puppies are very sturdy. Try not to worry and enjoy your puppy!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top