How far/long do you walk with your Cairn?

[Nicole Z]

Hi everyone! 

I'm wondering how far/long you walk your cairns and how that has changed as they've grown up? How much exercise did you give them as puppies and then how did you increase that as they grew up? 

I'm trying to balance joint health & a very hyper 4 month old cairn puppy!!

I know the recommendation is 5 minutes of exercise per month of life but honestly, Theodore is my second terrier and both he and my first would mutiny if that's all they got. 

Cheers & Thank you!

Edited June 14, 2022 by Nicole Z

[Eliz222]

When Atticus was 3 to 4 months old, I walked him twice a day for about 20 to 30 min. After about 6 to 7 month I increased the time to 30 to 45 min. Atticus just turned 12 months and for the past few months I have walked him around 45 min to a a little over an hour. The time is usually split into 2 walks if it's over 45 min.

Now we are in an extreme heat wave and I am walking Atticus for 20 to 30 min early in the morning. It's still in the 90's late in the evening, so he only gets this early morning walk.

I include lots of play time inside now.

[CamilleatGaelforce]

It kind of depends on what surfaces you are exercising the puppy on.  If you are walking on pavement, the you should probably limit the walks to less than half an hour or so until joint closure occurs.  If you have access to turf to walk on, like at parks, then walks are less stressful on the joints.   If you have a fenced yard that has grass, then games on the lawn can substitute for much of the walking for puppies, with the proportion of games at home versus walks on the sidewalk changing over time.  Another thing to factor in is pace, concrete at speed is a recipe for lameness, so let the puppy set it's own pace on walks, except of course when crossing streets, hustling is justified then.

As an example, all the years I was raising litters I started taking the puppies I was keeping for walks with the adults at about 20 weeks, once their vaccination schedule made it safe.  I walked in a park where the path around it was about a third of a mile long, so as babies, they'd go one lap with the family, then wait in the car while the adults did two more laps.  By the time they were a year old they were doing the full mile, and none of my puppies ever had any arthritis issues, x-rays taken late in life showed excellent joint health.  I suppose it's possible I got lucky, and it's true Scotties tend to live shorter lives than Cairns, so perhaps if my kids had made it to 14-15, they might have developed arthritis, I'll never know.  At 10-12, they were still doing good.

Most of all, have fun with Theodore, that's what counts the most at the end of the day.

[Nicole Z]

Thank you @CamilleatGaelforce and @Eliz222!! 

For context, we were doing short walks around my neighbourhood (start on pavement then move to a small park at the bottom of my street), but they just weren't tiring him out and there is lots of garbage for him to snatch which made things stressful as we worked on drop it/leave it.

So now I drive to a big nearby park (doggy paradise tbh) and we do a long morning walk there (30-50 minutes) but it is all on grass or sand (by the ocean) and it isn't at a clipped pace. He gets to sniff, roll around, play, meet other people and dogs, etc... so the length of time is really dependent on him! Then he sleeps/plays with his toys/chews while I work, and then in the afternoon/evening we will play, maybe go for a sniffy stroll, and train, so very light on the walking exercise. On the weekend we might do a longer walk if we take a trip to the beach, but it is always at puppy pace and then the only real 'walk' for the day.

This new schedule we have seems great for both of us. He is eating and settling during the day better, I'm working more productively, and the morning walk at the park is beautiful for me and fun for Theodore! I just get worried about his wee legs!

[Eliz222]

I think you are doing a great job by letting your puppy lead the time. They will be able to tell you if they are too tired. If we go on a really long walk, we also stop for extra "sniffing" time, and will sometimes sit in the shade.

We alternate going to the park, which has nice walking paths, and walking the neighborhood. I try to mix it up so he has "new smells" to greet.

[Hillscreek]

With my young pups terrier and retrievers I used  little walks at their pace to get used to a leash. Then as time went on longer walk on grass or other 'giving' surface. Generally we walk on open/wooded country where they set the pace. Plenty of time to sniff, some time to run free. Avoiding jumping twisting like for a frisbee for example until they were fully grown maybe someting to think about. That's a stress on a developing frame. I personally have never used anything requiring jump and twist at any age.

Think what you are doing with your fella sounds great. It really seems to depend on where one lives and what the climate is and what opportunities offer. There's no one right way. You just have to experiment. 

 

 

[Moto-Rama]

Over the 8 months since we adopted Fergus, his stamina has improved. His normal day is a 1.5 hour walk/playtime first thing, then a long walk, like 2 miles on leash in the afternoon. Add in a couple of shorter walks as bathroom breaks. I think it's been good to start his day off by letting him run with other dogs at the park, chasing balls and doggie chase games. I find that it makes him calmer later in the day and less likely to be rambunctious on the leash or unruly if he's indoors.

I do play fetch with him in our upstairs hallway later in the day, if he's been out but still needs some way to get his yayas out.

[Catalyzt]

Spike is probably a bit under-exercised.  He and Bartleby, the 13-year-old Bichon X brother, get a morning walk that's about 45 minutes, a late-morning quick walk that's about 7 minutes, and then an evening walk that's 15-20 minutes.

Hard to do playtime in this heat!

[Eliz222]

1 hour ago, Catalyzt said:

Spike is probably a bit under-exercised.  He and Bartleby, the 13-year-old Bichon X brother, get a morning walk that's about 45 minutes, a late-morning quick walk that's about 7 minutes, and then an evening walk that's 15-20 minutes.

Hard to do playtime in this heat!

This seems like a lot of walking to me! I try to have one long walk that is mostly at a quick pace, and then another later in the day that's mainly a "sniff walk".

It's hard to do a lot of walking when it's really hot outside. When it gets up to 100, it's still 95 at 9pm!

[Catalyzt]

Nothing like following up three months later!

Alas, we are approaching that point when Spike and Bartleby's needs are diverging a bit because of age.  Sunday morning, we did our 40 minute walk, which involves around 175 feet of vertical over 1.25 miles, and about 50 feet of that is a stone staircase.  Saw Bartleby limping a little bit at the top, not favoring any particular leg, just walking erratically.

"You want me to pick you up?"

"Hell, no!"

"You sure?"

"We're not there yet.  I'll let you know."  

And then he rallied and walked normally for the last quarter mile and 100 feet of climbing elevation, which was still fairly steep.

We have no idea how old Bartleby is, other than that he's definitely over 13... maybe well over.  I've known this day was coming, and have so enjoyed two and a half years of being able to take both of them on walks over two miles!   Honestly, I thought it would only be a year or so that both of them were up for long rambles.

Some days, he doesn't like to jump up on his hind legs for me to put his harness on.  Some days he's fine with it.

Ah, well.  There are good days and not-so-great days for Bartleby, so we've got some good hiking left together.  I have to plan some nice park walks in the cooler weather here in Southern California.  Must not get too maudlin!