[Moonstream]

We're in the middle of a streak of really nice sunny, warm days here in NYC and I've been using the nice weather as motivation to start working out again and the last 2 days have taken my just over 6 month old Boston out 'jogging' with me to a nice dog park about 2 miles away.

I'm horribly out of shape and not really going very fast or far- I would say I jog slowly for a block (which means she is running slowly; she bounds like a bunny) and then usually walk for 2 blocks before picking up a jog for another block, etc.

This puppy is pretty high energy- even after a 2 mile jog/walk to the park, almost 2 hours hanging out at the park, and another 2 mile walk back my dog still wanted to play when we got home and then today acted like we hadn't even gone for a walk yesterday. Today she got a kong with peanut butter when we got home and as soon as she was done laid down next to me and fell asleep.

I don't want to stress her body too much since she's still young and growing, but we're not really going very fast and she seems to LOVE it- she now tries to start running every time I put the leash on and will clearly be annoyed when I ask her to walk. Every time I say "OK, let's go!" (my release command to let her run) she throws herself a little party and starts scooting forwards excitedly before she falls into step beside me.

Do you think this is OK for her? We won't be going much faster for at least a few weeks judging my how sore I was when I woke up. She's definitely got far more stamina than I do at this point and is really outpacing me most of the time. Given the chance (ie, offleash) she can run at a pretty sustained pace for almost half an hour- I take her and the family lab mix on off leash nature walks that are 30-40min and both of them run almost the entire time.

I never really worried about my other dogs over-exercising when they were puppies, partially because I wasn't the one paying the vet bills and partially because one was so low energy it was never a risk and the other was so high energy that there was nothing to do but let her run it off, otherwise she would destroy the house. With this pup, she's high energy enough that she's a pest if I dont take her for long walks/dog park visits and play for an hour or two a day, but I don't NEED to jog her, she just seems to like it.

 

[Rain]

You'd do better to wait till she's 9 to 12 months before really jogging with her. It's her growth plates that are at risk from sustained running and doing stuff like agility and other dog sports.

Puppy exercise and growth plate development | Pets4Homes

If you want to take him for shot jogs then I'd do so on a dirt or grass path, it'll be easier on his growing body then jogging on concrete or asphalt.

 

[Okeedoke22]

Yes weather has been really nice. Hopefully stays that way. Yeah I think rain gave great advise about jogging with your puppy. If you are not really going too fast and let her walk when she wants I say go for it. I would probably go with a speed walk for a while though.
On another note your profile picture looks like Long Island City. I just moved from there. Lived there pretty much my whole life. We moved about 15 minutes away about 2 years ago. Miss that neighborhood but my kids are much happier in Middle Village.

 

[Moonstream]

Actually its Brooklyn Bridge Park, that's our new fun walking route. It's a nice park- everything has finally started to grow in there and look nice, and it's a popular route for dog walkers/owners so she has fun saying hi to everyone she meets. There's a dog park there too, but its very small and the footing is really deep, large pebbles and she doesn't really like it so I take her a little farther away to a big one where there's wood chips/dirt.

Yeah, I know about the growth plate thing. We'll hopefully be starting our first agility class this weekend as well, but she won't be doing real jumps (I'm going to ask them to set them at no higher than 4" for now). I'm going to ask my vet about it- I think what I've been doing with her is OK for now; I really can't believe how much happier she seems, and she definitely doesn't seem too tired or in pain or anything, she still wants to wrestle and run around the house afterwards.

I'll bring my older dog with me for actual runs until she's 8 months, I think, and then either take both or phase out the older dog. The other one has been gaining weight recently anyways so she could use an upped workout routine.

 

[Okeedoke22]

Yeah it really is nice there. Lots of people to meet for her.

 

[travelingswift]

If you're only going 2 blocks, walk, 2 blocks, walk - honestly I think you're fine. My dog runs 2 blocks in her play-sprints with friends so it's not that big a difference (assuming normal size city blocks).

However if you're doing 2 miles, 2 hours, 2 miles home - that's like 3 hours of constant exercise. That's quite a lot for a pup all in one go. As long as she seems to be asking for more, I'd let her dictate the pace.

 

[Moonstream]

She's definitely dictating the pace- like I said, she's always the one asking for more go.

I always thought that as long as the dog was the one that wanted to run more (which has always been the case when I run with my dogs- I'm not a natural runner and have naturally low endurance) then it was fine, it wasn't until I got this puppy I read about issues with growth plates and now it has me paranoid.