Looking after a puppy properly is essential to your puppy’s development and puppy walking is high up on the list.

‘How far should I walk my puppy?’ is a very common question that I’m asked.

This is what I say…

It’s important to exercise your puppy and help them to burn off their excitable energy, a great way for them to get use to walking on the lead and socialization. However, I don’t suggest taking a puppy on long walks as their joints and bones are developing and can cause health problems such as hip dysplasia.

I recommend taking your puppy for short walks (about 15-30 minutes depending on the size of your puppy) and playing with them in the garden if possible. The benefit of being in the garden is that when your puppy has run about excitedly and becomes tired they can simply crash out and go to sleep!

This may seem obvious but when taking your puppy out for a walk please remember that whatever the time and distance it took to get to your destination, it will be the same on the way back! Should it take ten minutes to walk to the park it will be twenty minutes round trip.

The idea of the walk is not to totally wear out your puppy but to install your top dog position and create good associations and pleasure for you both.

I wish you great fun with your puppy 🙂