When to start light trot work?

[BluButt]

Our puppy is 27 pounds and 4 months old. He's not much of a run-around-the-yard type, and doesn't care much for balls or frisbees or anything, so tonight I took him up the street next to the bike to see how he'd do and he did GREAT. I want to find a way to tire him out, but don't want to put too much repetitive stress on him.

However, in just those few minutes of trotting, his energy level in the house has come down a notch.

So when and for how long can he do some slow trotting work? When it starts to get lighter earlier I'd love to take him for some rides before work, it's a great way to exercise the dogs. I have a trailer and load the two jacks in the trailer and trade them off so they both get a good run in one trip. I could throw him in there and let him go for a slow trot for 10-15 minutes easily, but I've read a lot about large breeds not doing repetitive exercise until a certain age (though that's the part that seems conflicting... every source is different on the age and the duration).

Thoughts?

ETA: The footing is everything from loos sand and grass, to gravel and packed dirt, to concrete. Our side streets are packed dirt and gravel, which is where I went tonight, but we're close to a network of trails that are sand and grass.

 

[ihartgonzo]

Personally, I would NEVER run a growing dog on concrete... wait until he's physically mature. IMHO. How big is he going to get? 70/80-ish lbs? A 4 month old puppy is going through crazy growth spurts and stress on their joints as it is.

Good, natural exercise is key. Get him out playing with your other dogs, arrange playdates with other friendly dogs, etc. Play games of tug of war. Get a clicker and a long-line and teach him to retrieve. Get a teaser pole. Practice long distance and/or restrained recalls. Practice his Obedience/heel work in short, exciting sessions. Teach him new commands. There are soooo many safe, low impact ways to exercise your growing puppy without running him endlessly. Running him isn't working his brain, and that is the quickest and most productive way to wear out a puppy!

 

[FoxyWench]

Agreed, hes not a giant breed so id personally give it till hes 6 months rather than the year or more needed for giants, and then start out on grass/dirt, concrete is incredibly hard for even mature joints and gravel can be worse as the footing is loose (even if the gravels well packed it can still be a relitivly rough and sometimes sharp surface.)

 

[Tankstar]

Id wait atleast a year he is a american bulldog mix, a large breed, with who knows what else in him.

if ou got water (pond, creek, lake, ocean) near you, nt sure where you are, see if he takes to swimming, a awsome way to tire out a dog.

 

[FoxyWench]

in that case tank, (thanks for the breed) i would absolutly give him a year to mature before starting any kind of running with a bike.

try more mental excersize, training ect, youd be suprised at how much you can tired them out just running through sit stays for a while
and swimming as tank suggested is a much less joint stressing way to get some excersize.

 

[BluButt]

Thanks guys. By the the time the weather/day light is cooperative he'd be 6 or 7 months, but I guess I'll wait.

Unfortunately there's no swimming here. We're in Florida and the water near us is alligator infested. I can try the beach, but he might be too small yet for that kind of surf.