Giant / Large Breed puppies and exercise....

Re: Giant / Large Breed puppies and exercise....

hissycat — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:50:31 GMT

Breeders/trainers always know better than vets/nurses! come on now I think this lady was worried she was underfeeding it given what she'd been told so I suppose at least she had the sense to check it out at the vets..... just couldn't convince her on the breed diet unfortunately. I offered freebies too, she must have been really sold on her vitamin thingy (can't remember what that was called now..)

Re: Giant / Large Breed puppies and exercise....

Anneke Kuipers — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 01:27:51 GMT

very good point dinkyd

Re: Giant / Large Breed puppies and exercise....

dinkyd — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:28:44 GMT

hmmnn - hissycat - why did she come to see you then?!Honestly you do wonder why some of them even bother to go to a vet!

Re: Giant / Large Breed puppies and exercise....

hissycat — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:45:42 GMT

I had a client bring in her large breed pup in for a weight check, apparently her dog trainer had told her to feed it as much as possible so it would grow quicker.. she also refused to feed a large breed diet because it was on some sort of vitamin mix. worrying.

Re: Giant / Large Breed puppies and exercise....

Christine Chapman — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:48:16 GMT

Labradoodles are very popular over here! There seem to be hundreds of them!

Re: Giant / Large Breed puppies and exercise....

Saskia Quinn — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:14:48 GMT

Nicky, any chance of seeing a pic of your puppy? Never seen one of them before!!

Re: Giant / Large Breed puppies and exercise....

nicky shoult — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:57:34 GMT

Ive got a 6 month labradoodle puppy who has just top the scale at 26kg (i know not true large breed, but he is massive!). From about 12 weeks ive been walking him for about 30minutes 2-3 times a day increasing by 15 minutes every month. So he is now walking for about 1hr 15min twice daily. I dont do a lot of street walking so he is mainly on soft ground. I think that is the main problem as it tends to jolt the joints.

He is also fed on Hills Large Bred puppy - which has made a lot of difference. He is almost 10kg heavier than the next biggest pup of the litter, the rest are still being fed on Burns as recommended by the breeder.

I have heard a lot of people being advised not to walk there pups very much at all but as long as people are sensible with the amounts and type of walking they are doing- surely it is more important to get them socialised??

Re: Giant / Large Breed puppies and exercise....

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:53:23 GMT

Hi Mrs dot dot,

I can only go on what I have done for my own, they being large and not giant breed.

I would let them run around out on a walk for about 15 mins, from about 14 weeks old, and would carry them a lot, but once they get too heavy you have no choice but to let them down, also they would run riot in the house and garden.Would not let them climb stairs when really little, but would not stop them from about 3 months, although they were by no means running up and down them...I had a baby gate to stop that, but if they happened to come upstair when I was putting something away I would let them.

I think the food is majorly important and always fed a large breed diet.

None of my dogs had any hip,elbow,shoulder probs, they were all very stable, and all parents were hip and elbow tested.

Winema my dog that I lost last year had 3-3 hips, her mother had 0-0

I only ever had one rottie who done her cruciate, and she was 9 yrs old at the time and lived to 14 so cant complain on that score.

I think that at the end of the day if you are sensible, everything should be ok.

I was told once that a dog on a lead was more likely to put pressure on the hips et than one not, as when they are not they just bimble about, and stop and start, rather than constantl;y walking, while on the lead, I know mine were always fine, and they were off the leads as soon as they came back on recall.

Hope this helps