[gingerkid]

Snowball is 8 years old and was overweight as well (BCS 7/9). We've been working really hard to get his weight down, but now I'm starting to worry that we've been pushing too hard. We don't know anything about his previous exercise history. Currently he gets 3 walks/park times a day: first thing in the morning, when we get home from work (4:30pm) and just before bed (9pm). Two of the walks (morning and either afternoon or night) are 30-45 minutes, the third one is more of a potty break - just 10 or 15 minutes around the block.

Does this seem like too much? Because he's older, I don't want to over-exercise him and potentially do damage to his ageing joints.

 

[trainingjunkie]

Does he seem sore? Tired? Is he eager to go? Does he struggle to keep up with you? I think if you listen to him, he will tell you.

It's more about the individual dog than the age, weight, or breed. Temperature and speed matter too.

 

[zhaor]

I don't really see that as too much exercise. I have "over exercised" my dog on occasion if you want to call it that. First about him, Buchman is somewhere around 9-11 yrs old and not very active. The only real exercise he gets is walks and hikes since he doesn't really chase balls or anything and gets too distracted by smells on walks for me to effectively run with him.

The first time we went and hiked at higher altitudes, we kinda went off path though some rough terrain and eventually I had to put him in my backpack when we were descending essentially a rock slide. When we got back to the camp, he pretty much went and slept the rest of the day in the tent. Another time when we went and hiked a 14ner, he pretty much slept the entire ride home and most of the next day.

If they're tired, they'll probably show it in their behavior like finding shade and lying down etc.

Still, think of humans, when you're out of shape and exercise for the first time, you're going to be a lot more sore than usual. It doesn't really mean you're over exercising, it just means you're out of shape. It takes continued exercise to really get in shape and get past that initial soreness. The amount you said is certainly not an obscene amount of exercise so I don't really see a problem with it unless your dog has any other underlying health issues. The main thing with dogs is to keep them well hydrated and avoid exercising in the heat.

 

[gingerkid]

Thanks for the replies.

We have the same problem as Buchman - Snowball (like his owners) doesn't seem to be a fan of running unless its after a hare (or to say "Hi" to another dog). I started running just before we got him, but I guess since the dog hates it, I'll just have to give it up too. Darn. :wink: And here I thought all dogs loved to run, silly me.

Snowball really drags his feet along the last 1/4 of our walk (about 1/2 mile)... and I don't know if its because he doesn't want to go home or because he's tired. If he smells something interesting (like a hare, or another dog) he'll run ahead, but otherwise he slows right down and seems to find every individual blade of grass absolutely fascinating.

 

[zhaor]

He's probably tired towards the end. That's not really a concern though, it just means he's had a good amount of exercise. If you're not tired at the end of an exercise, you didn't exercise enough

 

[Amaryllis]

Dogs will tell you if they're tired. They lag back, shuffle their feet, hold their heads and tails down, things like that. Usually, though, even an out of shape dog can outwalk the average American.

I'd add some glucosamine supplements, human grade, to his diet. Extra weight is really hard on a dog's joints and he may be a little sore. The glucosamine will help. It certainly wouldn't hurt.

 

[gingerkid]

Dogs will tell you if they're tired. They lag back, shuffle their feet, hold their heads and tails down, things like that. Usually, though, even an out of shape dog can outwalk the average American.

I'd add some glucosamine supplements, human grade, to his diet. Extra weight is really hard on a dog's joints and he may be a little sore. The glucosamine will help. It certainly wouldn't hurt.

Currently his dental chews are also glucosamine supplements (Kirkland Signature brand - they smell awful but he LOVES them). However, I will look into glucosamine supplements more thoroughly.