[Des0506]

My 7 month old pup loves being outdoors. I try to limit her time outside because I don't want to over do it and cause an injury to her growth plates. I take her out in the mornings to walk, use the bathroom and play in the field. This usually takes about 25-30 mins.

At around 10pm/11pm, I take her out again to use the bathroom (15-20 mins). Sometimes she gets to run around and play, sometimes she doesn't. This last about 25-30 mins.

Sometimes, after morning walks, she will sleep for most of the day. She tends to wake up in the middle of the night, playing with her toys and walking around. (this only happens on the nights that I dont let her run around and play).

Im not sure if I am over walking my pup and just want to know: Do you wake up your pup when he/she has been sleeping all day to take them out? Do you allow for them to let out the zoomies in the morning/night? What should I do? How often should I be allowing for my pup to run around?

Again, she has high energy, is still a pup and loves being outside.

 

[DaySleepers]

Self-directed play on a soft surface - like grass or dirt - is perfectly fine, even for large breed puppies. You don't want them doing repetitive, high-impact activities, but puppies do need some exercise so their muscles and bones develop appropriately. I wouldn't worry at all about zoomies and play sessions, and I tend to be reluctant to wake up a sleeping puppy unless it's necessary. Though maybe that's because my teenager still needs to be reminded to take naps when he's overtired, haha.

The over-exercise you usually have to worry about are things like running/jogging/biking the puppy in a regimented way, especially on asphalt, high-impact activities like jumping, excessively running up and down stairs, etc. And even then, it's a case of the dose makes the poison - obviously people with stairs up to their yards can't carry a giant breed puppy up and down until their growth plates are closed, and I wouldn't worry about a puppy going up/down stairs to get somewhere like that. But some people play fetch up and down stairs to tired a dog out more, for example, and that would be risky.