I feel it important, following my daughter's explanation to add about correct puppy feeding: It is not until I saw one or two of my youngsters appearing at club events and me wanting to hide in shame. Thin, no chest, over exercised, lean...Correct feding in a puppy is very important: so is not too much exercise. After all you would not take a toddler for a two mile walk? I have recently heard of a 10 month old male walked for 6 miles a day. The pup was a bag of bones when it came back to its breeder. God knows what this will do to his young bones.I get also shocked to read -elsewhere- about owners taking their pups out shooting.
You should have your Brittany for a good long while, so I feel it is worth investing into proper care in feeding a quality diet ( which does not mean you can't give it meat too) exercise at their leisure. And some manners first of all...
Patricia
Annie as admin
I agree. I always give my new owners an exercise sheet as well as a diet sheet. In it I tell them there is no need for the pup to be free running anywhere except their own garden or on a lead until it is 6 months. AFter that they can let it run free for short periods only. So long as they also follow the feeding regime then the pup should be fine. Many people just tell new owners - Brittanys need a lot of exercise without explaining that is when they are adult
Annie
Liz
The first year of a dog's life is the most important. Apart from what Patricia says about a good diet and not over exercising, I also think that they need to learn to relax - like babies they need their sleep!
We have a very good puppy class round here, Ozzy enjoys going but he finds it very tiring - concentration is hard when you're only 4 months old. I find 5 minutes or so training with him tires him out as much as taking him out for a walk!
Having started off with a bigger breed I tend to keep very much to the same rules with regard to exercise - 5 minutes per month of age. There's nothing worse than seeing a young dog which has been over exercised - they have that unmistakable tall skinny look, which never leaves them. You can't wind the clock back and start again.
Ghilliegumdrop
I would like to add....don't let young pups/dogs run up and down the stairs. Jumping from two or three steps up, or even more if they are excited, can ruin their shoulders and cause all sorts of problems:!:
Mugi
Chase has followed the 5 min per month rule for exercise quite strictly, ok some days would be more so the next day would be less give or take. He was often driven to the places I would normally walk them so he would get to the 'fun' exercise areas - thankfully I have this option where I live.
I also tried to ensure a weeks exercise plan had him doing some lead/road walking and then free running on either flat fields and some over slightly rougher ground. This has meant he has been socialised to traffic and towns etc as well as getting his country running,sniffing.
I have also tried to limit his leaping around as he is very agile but repeated leaping on and off sofas, hurtling up and down stairs etc just is not good for growing joints.
I have actively encouraged him to have athletic play sessions with his 'brothers' as I was advised that dog play with similar sized dogs is one of the best methods of exercising all muscle groups. In reality though Brice is just not the right dog to indulge in play with a small pup so it is only latterly that a play session between deerhound and brittany has been allowed - they love it.
Having raised a giant breed as my last pup I have been somewhat fanatical about not over-exercising and even though Chase is now a year old he will still not do massive exercise regimes from nothing, he will build up his stamina and duration like a human athlete. The gundog course I do advocates warming up and down before work and I see the logic, we do it as humans and we do it for horses so why not our canine athletes??
