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How much exercise per day does an

2K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  PeggyTheParti 
#1 ·
Standard poodle puppy ? need?
Thanks
 
#2 ·
That will vary by age and with your particular poodle's needs. How old's your puppy? The type of exercise is also a big factor. These are some helpful links:



We exercise Peggy conservatively. I don't want her turning into a marathon runner or adrenaline junkie. She's almost 9 months old and on an average day gets a 20-30 minute frisbee/flirt pole/fetch session in the backyard, as well as a 15-minute stroll or two around the neighbourhood. This is in addition to multiple short indoor training sessions (literally about a minute each), some low-key indoor play, half a dozen outdoor on-leash sniff & potty breaks, and lots of just "hanging out" together: She accompanies me while I do laundry, make the bed, cook dinner, etc.

Once a week we attend a one-hour training class, which completely exhausts her. We also do lots of homemade puzzles and games. In general, I find she gets the most worn out when she uses her brain and nose. Letting her sniff her way around the outside of our local Walmart, for example, is a great way to tire her out while also working on her manners and exposing her to a variety of sights and sounds. Same goes for strolls inside Petco.

So I guess you could say I focus on quality not quantity, at least for now. She might demand more as she gets older.
 
#3 ·
That will vary by age and with your particular poodle's needs. How old's your puppy? The type of exercise is also a big factor. These are some helpful links:



We exercise Peggy conservatively. I don't want her turning into a marathon runner or adrenaline junkie. She's almost 9 months old and on an average day gets a 20-30 minute frisbee/flirt pole/fetch session in the backyard, as well as a 15-minute stroll or two around the neighbourhood. This is in addition to multiple short indoor training sessions (literally about a minute each), some low-key indoor play, half a dozen outdoor on-leash sniff & potty breaks, and lots of just "hanging out" together: She accompanies me while I do laundry, make the bed, cook dinner, etc.

Once a week we attend a one-hour training class, which completely exhausts her. We also do lots of homemade puzzles and games. In general, I find she gets the most worn out when she uses her brain and nose. Letting her sniff her way around the outside of our local Walmart, for example, is a great way to tire her out while also working on her manners and exposing her to a variety of sights and sounds. Same goes for strolls inside Petco.

So I guess you could say I focus on quality not quantity, at least for now. She might demand more as she gets older.
Thank you! I love your reply. Xerxes is almost doing the same. He goes to training class every week as well. However, he just wants to play with other dogs in class and does not focus very much on training ?. He learns quickly but super playful...
 
#4 ·
Alfie is nine months old. We treat him like a grown dog. He gets a three-ish mile walk in the morning (up and down hills, but he's got four wheel drive) and about half that again in the late afternoon. He runs around outside on his own frequently, to keep birds off the fence, and we play a lot of fetch every day (given my throwing arm, those are short retrieves). He also gets several very short training sessions. I used to have German shorthairs and I believe that a tired dog is a happy dog, but poodles are much, much easier to wear down than pointers.

His very first neighborhood walk was a hoot. We didn't go very far because he just overloaded on all that sensory information and lay down, overwhelmed. We worked up to longer walks pretty quickly though. He's a pretty calm guy, but he's alert to any movement that might suggest a w-a-l-k is about to happen.

His predecessor went for a 40 minute walk on her last day. It was barely a mile and I was afraid that I was going to have to carry her home a few times. However, when she got back to our front walk, like usual, she didn't want to go inside, she wanted to continue the walk. I wish we had.
 
#5 ·
Brain games are at least as important as actual physical exercise. The brain uses tons of energy so it will make any dog tired. Then while they sleep they process all of that great thought filled training. For the pup/adolescent that only wants to play with other dogs at class working on attention to you is exercise for both you and the dog and makes the dog more interested in/bonded to you as his main person and decreases the importance of the other dogs.
 
#7 ·
For the pup/adolescent that only wants to play with other dogs at class working on attention to you is exercise for both you and the dog and makes the dog more interested in/bonded to you as his main person and decreases the importance of the other dogs.
This came so much more naturally with my last dog, probably because I was her sole owner/handler. It's definitely a struggle to keep Peggy's eyes on me and not the rest of the exciting world, while with Gracie it was a struggle to get her eyes off me.

I've also never trained a puppy with these methods before, with such a heavy reliance on food motivators. I find when Peggy does look at me, it's primarily at my hands aka the tasty treat dispensers!
 
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