Would you all recomend that I walk my puppy as much as you walk yours, or would I be better sticking to the breed-specific advice (that takes into account the type & growth of this line) from my breeder (also backed up by the vet) ?

It can take an hour to go 100 yards & back, the time it takes depends on the amount of stopping to allow for the dog to have a sniff aorund.

>It can take an hour to go 100 yards & back

Blimey! That certainly won't elevate the heart rate! I'd have thought a minute at most - certainly the mastiff I know wouldn't take long, and he's a big fella!

I said the time taken depends on the amount of stopping, I never said we we take an hour, nor did I say the pup takes 15 minutes to walk 100 yds. And I have also said somewhere in this thread that he gets exercise besides the walks.

Jeangenies advice regarding 8 month old Mastiff :

two walks of 20 minutes.

Advice from the OEMC (old english mastiff club):

up until 9 months of age playing in the garden is adequate besides getting them used to wearing a collar & lead.

Do you think the OEMC haven't heard about the 5 minute rule, or do you think they class the Mastiff as needing carefully crontrolled walks to safeguard against causing growth problems?

>I never said we we take an hour
>It can take an hour to go 100 yards & back

I said -

It can take an hour to go 100 yrds - the time it takes depends on the amount of stopping. 
This was said in response to your disbelief that it can take 15 minutes to get 100 yards.

I never said 'we sometimes take an hour', I have allready said we go for 15 minutes.


I obviously didn't word it correctly, so I'll try again,

How long it takes one to walk 100 yards will depend on weather they stop during that walk and how many stops they may make, so in effect it is possible for one to take an hour to get 100 yards if they are stopping frequently.

Either I am unable to explain things or you are unable to understand, whichever it is, this has become a pointless waste of time.

I was just wondering how he gets his heart rate elevated; from what you say he never gets any of what you class as 'exercise' at all.

>this has become a pointless waste of time.

On that we agree. Let's leave it.

Come on guys,

There are many ways to bring up a dog. Mastifflover obviously loves his/her dog (I do appologise I don't know your name!) to be investigating this so thoroughly.  I am sure s/he mentally stimulates buster (how do I know your dogs' name and not yours makes me sound even worse!) and will as soon as he is fully grown walk him for a longer period.

I am not saying I agree with not walking a dog for so little but then I know nothing about the growth of giant dogs or the nutrition so don't feel confident making comments on it.

Lets all just stop taking posts to pieces as it doesn't really help anyone.

All the best
Anna

Out of interest does a Great Dane pup have the stamina/energy of a Boxer pup or a Border Collie pup, or do they tire quicker?

How should i know i own great danes? a border collie pup i suspect may need to be more mentality stimulated than my breed and boxers i have seen at ringcraft my dogs would run rings around!

Thanks Anna,

I have allready said in this thread that Buster gets free play thoughout the day including play with my other dog & plental of mental stimulation. It is recomended that they have free play for exercise as opposed to formal/lead walking.

I wouldn't expect anybody to agree with me, some experienced with Mastiff's do walk thiers much further than I do & I would not try and tell them they are wrong, but as this is my first I am doing everything strictly 'by the book' & by my breeders advice.

Since I first popped my head up on this post I have had quite a few digs impying I am doing things wrong and I have ended up getting on the defensive, in fact I even started to doubt my approach & asked advice on a Mastiff forum, they thought Buster's daily routine was fine and I have no need to increase his walk. (I'm not saying everbody should do what I do, I'm saying what I am doing is right for Buster).

Anna I think you deserve a gold star for your peace-making efforts!!!

Kerry (know you know my name )

Hi Kerry

I don't think that anybody is meaning to get at you particularly and I know I certainly didn't. But I do think that your posts sometimes didn't come across as you maybe meant them to. I have to admit I was shocked at your breeder saying to walk him 100 yards a day as I show alot and none of the people I associate with would exercise a dog up to 18 months old only 100 yards a day. When my boy was down on his pasterns I improved him by giving him lots and lots of road work and trust me he was quite bad.  I would love to know who bred him if you would like to PM me??

You obviously love Buster alot but when I first started out in Mastiffs the thing that I found that helped was to listen to a wide variety of people as everybody will tell you something different.

Please don't get defensive, people are just trying to help you.

The Mastiff breed club stresses the importance of socialisation outside the home environment and recommends: "Take them to the local market or to the railway station where they will get used to loud and sudden noises. Start doing this socialising as soon as they have had their vaccinations."

I assume the pup would be walking at these places?

I'm not doubting for one moment that Kerry is saying what she's been told; I just think it might have been misinterpreted somewhere along the line, and I'd love to know how the 'optimum' distance was arrived at.

Having read through this post regarding the feeding and exercise of Mastiffs, i find it astonishing that the advice is not to walk for more than 100yds per day. I have had several litters of Mastiffs and yes you do have to get the feeding and exercise balanced, and not over do either one, but in my opinion 100yds isn't enough exercise for and 8 month old puppy.

At present i have 2 Mastiff puppies that are five months old that are walking, twice a day for about 20 mins morning and evening. They then have free play in the garden for the rest of the day.

I was one person that had a junior dog at Crufts, and he could out walk me all day everyday, he is not my own breeding and comes from a very well known kennel, but has been exercised the same as my other dogs, and i can say he is well muscled and very fit and his pastens are bolt upright. I have only ever had two dogs out of different litters that went down on their pastens, and they had a change of diet and plenty of road work. And with in a few months had totaly changed.

Weak pastens are usally associated with high protein diets and more importanly under exercise, but this is only my opinion, but having prodcuced successful dogs in the show ring i must be doing ok.

>At present i have 2 Mastiff puppies that are five months old that are walking, twice a day for about 20 mins morning and evening.

Thanks! It's reassuring that a breed specialist doesn't think I was talking toot when I suggested that amount should be fine.

> Having read through this post regarding the feeding and exercise of Mastiffs

The post is meant to be about exercise, somebody brought in feeding to have a go at me, because I was stupid enough to say elsewhere on this board that a high protein diet is bad for a Mastiff.

I advised the OP to not walk her pup past the point of being knackerd. I had mentioned the advice I had been given of 100yds in an attempt to demonstrait that advice is different from everybody, the important thing is to walk your pup within its personal limits, not to fit anybody elses recomendations.

How far I walk my pup is my business, he walks for the shockingly small amount of 15 min for specific reasons, which I have no need to explain on here.

I wasn't having a go at you, just saying how much exercise that i give to my 5 month old puppies.

I too am a member of the other forum where you posted pictures of your puppies feet and pastens, and was shocked at just how low his pastens were.

I know the advice given there was feeding and exercise, quote: walking on the beach or pebbles/gravel to tighten feet!!!

>> in 15 min with Buster  we get approx 200yds

> Walking at enough of a pace to elevate the heart rate

surely not? i as a large plump person wouldn't get my heart rate up walking 200yrd in 15 mins, let alone a dog!

loobie I wasn't getting at you. & the reason he has short walks has nothing to do with his pasterns, if you see the update regarding that, a change in diet has that under controll.

In Response to loobie

So Loobie would you say the 5 minute per month of life up to twice a day (depending on pups/breeds energy levels) seems a good guide even for your breed?

It has already been established by others that I am talking out of my rear & the 5 minute rule is fantastic for a Mastiff and is what every breed should be walked.

I advised the OP to not walk her puppy past the point of it bieng tired.

I walk my pup 15 mins, I made it quite clear that this is a personal choice. I never asked for any advice with that, I am quite happy doing what I'm doing.

I have also said that there is a reason for Busters short walks, it has nothing to do with his weak pasterns & I am not going to get into that with people on here.

Even though you all think I'm talking rubbish & you've all said your piece & I am not after any advice, it all just cary's on & on, picking at my personal choices. This has gone far past the original point of the post and is now no more than a childish game of point-scoring. I find it rather suprising that a group of adults are acting like this.

I have not asked for any of your advice & I do not want it. If you all feel the need to quote me out of context & carry on picking, I hope you enjoy yourselfs. I will not be making any further comments on this thread.

The TOS of the forum state Always be respectful of other users.  The way I have been picked at is far from respectful, infact it's completely off putting & turns the concept of Champdogs as an inforation exchange to a place where if you have an opinion different to the majority you will be torn to pieces.

Remember this forum is called Champdogs Information Exchange. That means people will ask questions and expect answers in return. The less people understand the more questions they will ask to try to understand. There's nothing personal in that, so there's no need for anyone to get defensive when they're asked a question, and the fuller the answer the better.

Having always had Dobes that never seem to tire, especially as young pups, I can't imagine an 8 month old pup walking just 100-200 yards and then being tired out. I have to ask, what is that phantom foot thing he does in the photos? There was a video that went round a couple of years ago of a golden retriever that appeared to have a "phantom foot" which would work its way up to the dog's face and the dog would turn and bite it thinking it was attacking him. As far as I know it turned out the dog had neurological problems affecting it's back end. I'm not implying your dog has something wrong with his health, but it does seem strange to me about his lack of wanting to exercise (in my experience people usually have to be very strong willed in enforcing the 5 minute rule, as pups will usually go on and on and on if given half a chance).

The 'phantom foot' thing.

He does this mostly when he is sat waiting for his dinner, as if he's not sure what to do while waiting (a bit like a person may tap thier foot/twiddle thier thumbs while in a waiting room) he doesn't attack it - it knows it's his foot

> There's nothing personal in that, so there's no need for anyone to get defensive when they're asked a question, and the fuller the answer the better.

I must admit I feel quite stupid now, I have got things totally out of perspective, I do appologise to everybody. As well as the general feel of the topic aimed at me, I took the following comments as personal digs (the second comment in one of a couple of PMs along the same line):

> from what you say he never gets any of what you class as 'exercise' at all.

> No offence intended, but do you take a book to read during the walk?

I didn't realise that these were genuine questions, for people to establish the entirety of the information they felt they needed regarding my pups walks.

In response to Brainless,
I just exercise by what i think the puppies are able to cope with, ie some do get more tired than others. But i know if they were not walked on a regular basis mine would be climbing the walls lol... even though they have free run in and out of the garden all day.

Did have one male who would lie down and refuse to move when he had, had enough exercise lucky it was always close to home, he is now almost 3 years old and is still quite a lazy chap, and would much sooner lie on the sofa lol!!!

PM's are just that and should remain so unless they overstep the mark and then as with other offensive posts can be forwarded to admin.
I have let this thread run as i did see alot of the questions asked as being more for clarification than anything else. However I do think it has now run its course.
Summing up 5 mins walk per month of age is a useful indication of exercise , as is also assessing your own pup and not letting them become over tired. Each pup will have individual needs and the best we can do is give helpful general guides  which of course can not be set in stone.