I know that this has probably been asked many times before but I can't seem to find any previous posts.

Poppy is coming up 5 months old and is a miniature doodle. She is full of beans and energy and is LOVING her walks. She is off lead 80% off the time although she doesn't stray far from me unless there is another dog to go and say hi too! I worry that I am exercising her too much as she is getting way more than the 'recommended' 25 min twice a day. She is out for about 45min in the morning, 45min in the afternoon and 30min in the evening.

If we do shorter walks or miss one out she becomes hyper at home and is nipping us and generally misbehaving! She also plays in the garden throughout the day and we do short sessions of training too. Are we walking her too much? If so, has anyone got any tips on how to entertain a bouncy pup without walking? Thanks for any help x

I think the 5 minutes a month thing means walking on the lead where the puppy can't regulate her level of exercise as she's kind of at your mercy. If you're taking her out to a park or something where she's off the lead then she can rest or stop if she gets tired. And I also don't think it matters how many times you walk, it's the length and intensity that count.

Obviously if she's dashing about like a mad thing for 45 minutes at a time, that's probably too much!

Off lead is fine - just make sure she's not doing a 30 minute dash around and a 15 minute walk home

Hi Niandsa

Just to reassure you - poppy will settle down over the next few months if she is anything like Pixie and Jazz (and obviously her parentage have close links to both my girls). I find a session of garden play with them of only about 10 minutes has substituted one walking session. Pixie loves to search and find so I use a pair if 'fragrant' walking socks (you know what I mean -smelly) and hide them in the garden - in bushes, under plant pots and tucked away in corners, garden furniture etc and then send her to find them. She LOVES this game - she doesnt see me hide them so she really has to use her doggie skills to find them. To start with let poppy see you hide them and let her find them then over time make it more difficult and make her work hard to find them and give your best rewards (favourite food or toy).
Jazz loves her new gundog dummy bag ( shes not being gundog trained but its a great toy) and we are playing fetch with that. Sometimes I just let her chase the throw - other times I hold her collar to let it fall in long grass and then she has to search for it and I am building up to more diffficult hiding places - she loves it and even after 10 mins they are happy and mentally challenged.
You have probably read that I do flyball with Pixie and Jazz is to start puppy flyball training in the next few months - this is brilliant fun and the girls love it - they get lots of exercise and socialisation and it keeps them fit and motivated - poppy is a little young yet but there are puppy classes for agility and obedience which are challenging for pups too.
Hope this helps and it is good fun for the hoomans too
Kathy

Off lead in a grassy area the impact on the joints are much less severe than on rocky or hard packed ground. The five min per month rule indicates lead walking on hard surfaces. I prefer to tire Immi out with longer walks through local farmland where she is free to set her own pace, it's better for developing joints than her going bonkers in the house doing mad death defying leaps off the sofa onto laminate floor or high speed crashes into walls or four foot jumps over fences into fish ponds...

Thanks everyone. I do intend to drop down to 2 walks a day over the next couple of months as I would rather not be walking in the woods/fields etc when it is pitch black! I'll try doing more in the garden to compensate. I like the idea of scent work so I will definitely give that a go.

Kathy - which gundog dummy do you have? I have had a quick google and there seem so many! Our training club do not start agility until the dog is 1 year old. They don't offer flyball - off to google that now! They do have scent training though which I may look into.

Hi
Poppy is just a bit young for formal agility and flyball training but some puppy classess offer trial sessions which are very simple for dogs to have a go and see if they enjoy it. I don't know which area you are in but if you like to pm me I could give you more details of where I go or know of in South Cheshire. (my puppy class does a fun form of 'circuit' training' wher you do several different tasks every 5 minutes and these incorporate very basic tasks like leg weaves which is a very basic form of agility weaves - there are no big jumps or ramps etc so very safe)
The scent training I do is very basic as like I said I just use smelly socks or handle some cheese and then rub hands on an item for them to seek and find.
Also teaching a new trick like roll over,give a paw, leg weaves or take a bow takes just a few minutes - can be done in doors and this challenges them too.
The smaller dummy is about 7" and the longer on about 10" excluding the toggle and I got mine from the game fairs I go to.
Hope this helps

Hi

Forgot to add photo of dummies for you