# What age do I need to start walking my dog daily?



## TEXAS MADE (Jul 11, 2011)

We have two 6 week old puppies. They sleep most of the time, and they active for maybe 30 minutes at a time. Are they old enough to start being taken on walks? 

They will recieve their first set of shots today. So should I just keep them in the backyard until they are fully vacinated?


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## dmickle1 (Jun 19, 2011)

The earlier you start leash training, the better. I would say keep them away from other dogs until they are fully vaccinated, but even taking them up and down the block on a leash will help their leash manners later on in life.

What kind of dogs are they?

ETA: If they seem scared of the leash at first, attach it to their collars and allow them to roam about the back yard while pulling it behind them (don't leave them unsupervised, of course). Pretty quickly they'll learn that there's nothing to fear


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## TEXAS MADE (Jul 11, 2011)

They are Pit Bulls


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## dmickle1 (Jun 19, 2011)

Yup, definitely start leash training early  The last thing you want is your Pit Bulls to be poorly behaved on a leash. I think you should wait until they fully vaccinated to take them on any sort of real "walk", but even up and down your driveway or up and down one side of a block would be good for their training. 

It takes between 18-24 months before a dog's bones are mature, so you want to be careful about exerting them too much, but they're definitely going to be rambunctious and need the exercise.


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## Avie (Jul 10, 2011)

Don't you start with walking the dog when you start with potty training around 8 weeks old? Very short walks at first, every two hours going outside to encourage using the outdoors as their bathroom, then slowly taking them out longer? I've been told that a puppy can go on walks of one minute for each week that he's old, starting from 8 weeks--which is the age new owners take their puppy home. At least, where I live it's a law that pups can not be younger than seven weeks when they leave their mother, and it's common they go to their new owners at 8 weeks of age. I'm guessing you bred your pups yourself? 
Anyhow: 8 weeks old -> 8 minute walk, 9 weeks old -> 9 minute walk, etcetera. 
But there are more theories like these on how long you should walk a puppy, this is just the one I'm familiar with.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

As soon as they are fully vaccinated I would walk them up the road and back every day. Even if they don't need the exercise, they need to get used to seeing other people and dogs around your area.

This is the biggest mistake I made with my puppy. I didn't start walking him until he was about 5-6 months old, because before that he got enough exercise around the house and I took him to training classes at least once a week, where he behaved perfectly. Then when I started walking him he couldn't handle seeing other people and dogs around our house, and became highly reactive, which has now taken about 4 months to train out of him. He's still not perfect, but a lot better.

I took him on one walk when he was about 16 weeks, just for fun, and he was really friendly and happy to see everyone and greeted people and dogs nicely. Then no walks until 5-6 months and then he was reactive. If I had stuck with it from 16 weeks he most likely would have been fine, or a lot better.

Leash training should start in the house though, and then move outside once they are comfortable being on leash.


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## theyogachick (Aug 2, 2009)

I will ask--why do you have them at 6 weeks? Ideally, they should not be away from mom/litter until they are at least 8 weeks old so they can learn things like bite inhibition, etc. 

And don't take them to public places until they are fully vaccinated.


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## eeloheel (Dec 28, 2010)

Definitely start now! While I wouldn't say 'daily walks' are in order due to risk of disease, even just using a leash in the house or around the yard now on occasion will give you a huge head start  I am STILL trying to leash train a dog who had never seen a leash before 6 months of age. He's almost a year old now and still a mess. I wish his previous owner had started sooner


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

I agree, get a leash on them and "walk" them around the house - it will get them used to walking on a leash without exposing them to other dogs out in the world. If I remember right, I think "The Puppy Primer" has a good section about reinforcing the foundations of following and leash walking for young puppies.


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## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

I, too, am wondering why you have them so early...6 weeks is too young to leave mama.


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## Sendiulino (Jun 20, 2011)

6 weeks is too old to have them in the first place, but I suppose that is beside the point now that you have them.

I started walking Sam as soon as we got her, which was when she was 10 weeks old. I know people say to keep them away from other dogs until they are fully vaccinated but we've been taking her to the park (not a dog park, but a greenway-type park with a path and benches and a small playground -- there are other dogs there, but not nearly as many as in a dog park) and walking her around the path. We've also been socializing her with other children, adults, and the occasional dog while we do it.

She is now 15 weeks old. When we started, she wouldn't walk on the lead at all, would just plop down and refuse to move. Now she is trying to pull ahead on the lead so we're getting into "heel" mode to get her to come back a bit. She loves kids and people and just wants to meet absolutely everyone, and she's very good with other dogs (which is a must, as our two apartment neighbors both have dogs and we all share a yard).

So I think getting an early start is important, but in all honesty ideally you might wait until they've had the third set of shots. Some of the things they can pick up can be transferred by objects or people, not just other dogs, so it is something to consider. 

But start young, that's the conclusion 



Avie said:


> Don't you start with walking the dog when you start with potty training around 8 weeks old? Very short walks at first, every two hours going outside to encourage using the outdoors as their bathroom, then slowly taking them out longer?


Not the case with myself for example, as we have a yard. We don't need to walk her around the block just to go on a pee break.. we just take her out back. So there are situations where this would not be the case.


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## katG (Jun 27, 2011)

I got my puppy at 6 weeks too. I am aware it is too young... he was given to me as a Christmas surprise gift. So there are circumstances where the owner doesn't even get a say! We just took him in the yard with no leash for the first couple weeks, then at 8 weeks or so got him used to the leash around the yard. Once he had all of his vaccinations we started walking him for short periods of time. Basically build up the amount of time slowly.


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## marsha=whitie (Dec 29, 2008)

Don't take the pups where others dogs have been, as they're not fully vaccinated. Its very easy for them to contract parvo virus that way.


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## TEXAS MADE (Jul 11, 2011)

lisak_87 said:


> I, too, am wondering why you have them so early...6 weeks is too young to leave mama.


These are our first dogs... The owner was selling them already... So I thought it was ok... 

We do have 2 of them though, from the same litter, so as far as "bite inhibition" and "socialization" goes, they have each other for right now, which is better than nothing... I think...



marsha=whitie said:


> Don't take the pups where others dogs have been, as they're not fully vaccinated. Its very easy for them to contract parvo virus that way.


We took them to the Vet yesterday and this is the EXACT same thing she said. She told us that our pups will be completely vaccinated at 16 weeks, and that she recommends us waiting until 18 weeks before we introduce them to the world and to other dogs.


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## Mdawn (Mar 3, 2007)

TEXAS MADE said:


> These are our first dogs... The owner was selling them already... So I thought it was ok...
> 
> We do have 2 of them though, from the same litter, so as far as "bite inhibition" and "socialization" goes, they have each other for right now, which is better than nothing... I think...
> 
> ...


I'd try to get your hands on some GOOD puppy books. I know Ian Dunbar is a good place to start. Culture Clash is also a good book that covers the importance of learning bite inhibition. Yes, they will get input from each other in regards to biting, but they also need input from you and everyone in your household as well (excluding children). It is IMPORTANT, from what I've read, that you DO let them play bite you as it gives them input on bite pressure. You don't want to have a grown dog that can't check his bite pressure. Trust me on that, I have a Lab who didn't have much in the way of bite inhibition. As a result, even in play, his "bites" were way too hard. Way to hard. He's an adult now and is much better BUT he still can't get too wound up because he'll "forget". A good, solid background in bite inhibition would help prevent that.


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## Avie (Jul 10, 2011)

Sendiulino said:


> Not the case with myself for example, as we have a yard. We don't need to walk her around the block just to go on a pee break.. we just take her out back. So there are situations where this would not be the case.


We got a yard too, but I wouldn't want to teach a pup it's okay to pee in our yard, killing our grass--unless you got a doggy toilet in your yard or don't mind dead, yellow grass. And I didn't mean a walk around the block every time the pup needs a pee break  Pee breaks are short, but even then you could already learn the pup to walk on a leash, no matter how short the distance, just so he gets used to it and will consider it a normal thing. But I think we understand each other  
I really agree with what you said in your first paragraph, introducing your puppy to the outside even if the pup isn't fully vaccinated yet. It's just too important of a time period to miss out on socialization, in my honest opinion. 



TEXAS MADE said:


> We took them to the Vet yesterday and this is the EXACT same thing she said. She told us that our pups will be completely vaccinated at 16 weeks, and that she recommends us waiting until 18 weeks before we introduce them to the world and to other dogs.


18 weeks?! I certainly wouldn't wait that long before you introduce your pups to other dogs! I would suggest introducing them to the outside world, other dogs and people, carefully after they're about 9 or 10 weeks old. Be careful, pick dogs you trust and know are healthy, then there should be nothing wrong. Pups have already had two important vaccinations after their ninth week of age, so it should be okay to introduce them to dogs.


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## Sendiulino (Jun 20, 2011)

Avie said:


> We got a yard too, but I wouldn't want to teach a pup it's okay to pee in our yard, killing our grass--unless you got a doggy toilet in your yard or don't mind dead, yellow grass.


We rent and the back yard is pretty much 100% a dog area. Two of our three neighboring units have dogs and we all share the yard. So no problems there, haha. The grass is also shockingly resilient. Before we moved in, they were doing this for a long time.. grass is still green and lively somehow.

Might have something to do with with living in Vancouver, one of the raniest cities in Canada, haha.


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## Avie (Jul 10, 2011)

Sendiulino said:


> We rent and the back yard is pretty much 100% a dog area. Two of our three neighboring units have dogs and we all share the yard. So no problems there, haha. The grass is also shockingly resilient. Before we moved in, they were doing this for a long time.. grass is still green and lively somehow.
> 
> Might have something to do with with living in Vancouver, one of the raniest cities in Canada, haha.


That would explain, haha! Miracle grass, I'm envious


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