Seven is 10 weeks old today and doing great in harness training! She stays out front, keeps the line mostly taught, and follows the trail. Of course it helps that she is surrounded by deep snow and there is nothing distracting on the trail….. and there was something interesting out on the road she just had to get to. But we’ll take a small win where we can. 🙂
The kennel club suggests a ratio of five minutes exercise per month of age (up to twice a day) until the puppy is fully grown, i.e. 15 minutes (up to twice a day) when three months old, 20 minutes when four months old etc. I know it can be 2-3 years before a husky is fully grown.
How much are you exercising this puppy now?
I suspect the kennel club’s suggestions are a safe average, after all they encompass hundreds of different dog breeds who will have varying needs and tolerance for exercise. That amount of exercise sounds extremely conservative for huskies though, even as puppies. For instance if you have two 8 week old husky puppies who are free to play and exercise together as much as they want, I promise they will spend far more than two 10 minute sessions running and romping each day. Of course in that scenario they are able to stop and rest at any moment, nap, romp some more, eat, sleep, and repeat. So if we’re talking strictly about human led exercise with harness training, leash training, light pulling, and controlled running, then the guidelines put forth by the kennel club would make sense, but not so much for physical endurance factors (in huskies). Training is mentally exhausting for puppies and small doses are the way to go to keep it fun and focused.
The puppy you’re referring to is almost two years old now so she’s able to cover long distances, but the running we do is very much a mix of jogging, walking, hiking, and plenty of rest, hydration, re-fueling and having a grand time on the trail.
I have to thank you GJ, your question inspired a whole new blog topic. I’ve been struggling with what to write about for a long time. So check back soon for that! 🙂