Jarvis the Sprocker is 10 months old now, he runs a 10km every day pretty much with me, when I’ve taken him riding I’ve steadily taken him further, about 8 miles is the longest I’ve let him run with me.
How do you think he’d cope with a full day out? Anyone had trail dogs? I don’t want to do him any harm.

Personally I’d say that’s too far for him at this age. He’ll do it but joints/bones/growth plates haven’t stopped developing.
10km everyday is a lot.

Terry and Dave are capped at have done 16km but not often and last few km were at walking pace.

Dave’s just turned 3 and although Terry’s retired as a trail dog he was 2+ before running with a bike.

Sorry but the general consensus when our Springer x Lab was young was that you need to wait until they are at least 1 year old.

Their bones are still developing at that age and are more liable to damage, along with the ligaments etc… which means that for what appears to be awesome fun now you could be storing up trouble for later in life.

Spaniels are crap at letting you know when they are done and will literally run themselves into the ground so you can’t use their apparent enthusiasm as a guide.

Our old two Pointers worked their way upto 20 miles a day (that’s us doing 20, don’t know what they did), lived till 16 and 17 so didn’t do them any harm. Was told not to go too far or fast till 18 months old plus and build up distance which makes sense.
Current pair a Parson, which will do 5 miles ish but can then want a ride, especially if cold, and a Sprollie (14 months old) who can’t run far enough or get tired but only goes over 5 miles with us walking (us doing 10, think he’s done 15-17 easily) or rides with us doing upto 5 miles until he’s older.
Took a while for the Pointers to work out that a ride might be long and therefore they needed to pace themselves, as opposed to a walk where they just join your pace when tired.

Chewie (a leggy Staff) started riding with the bike at around a year old around the field for a mile or so to get used to the bike.  After he was 18 months or so we started stretching it out and by 3 we were doing 14-18 miles of stop/start single track riding, less with XC as the pace was generally higher.  Anything longer would see him over tired the next day.

He’s now 11/12 and his pace has dropped off, he still loves the bike ride but it’s tailored around him to about 7 miles at his speed rather than him streaking off and waiting at the trail junctions like the cheeky sod used to do.  He now takes massive single track short cuts and Strava lines the trail to still finish in front.

my missus found a rule of thumb online which says 5 mins of exercise per month of age. i would say 10k runs under a year is probably over doing it. our pup is under a year so we tow him in the doggy trailer. the older dog is now getting too old so we will have to swap round soon. we didnt mtb properly (exmoor epics etc) until he was 18 months. the vet says his joints are still ok at 11 years so hopefully did something right.

He’s too young to be running that distance.

Talk to a vet before you harm your dog.

I am waiting for Rocket the GSP to come out with me, he is 7 months at the moment so will be waiting until next year. Mental stimulation is more important than distance at this age.

Our local dog play center won’t allow dogs to do agility classes for the same reason until a year or two old, I can’t remember.

So that must say something.

As Drac says, Fin was older than that and we had a chat with the vet and had her checked over with them before we started, she will run all day if we let her and then once back home her first point of call is the tennis ball.
Started her off with loops from home and then slowly built her up. We have to keep an eye on her pads as the Dark Peak stones are like sandpaper on them. Also watch out with the rotors.

Its a great feeling when you are out with them, its worth the wait till they are older.

Good time to post up the dog pics

I don’t want to do him any harm.

Stop taking him running every day and seek qualified advice re: bone plates, hips and other joints.

Take a long term view – you don’t want a dog that can’t do more than a lap of the park in 4 years time.

We waited until our Vizsla was a year old before we did anything than other let him mooch along at his own pace for half an hour to an hour two or three of times a day. He now does 10k runs with my wife and 20k bike rides (singletrack with a fair amount of stop/start) with me – I’d take him on longer bike rides but it’s convenient just to play int he woods with him as there’s a lot of sheep and cattle grazed on the bridleways round here.

That’s way too much activity for a young dog.

5 minutes of exercise per month of age over a whole day is the general rule of thumb (until at least a year old – and that is for small breeds).

Hopefully his joints aren’t borked and that won’t show until he is older.

All the info shows that your current activity is a bit much. I think I over did it with my Dalmation when he was younger but he was still running miles at 12. His back legs are pretty bad now but he is 14.
New puppy (another Dalmation) is nearly 1, I take him out on the bike but keep it around 5 miles once a week. Most days its a walk round the fields / woods for half to an hour and a walk round the block with the old dog.
Its easy to over do it with them as they love it.

I have a Sprocker I have no doubt that she would have run that distance at that age but there is no way I would have allowed her to do so.

I didn’t worry so much about time rules, but distance / speed ratios are really important so she is not running at speed for lengths of time or too much distance.

My sprocker stopped growing at 9 months but it took until she was about 24 – 30 months before she fully developed her muscles and bulk.

Your dog can and will run that distance and appear to be loving it whilst you are still damaging it. You seriously need to scale back

5 minutes of exercise per month of age over a whole day

Ah OK – I thought it was OK to do that twice a day. Mind you, mine isn’t going anywhere anytime soon…

As I’ve always said on these threads – it isn’t a competition! Why do you have to measure the distance your dog has done?? Surely you know how long a walk/run should go on for and can recognise when your dog is knackered?
My GSP is now 10 and has been a trail dog since a year old. So, I’d call that a decent long term result (I have no idea of any distances she did over that time!)
But her joints are all ok, though I can tell she doesn’t appreciate being taken out for bike speed runs anymore, so I don’t, unless it’s a short jog to the fields. She did get some suspected arthritis in one of her back legs, but after rest and anti-inflams seems fully recovered.
Pretty sure 10mnths is too young anyway.

As above, that does sound like quite a lot. Mine you sprockers can be quite small, smaller dogs develop quicker

 and can recognise when your dog is knackered?

Not necessarily….my old Springer was binary, would run and run right to the point of near exhaustion. They can’t tell you they’re starting to get tired, or too hot, or too thirsty, and you certainly shouldn’t run a young dog to that point

They can’t tell you they’re starting to get tired, or too hot, or too thirsty

Well, they can – I always took mine where there was water available for her to jump into, especially in the warmer months.

which is excellent, but you need to be somewhere with water for them to jump into and tell you they’re too hot. They can’t just suddenly pipe up with an ‘Oi!’, if the OP’s like my old springer the first sign would be when he just couldn’t run any more.

I wouldn’t want to be 5 miles from home when he gave me that sign.

A full day out for a dog / human on a bike could easily be 35 miles+; you also can’t tell him it’s a long day so pace himself……he’s a dog and he’ll go beserk for the first 5 miles!  That’s a world of difference from 8 miles being the furthest he’s gone so far.

From what you’ve said it’s I’m glad I’ve asked, the mrs said the longest was a 6.5 mile ride we did at delamere at my Mrs pace so hopefully not too strenuous.
Spoke to the vet this afternoon, she said the running shouldn’t be too much of an issue by t maybe cut the distance and time a little and biking is a no until he’s fully developed.
Cheers for the advice. He’s had a walk and chased sticks instead today.