our dog:

has been with us 6 months since we rescued him and in that time he’s grown, put on weight but we’re struggling to keep weight on him…. currently feeding him close to 1 kilo of meat a day!

we walk him on a bad day around 2 1/2 – 3 hours a day and at least an hour of that his him belting around the place at full pace. on the weekends he gets up for 6-7 hours a day in the woods but not belting around. i know thats a LOT of exercise but even when we get home, despite the amount of exercise he still jumps up to go for a play in the woods whenever i put on shoes or go near his lead 😆

how much do you guys walk your dogs?

About once every couple of weeks now 🙁

(Sounds like you’re doing fine by Cookie, btw!)

our dog is very fit and we take him out twice a day, which varies in length from 20 mins to an hour depending on other commitments….sometimes longer.

He’s half lab/springer so about the same size as yours. He gets two large cups of james wellbeloved dried food a day and is in great shape. He’s always hungry though and gets a few treats too.

Some dogs need more than physical exercise to tire them out, they need to be stretched mentally with ball hiding games etc.

I can’t see the photo, what type of dog is it?

Depends on the dog really, we have a doberman that would happily be out all day running around. We walk it around 2.5 hours a day in the week and 3/4 on weekends (including a run along with me on the bike).

Im sure the dog would let you know if it was having too much.

About an hour, hour and a half a day. A couple of hours at weekends.

Hiding stuff tires them out more than walking. Hide a treat in the house/garden and get them to find it. 20 minutes of that knackers our dogs.

Sounds like more than enough walks. As others have mentioned maybe more mental stimulation would tire him out. Some walk time could be used for training, he looks like a smart dog!

he’s a pointer/springer/terrier cross… all the awkward bits of each breed thrown into the mix! when he’s with pointers he’s a pointer, when he’s around springers he’s a springer and when he detects something small to hunt he’s a terrier 😀

he’s on the BARF diet (bones and raw food) so there’s no chance of fillers or crap carbs sneaking into his diet to hype him up.

the whole raw meat and veg thing means he doesn’t really have an ounce of fat on him so his muscle definition is fantastic but we struggle to stop him looking ribby. the dog people never comment other than how cute he is, but non-dog people sometimes say he looks very thin. thinking about it the vets are very pleased with him, i’d hope they’d say something if they were worried about his weight!

will have to work on the hiding things, he definitely loves hunting for stuff as every minute he’s in the woods his nose if glued to the floor looking for hiding rodents/rabbits etc!

I walk him 45mins-1hr before going to work in the morning.

MrsBen works from home so takes him out for least another 1hr walk in the afternoon, sometimes 2no. 1 hr walks.

Sometimes gets a call from other dog owners in the village so takes him out to play in the fields with them.

Same at weekends or a bit more if we got out somewhere.

Feed him 380grams of dried food a day (over 2no. meals), obviously training treats whilst on walks etc. (homemade liver treats) but not a massive amount just as rewards for good recall etc.

Dog stays around a healthy 43kg.

EDIT: rule of thumb we have always gone by and heard in the past – ribs can be felt but not seen. Obviously some breeds this doesn’t apply.

Our two get 2 x 1 hour plus and extra 20 mins at bed time, so similar I guess. In addition they live outside during the day in a large pen / garden so spend a lot of time playing (two young dogs under 18 months).

We have a similar issue with one who has grown, but shows her ribs. The vet was more than happy with her condition however, commenting on how nice it is to see a fit dog. In your photo your dogs looks to be in great shape, he is young so I wouldn’t worry about trying to bulk him up too much (our skinny minne is very, very slowly getting a better cover on her, but it is taking time, she is about 14 months old now).

Also – what 5thElefant says – it you want to tire him out then train him / make him think for 20 mins instead 🙂

ahhhh homemade liver cake/treats, the training secret weapon! 😀 we do do a lot of training with him whenever we’re out really, he’s much better behaved the more we challenge him. just wish he had the same level of recall when we’re in the woods that are used for hunting…. pheasants, rabbits, squirrels and deer all have the magic ability to turn his ears off and put a rocket up his arse!

BOOOOOOOOST!

😆

Yep.

Get lulled into a false sense of security at home with immediate response to recall/whistle etc.

Go out thinking he’s trained and responsive – gets the scent of something interesting (usually pheasants or hares where we are), and this languid laid back hound turns into a scent-seeking missle. Its has turned an hours ‘quick’ walk before work into 2hours – thankfully I have an understanding boss who has an equally ‘wilfull’ (i think that’s the phrase us dog owners use when our dog isn’t trained) beagle.

Excuse for another photo?

1-2 hours

Dont worry what other people say. Many dogs are like their owners and others ie, carrying too many pounds.

If in doubt ask the vet. But looks a fine dog to me!

mrben100 – he is absolutely gorgeous! How about an action shot? Ta. 🙂

My dog Lubo – very similar to the OP’s. We answered an ad in the paper for a Pointer pup, from a rescue centre. When he grew up he had the markings of a Pointer but not the shape. We call him a disapPointer. I reckon he’s a collie-lab cross with maybe a small amount of Pointer DNA in there somewhere.

He gets about an hour’s walk a day, mostly off the lead. He would probably do quite a bit more. We also have a Scottish Terrier, whose batteries run out rapidly if a walk lasts much more than an hour, so that tends to limit our range somewhat. They also get the run of the back garden for most of the day, since I work from home.

* also awaits pics of Rogue * (I’m sure he’ll be along!)

disapPointer…. 😆 i’m stealing that!

Whisky – our “Colliepointador” TM with her ribs showing if the foreground – think some dogs are just like that 🙂

Awwww cute doggie Phil.

Mum and dad have a stringy collie, who can’t keep still either!!

Mrben, your dog weighs the same as me!!

he looks fine, when fully adult i expect to be able to see the last two ribs.

re. walking time, agree with above that you might want to concentrate on mental stimulation if you want him calmer at home. The other thing to consider is that both my dogs would jump up and spin round and round if they thought another walk was on the cards regardless of what they had done up till that point. All i had to do was click the tv off and my last dog thought he was going out again…… my missus didnt like it when i was training that out of him what with the tv being switched over at random points…

Ours is a little lap dog cavalier but she gets about half an hour in the morning, another twenty minutes in the afternoon and depending on how I’m fixed, she’ll get another twenty-forty minutes in the evening. The afternoon walks are a bone of contention since we try to rely on my son to do those and I suspect he’s not 100% reliable.

On a Saturday she’ll get a big walk in the morning, Sunday afternoons the same.

For a cavalier she’s very lean and normally female spayed cavaliers are fat, is very active in herself and does a lot of running about in and out of the house.

Ted the border terrier gets 3 x 20 – 30 minute walks a day.

In-between times, he’s home alone 😉

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IMG_1117.web by chris1968, on Flickr[/img]

he’s calm at home, likes his cuddles and curling up ensuring at least one paw is touching me or the wife…. i was just a little concerned that no matter how much we walk him or mentally tire him he’s still always up for heading back out again!

coming back in from the garden to find the TV off.. well he just strolls into his crate and waits for me to give him one last rub behind the ear before he curls up for the night 😀

he’s a happy dog, he even loves visiting the vets. nutter

Do you do much lead work with him, walking to heal and the like?

I find that Rolo, our Springer, gets tired out far more quickly doing that than running around in circles all day.

minimum half an hour a day walking to heal on a slip lead just draping off his neck 🙂

little monster took a while to get to that point though, he’s nicknamed agent sniff for a reason

Ho hum, that’s blown that theory then.

Tried feeding him mogadon? 😉

ha, he once ate an a3 sized piece of (freshly skinned) deer hide in once piece. i figured it was either going to come back up violently or i’d have to forcefully pull what must’ve felt like a toilet brush out of him a few hours later….

but no, he just had furry poo for 2 days and carried on as normal 😆

cinnamon_girl – Member
mrben100 – he is absolutely gorgeous! How about an action shot? Ta.

Unbelievably, I don’t have any action shots. will have to get some pronto.

In the meantime…………the disdain for the treat he’s just been given is evident for all to see. (apologies to OP for using his thread to plaster pictures of my mangy mutt)

My Springer Spaniel was always being told he was too thin, same sort of build as yours by the look of it.

He’s now nearing 5 and is still ribby but puts a little weight on when we aren’t in the shooting season. Vet tells me he’s one of the few springers he sees that isn’t overweight!

We do seem to like to fatten our dogs up these days, my whole family (especially my missus) are constantly telling me he’s too thin, (no **** wonder I can’t lose weight) but I ain’t letting him get fat.

Ours gets at least an hour a day steady with the bike (either me or the wife) an hours lead walk and then with me running or biking for 1-2hrs. Same as above though, if she sees me putting my shoes on she gets her lead.

Looks fine Phil, that’s how I keep my dogs too. Ribs just visible, the V E T said Huxley was in great condition last time we went for the annual jab and check-up.

Twice a day mornings 1st thing then again in the evening plus now the weather’s better a big garden to wreck enjoy.

cinnamon_girl – Member
* also awaits pics of Rogue * (I’m sure he’ll be along!)

You called 😀

Sorry he’s late to the party, we’ve had him at the Birmingham national championship dog show today ( came 1st in limit, woo hoo )
Back to the OP.
well Rogue generally gets a minimum of 1 1/2 hrs a day, often more. Weekends it depends what we are doing as a family, if we’re in the lakes walking we could be out up to 5 hours. Great to hear that you feed him on the barff diet, the best food you can give them IMHO.

My two pence worth. We hav a saluki x and we’ve always struggled to keep weight on him. We feed him on dry food only (JamesWellBeLoved) and has worked really well.

my border terrier gets 30 mins in the morning
45 mins in the evening
and then a last 10 mins stroll later on

on a normal day

Beautiful ridgeback but how do you get yours to walk that long? Anything over 1 hour and mine finds a tree to sleep under.

Beautiful ridgeback but how do you get yours to walk that long? Anything over 1 hour and mine finds a tree to sleep under.

Quite simple really, I just waft a ice cream around his nose 😀 don’t get me wrong, if he had his way he’d be more than happy to lie on his bed all day, he can be a right lazy so and so when he wants to be.
Nice looking Ridgie pitchpro. They really are a cracking breed. But then again I’m biased 😉

They are greedy gits.

I always say to my clients ‘some of us are built like prop forwards and some are built like wingers, animals can be the same’

Some dogs are just right with a wee bit of rib showing where others are never going to show that without being too thin.

Better off a little bit under than over though. Far too many fat dogs and don’t get me started on show Labradors.

OP your dog looks perfect. Most dogs are fat! You’re just a good dog guardian (hate the word ‘owner’.