Hey all! My wife and I got a puppy a few months ago and I was curious your thoughts on how much she should dictate her walk. She’s about 6 months old now and 2/3 German Shepard so she’s already a big girl and will happily go on hour+ walks, but sometimes when we’re doing random around the blocks walks she’ll grab the leash in her mouth and want to take herself home.
For example this morning we did one long block circle and I was planning to go past our street and walk for at least 30 minutes, but at 12 minutes in we passed our street, she snagged the leash, and indicated heavily that she wanted to go home. We walked the five houses with the leash in her mouth the whole time and got up to our front door before dropping it and sitting down.
I don’t mind in theory, but I’m worried she won’t be getting enough exercise. Is this something I should trust her on, or should I plan more to do larger circles out so she doesn’t have the opportunity to try and make this choice? This is my first dog since I was a kid, 20+ years ago, so I’m not super up on everything yet.
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GSD’s can walk all day if the heat isnt bad. If she’s not overheated shes probably not tired, but bored.
To get her more exercise play fetch with her or another off leash activity. They generally need 2 hours of exercise spread out throughout the day.
A daily combination of leash walking, off leash activity and training is best.
That’s really good to know, thank you! Time to go out back and throw a ball around!
