Jumping pup

SarahSassy

How high is too high for a 17 week old Labrador pup. Our lad is so boisterous and jumps on and off beds, sofas etc. Off beds is on to carpet but off sofas on to wooden floors. Is this bad for him.

andreac

Yes it can be. It can be harmful for their growing joints and bones and i would discourage any jumping from sofas, beds etc until he is fully grown.

Victor

A pup jumping off a bed puts a lot less stress on the pup than you jumping of hte bed puts on you.

1. They weigh less and the pressure on their feet is less.
2. As they aren't as high up, they are falling a smaller distance

SarahSassy

Its so hard to watch him all the time. He is funny and tends to slide of the sofa, front paws first but then when he is hyper and doing his sprints / circuits he can run up on sofa and fly down off it again...

andreac

Sorry Victor, but young pups shouldnt be allowed to jump off things at a height regularly as it can be detrimental to their softs bones and growing joints, of course the odd time wont do any harm but if they are doing it all the time then it needs to be stopped.

star-pants

Yes you should try to stop them from jumping off things, but my little one is a daredevil -- she's done herself injury jumping off someones lap before, landed awkwardly on her shoulder.
BUT you can only stop them so much. Best to block off things like couches or stairs if you can, til they're a bit older but you can't watch em 24/7.


edit - also some dogs aren't designed to go up/down certain stairs, for their back, so just be sure to be careful if you see them with difficulty

lrushe

The GSD I had jumped off a hill instead of walking down it when she was 11 months and hurt her shoulder, after a day or so it seemed to have righted itself and she seemed fine but it was only when she reached old age that arthritis set into the shoulder and caused her pain. As hard as it is to watch them all the time jumping should be discouraged as much as possible

Graces7

Is the dog getting enough play time? Outdoors?

To run off that energy

One of ours get hyper is she does not.
And has once injured herself on stairs.

Now we see her getting wired and take her out; she loves her football

SarahSassy

Well I have been told on here for him to get 5 mins per month per day which is only 20 mins per day. He is getting more than that but still has huge energy.

leopardus

A young dog like that needs to be taken out for exercise frequently. I would limit exercise on lead to a max of 20 mins, but would also vary the exercise with training in a park/ beach etc, fetch and tugging games; at least three times a day. Frequency and not duration are the important thing at that age.
I would stop him jumping off the couch/ bed if possible; make sure that he knows he can only get on the couch with your permission, then you can help him off until he's grown a bit.

Graces7

My thoughts exactly; and it is the interaction with you also.

leopardus wrote: »

A young dog like that needs to be taken out for exercise frequently. I would limit exercise on lead to a max of 20 mins, but would also vary the exercise with training in a park/ beach etc, fetch and tugging games; at least three times a day. Frequency and not duration are the important thing at that age.
I would stop him jumping off the couch/ bed if possible; make sure that he knows he can only get on the couch with your permission, then you can help him off until he's grown a bit.

SarahSassy

So 20 minutes three times per day?

star-pants

I would agree with the 20mins for a walk.
As for the rest of the day, I think it depends on the pup and the day itself.
Sometimes my 11month old is having a quiet day where she's happy to play with her toys, sometimes she's wired to the moon and is doing laps of my room or skittering up and down the hall to play fetch.

Walking is the one thing that should be limited due to the pressure on the pup you see,they don't take a break and it's all in one go.
Play time they can take a break whenever they like, eg, mine will play fetch in the hall, but will not give it back to you every 3rd or so time, she'll come back half way, plonk herself on the ground and have a chew.
Or I play with her in my room, I have socks or rope or whatever she's playing with and make her run a little for it, or we play tug. It's all about your own pup and how much they want to play, if they're knackered they won't play lol.
Make sure there are toys for them to play with if you're busy, and if you see they're bounding around full of energy, play a few mins of fetch in the hall or tug or something, just to burn off the excess. They're like children, they're wired and play and then bam - they're knackered and will just go curl up to sleep.

sometimes my Daisy will have had her walk and play time during the day, will have a nap on my mothers bed, then come up to me for bedtime but be wired at 11pm and I'll have to play with her for 20mins or else she won't settle.