Reading on some breeders sites about d/h's,
some of the sites have info on the care and stuff,
now one thing thats been puzzaling me is,
on one site i was on, it stated by the time her pups was 6 months old at least,
she had them out walking for over 3 miles,she stated the more exersize the better it was for them, as they grow up stronger and have very little problems with there back legs when older,
i have seen a couple of other sites saying simler as well,

on other sites it says yes to letting them free run around the garden and house, but to limit walks as it could do damage,

now when ive had pups, ive always let them do as much as they want in the house, playing, running etc, but walks was always limited, normaly i would take them down the allotment (when we had it) and just let them play and sniff around on there, just for something different for them, even though they wasnt large breeds i still tryed to limit them.


so my question, with large breeds is it right to let them free play, but limit any walks,
or like some sites are saying - get them out as young as possable and start building walks up till they are doing miles every day.

jane

I also have stuck to the "limited walks, free play" regime. Simply because that's what our breeder told us, and it seems to make sense to me. I don't think Deerhounds need lots of miles of walking anyway. I think they are far better off with half an hour of running and playing as fast as they want rather than 2 hours of walking on the lead. That said , after 12 months , I began taking Mac on long walks , but he does prefer to run around when the other dogs are around.

Yes - I would agree with Steve on this. My breeder also advised free play and limited walks and it does make sense because their growth rate is so rapid.

Yep, limited walks and lots of free play in the garden (that's what we did anyway).

I too subscribe to the lots of play, length to be determined by the puppy itself, but not so much formal walking theory. That said, though, if you're trying to get a dog fit for coursing, we were always told that road walking is the way to do it, gradually building it up as fitness improves.

I restrict the exercise just letting them play and run about when they feel like it when they are about 8-10 month they get some road walking gradually increasing the time as they grow,My big ones get road walking 4 times a week running on the others i find if i took them running every day they would tend to start mooching about instead of running and indulge in the more unpleasant "fun" things involving rolling and eating unmentionables in the fields

Yep Sid - road walking is very good for getting dogs fit for coursing,
it also helps tighten the feet up,


it did worry me a little, as people may think over 1 mile walks for a 12 week old pup is good, or walk it till it flops, but its not something i would have liked to do with a young pup, as theres no knowing what damage it could do.

We would restrict pups at that age to playing in the garden or a small paddock so they can flop down and rest as they want but from then on we begin to take them on walks, free running and and gradually increase the duration and by 11/12 months they can cope with as mutch as most humans are prpared to give.

Our greyhounds were roadwalked for track fitness and occasional bursts of speed.
The only road walking Murphy did as a puppy was a trot around locally to meet people/places/dogs and get him acustomed to traffic, never anything too excerting. He got rid of his own energy in the garden.
I too thought it could damamge them.

Long road walking as a young pup jars their joints. Free play is far better for a young pup. I didn't let Lockie out with the girls till he was around 8 months old so that the adults didn't run him ragged. Road work is good for building muscle and tightening feet.

My two babes just play. They are mad for about 1/2 hour. It is free running.

No lead walking, no walking for miles just as much free running and play as the puppy
wants. When puppy stops it has had enough. Our puppies start lead training at 12 weeks
for about 5 minutes a day. They are not walked any distance or exercised on the lead,
this is purely a training session.

Rearing a Deerhound puppy has not changed for maybe some hundred years, the only things that have changed are modern dog food (but you are still able to prepare it yourself) and the supply of lifesaving medicine.
Miss Noble told me that puppies from one litter or of the same age do not over exercise themselves.
They play and rest, play and rest, etc. She would not let a youngster play with adults, she wasn’t worried about too much exercise, she was more worried that the adult would run into the still growing youngster.
She also did not lead train them early (of course on 15000 acres you don’t see the necessity…..),
When I stood at her place the puppies were not on a lead before six month of age. After they had their second dentition, I would say. They didn’t fight the lead; they behaved as if that is the most normal thing to do.
But of course her dogs had a super temperament, and trusted her every second.
Her secret was, I am sure, her daily routine.
Well, temperament is another subject we should discuss, I think.

We have reared our last litters that way – and it works, of course if you have just one Deerhound you have to start earlier, but don’t overdo it. Deerhounds are slow developer also mentally.
Finding the right playmate for a Deerhound puppy is not easy at all. We have also two Greyhounds, we would never let them play with the Deerhounds, their way of playing and running is just too different.
On the other side we have also heard only about nasty accidents with smaller playmates like Whippets for example. For the playing part of bringing up a puppy I would nowadays advice a less “enthusiastic” breed,
but having said that I know it is not easy to find the right playmate if you can keep only one Deerhound.

Hello Bjorn, welcome aboard. Love the photo. Which puppy is that?

F. Dorian Gray & Sobers Hilaria (Greyhound) both around 13 weeks of age.

Hi Fiddle. That Greyhound looks gorgeous. From memory Sobers is quite a prestigous name in the Geyhound circles. Is that correct?

Yes, Sobers is well known in the Greyhound world. They have been breeding Greyhounds and Italian Greyhounds for over 50 years now. Originally based in Sweden, after the founder of the kennel, Astrid Johnson, died did her granddaughter Bitte Ahrens move with her dogs to her husband Pierluigi Primavera in Rome. Our bitch S. Hilaria will be 5 this summer and our male S. Ibicus was two in December. Hope nobody minds that I enclose some fun shots.

Our blue brindle bitch S. Hilaria

And our red boy S. Ibicus

beautiful dogs,and fantastic photos!