How much exercise does your dog actually need?

Nobody can give you a number without knowing your dog, and anybody who does is guessing. What follows is how to work it out, and the two situations where the usual advice is actively harmful.

Rough starting points, by type

Assume this is daily, and that it is a starting point rather than a prescription.

• Working and gundog breeds — Collies, Spaniels, Pointers, Vizslas, Huskies: 2 hours plus, and they need mental work alongside it or the exercise alone will not settle them
• Retrievers and larger active breeds — Labradors, Goldens, Boxers, Dobermans: 1 to 2 hours
• Terriers: 1 hour or so, though the energy is usually in short intense bursts rather than distance
• Small companion breeds — Cavaliers, Yorkies, Bichons: 30 to 60 minutes
• Flat-faced breeds — Pugs, French Bulldogs, Bulldogs: 20 to 40 minutes, in short sessions, and see the warning below
• Giant breeds — Great Danes, Newfoundlands: less than people expect, around 45 to 60 minutes, and low-impact

Puppies: the five-minute rule

The widely used guideline is five minutes of formal exercise per month of age, up to twice a day. So a four-month-old puppy gets around twenty minutes, twice.

This is not about stamina. Growth plates in the joints are still open, and repetitive or high-impact exercise before they close is associated with joint problems later. Large and giant breeds are at most risk because their plates close latest, sometimes past eighteen months.

Free play in the garden at their own pace is different and fine — they stop when tired. It is the enforced stuff that needs limiting: long lead walks, running alongside a bike, repeated ball throwing, and stairs.

Flat-faced breeds: the warning

Pugs, French Bulldogs, Bulldogs and Boston Terriers cannot cool themselves efficiently, because panting is how dogs lose heat and their airways are compromised.

They overheat quickly, in weather that feels unremarkable to you, and heatstroke in these breeds kills. Short walks, early morning or late evening in warm weather, and stop at the first sign of laboured breathing. A flat-faced dog that seems keen to continue is not a reliable guide.

Older dogs: less distance, same frequency

The instinct is to cut walks. Usually wrong. Stiff joints get stiffer with rest, and a dog that lies still all day is sorer, not more comfortable.

What changes is intensity, not frequency: three short gentle walks beat one long one, keep it flat and soft underfoot, and avoid jumping in and out of cars. If they are slowing markedly, that is a vet conversation about pain rather than a reason to stop moving.

Where they sleep matters as much as how far they walk. A flattened bed leaves an older dog stiffer in the morning than the walk ever did — our guide to beds for older dogs covers what changes and what to look for.

The thing the numbers miss

Physical exercise and mental work are different needs, and most under-stimulated dogs are short of the second one.

A dog that has been marched briskly for an hour may be physically tired and mentally unspent. Twenty minutes of sniffing, or a meal fed through a puzzle feeder, frequently settles a dog that another mile would not. It is also why steadily increasing exercise can backfire — you build a fitter dog who needs more of it.

Our guide to signs your dog is bored covers what to add instead of miles.

Signs you have the balance wrong

Too little: destructive chewing, barking at nothing, pacing, weight gain, unable to settle in the evening, overexcitement at any arrival.

Too much: lagging behind or lying down on walks, reluctance to set off, stiffness afterwards or the next morning, sore or cracked pads, and irritability. Young dogs in particular will run themselves past their limit to keep up with you.

The honest summary

Start with the range for their type, then adjust to the dog in front of you. Add mental work before you add distance. Go carefully with puppies and flat-faced breeds. And keep older dogs moving, gently and often.