It has recently come to my attention that walking your puppy on pavement can cause damage to the joints, so I'm wondering how long or far can I walk him at a walking pace without risking his joints
I'd like to know too. I take my pup to the park all the time and its mostly only side walk and street on the way there. About 2-3 blocks worth. She's starting to get big, no way am I carrying her everywhere.
I can't answer how far is safe, or whether it will do damage, so I just avoid it as much as possible. Concrete is 10x harder than asphalt. I can run on asphalt for a reasonable distance without trouble, but concrete is a problem. It's probably the same for a dog.
I also avoid it as much as possible. This might sound weird, but I don't "walk" Molly. We live an in apartment so I do take her on potty walks but we will go four blocks round trip at most. I drive Molly to the park for exercise every day (twice a day when the days are longer) rain or shine where she is either off leash or on a flexi lead (for parks only -- I would never use a flexi anywhere else), romping on grass and going down dirt trails at her own pace.
The important thing to remember is to let your dog go at his own pace. It's the repetitive movements especially on manmade surfaces that could could be detrimental to growing joints. It's best if your dog is able to trot, run, or walk whenever he pleases, and not have to keep the same speed for a long period of time.
At three months of age, I personally would only be comfortable with going a couple of blocks at a time on concrete. I would also be worried about parvo though if he hasn't received all his vaccinations.
Another concern you might consider is the pads. When I took my Aunt Bells's dog to the vet a young lady was there. Her golden's pads were raw and bandaged. She only jogged 1 1/2 miles a day.
Grass and dirt is what God designed all of our bodies to be able to handle.
Aviod as much as possible is what the vet said to me, let them run on grass or sand and aviod long walks on pavements. If you have to take them onto pavement stick to short walks a few times a day. Not sure if this helps or not!
Wow i never knew this. The park i take Lucy to has asphalt paths with grass on the side. We always walk or run on the paths because their is so many deer and ticks at this park that i try to minimize the risk of her getting ticks...especially deer ticks. So i don't know what I should do now
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