# Hiking with puppy



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

I suspect that most people have to wait longer than a year to have a fairly reliable recall. Recall is much more of a concern than physical condition although you'll need to make sure you are careful about temps and water.

I think you will find that your puppy will be a different dog on an off leash hike. Having to hike at your pace is not natural for him, my girl always runs about twice as far as I walk because she runs 20 yards ahead, checks back in, runs 20 yards off to the side after a squirrel, checks back in. I'm walking a direct route at a steady pace but she is sprinting off, trotting back, sprinting off, trotting back. It's wonderful exercise IF you are in a place that you feel very sure of your dog's safety in the event that your recall fails. Be sure you work on it for quite a while out in nature on a long line (it's a different atmosphere than home) and practice a lot with tons of rewards and positive reinforcement. I hike with my girl on an ecollar even though she has a very nice recall. She is very prey driven and I don't ever want to lose her after a deer or have her out of sight and lose her to a coyote which is a real concern to me. I also don't ever want her to cause trouble with an on leash dog by invading anyone else's space.


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## rjhangia (Mar 25, 2019)

nolefan said:


> I suspect that most people have to wait longer than a year to have a fairly reliable recall. Recall is much more of a concern than physical condition although you'll need to make sure you are careful about temps and water.
> 
> I think you will find that your puppy will be a different dog on an off leash hike. Having to hike at your pace is not natural for him, my girl always runs about twice as far as I walk because she runs 20 yards ahead, checks back in, runs 20 yards off to the side after a squirrel, checks back in. I'm walking a direct route at a steady pace but she is sprinting off, trotting back, sprinting off, trotting back. It's wonderful exercise IF you are in a place that you feel very sure of your dog's safety in the event that your recall fails. Be sure you work on it for quite a while out in nature on a long line (it's a different atmosphere than home) and practice a lot with tons of rewards and positive reinforcement. I hike with my girl on an ecollar even though she has a very nice recall. She is very prey driven and I don't ever want to lose her after a deer or have her out of sight and lose her to a coyote which is a real concern to me. I also don't ever want her to cause trouble with an on leash dog by invading anyone else's space.


Thanks for sharing! Yes, I definitely don't plan on doing an off-leash hike anytime soon, he's still working on recall. I honestly don't even feel comfortable using a long line just yet, since he often picks up random things in his mouth, and I have to pull them out/train leave-it/drop-it. For now, I'm just waiting to be able to take him on a super easy flat hike that's 2-3 miles on a leash.


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## kmalm (Feb 8, 2019)

We started easy hiking, like you said more of a nature walk around a reservoir, it's 2 miles and we've done it 3 times so far. Charlie is 4.5 months. He's doing amazing. We had no intentions of letting him try off leash, we brought a long lead and he did great, then we dropped it and let it drag so we could get him back easily if we needed to. Surprisingly, he stayed right next to us the entire time and responded to every recall. We were shocked. This last time we let him completely off and he did unbelievably. In fact, there is one really flat part that opens up and my daughter started running, he started chasing her then stopped short clearly conflicted if he should follow her or stay with us. Such a good pup! We just don't trust him not to charge other dogs to try to play yet so if we saw someone coming with a dog we leashed him and used that as a training opportunity to make him sit and wait to greet (after we asked if it was okay). I think you have to feel it out with your dog, try going to a place that is not busy with lots of people and dogs and see how he does. Good luck. I love hiking with dogs


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## rjhangia (Mar 25, 2019)

kmalm said:


> We started easy hiking, like you said more of a nature walk around a reservoir, it's 2 miles and we've done it 3 times so far. Charlie is 4.5 months. He's doing amazing. We had no intentions of letting him try off leash, we brought a long lead and he did great, then we dropped it and let it drag so we could get him back easily if we needed to. Surprisingly, he stayed right next to us the entire time and responded to every recall. We were
> shocked. This last time we let him completely off and he did unbelievably. In fact, there is one really flat part that opens up and my daughter started running, he started chasing her then stopped short clearly conflicted if he should follow her or stay with us. Such a good pup! We just don't trust him not to charge other dogs to try to play yet so if we saw someone coming with a dog we leashed him and used that as a training opportunity to make him sit and wait to greet (after we asked if it was okay). I think you have to feel it out with your dog, try going to a place that is not busy with lots of people and dogs and see how he does. Good luck. I love hiking with dogs <img src="http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" />


Oh wow! Can you share what you mean by “long lead”, is something like it available on Amazon? You’ve inspired me to try it out! 

Also, how long did it take you to do the 2 miles with your puppy? We just got back from an hour long walk in hour neighborhood, and my pup really started struggling after about 40 minutes in - I think he has the energy, but he seems to use a lot of it to stop and try to sniff every inch and try to play with every single dog and person we pass. We don’t really get all that far in 40 minutes - maybe about a mile at the most.


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## kmalm (Feb 8, 2019)

rjhangia said:


> Oh wow! Can you share what you mean by “long lead”, is something like it available on Amazon? You’ve inspired me to try it out!
> 
> Also, how long did it take you to do the 2 miles with your puppy? We just got back from an hour long walk in hour neighborhood, and my pup really started struggling after about 40 minutes in - I think he has the energy, but he seems to use a lot of it to stop and try to sniff every inch and try to play with every single dog and person we pass. We don’t really get all that far in 40 minutes - maybe about a mile at the most.


It took us about 50 minutes I think, then when we took our two kids (3 and 7) it took over an hour. We stop and let him test out the lake, he'll go in but won't fully swim yet, and the kids like to look at the fallen trees ect. so we're pretty slow when we all go. He doesn't tire out though, he loves it (though he crashes in the car on the way home). I just had a 6 or 8' leash and just let it drag so I could easily step on it or grab it if I needed to. Let me know how it goes if you try it out!

Also I'll add, we have the same issue in our back yard with him trying to eat everything, but for some reason, he doesn't do this on our hikes. He sniffs at everything and will snatch a leaf occasionally but mostly he just likes to keep moving.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

We took Denver on his first hike when he was 4.5 months old. I had initially been concerned that the hike would be too tiring for him, but as another forum member had said "if the hike is suitable for kids, a puppy can definitely do it". We let him off leash, because he likes to run several yard ahead of us and investigate/sniff around. He was very good, but we have been taking him on off leash walks since he was 8 weeks old so he is pretty reliable in the sense that he will never go far from where we are, and his recall is pretty good too.

I find that in unfamiliar locations they will stick very close to you, especially if you're walking/hiking at a good pace (they just want to stay with you).

We also have a long leash though, ours is 30 feet, that we use to train recall. We got it at tractor supply for relatively cheap.


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## rjhangia (Mar 25, 2019)

kmalm said:


> It took us about 50 minutes I think, then when we took our two kids (3 and 7) it took over an hour. We stop and let him test out the lake, he'll go in but won't fully swim yet, and the kids like to look at the fallen trees ect. so we're pretty slow when we all go. He doesn't tire out though, he loves it (though he crashes in the car on the way home). I just had a 6 or 8' leash and just let it drag so I could easily step on it or grab it if I needed to. Let me know how it goes if you try it out!
> 
> Also I'll add, we have the same issue in our back yard with him trying to eat everything, but for some reason, he doesn't do this on our hikes. He sniffs at everything and will snatch a leaf occasionally but mostly he just likes to keep moving.


Ok thanks! I will definitely try it out, need to find a long leash now!


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## rjhangia (Mar 25, 2019)

Emmdenn said:


> We took Denver on his first hike when he was 4.5 months old. I had initially been concerned that the hike would be too tiring for him, but as another forum member had said "if the hike is suitable for kids, a puppy can definitely do it". We let him off leash, because he likes to run several yard ahead of us and investigate/sniff around. He was very good, but we have been taking him on off leash walks since he was 8 weeks old so he is pretty reliable in the sense that he will never go far from where we are, and his recall is pretty good too.
> 
> I find that in unfamiliar locations they will stick very close to you, especially if you're walking/hiking at a good pace (they just want to stay with you).
> 
> We also have a long leash though, ours is 30 feet, that we use to train recall. We got it at tractor supply for relatively cheap.


Thanks for sharing! I will definitely try out hiking with him on a long leash now, after hearing from all of you!


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## Walt Watson (Mar 20, 2019)

*dog stroller is a good sport*



rjhangia said:


> Hi everyone! I have a 5.5 month old golden, and love hiking! So far, since I’m training him to walk politely on a leash and he gets tired after about 30 minutes of walking at a stretch, I haven’t been able to take him hiking yet.
> 
> When did most people find they were able to start taking their dogs hiking? I intend to start with very easy, flat hikes, that are more like nature walks rather than steep hikes until he’s atleast a year old...but even those would require him to walk longer than he’s currently able to.


You can bring your pet to do stroller walk, and when your pet is tired, you can put him in a stroller to enjoy the scenery. In fact, this kind of stroller walk has a much better than walking, and many dog ​​lovers are carrying out this sport.


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## megthechamp (Jun 14, 2018)

We did our first hikes with Apollo probably at 4.5 or 5 months old. Nothing too hard, no more than 2 or 3 miles. We'd take my brother (who has some coordination/neurological issues), so he was a good threshold. But like someone said above - if kids can manage the hike, puppies usually can too.

And we got a long line around 6-7 months and it has been the best purchase. Apollo's recall is fairly solid now, but we still have him hike with the long line trailing behind him in case we need to grab him quickly. It also is a great tool to help reinforce recall as well!


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

My dog has been doing off-leash walks since he was three months old. We started out walking with a well-trained dog that would come back when called, and my pup simply followed. I kept pockets full of treats and rewarded generously every time he came to see me. After about 10 minutes he was staying within sight and coming back frequently of his own accord for his treat. It was as simple as that. Three years later, he still does this. I never worry about him wandering off, and he will come immediately when called.



Your dog is well able to do quite long hikes at his age, but if all he's been getting so far are half-hour on-leash walks, he's probably not in great physical condition, so keep an eye on him the first few times. The dog will cover a lot more ground on the hike than you - running backwards and forwards, etc. When my pup was the same age, he was getting several hour-long off-leash hikes per week. It's great exercise because the pup modulates his own pace; he's not forced to walk at your pace.


As for his inattention on leashed walks, he may well be bored and looking for something more interesting to do. Have you tried switching things up by combining his walks with training sessions (stop every now and then to do a series of commands - sit, down, stand, spin, etc.), and by walking at a decent pace, or changing direction from time to time?


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## GoldeninCT (Aug 10, 2016)

We took him on his first climb and camping trip right before 6 months. Keep an eye out for ticks and bring water. We kept him on a long lead and still do I am worried about him running after deer.


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## Mde13004 (Feb 20, 2019)

Omg how cute!! We are also in Trumbull, CT!! Where do you take your boy hiking around here?? Off or on leash? How well behaved is he?


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## truckinguy (Aug 19, 2017)

I had my Enola hiking back trails at 9 weeks. Now at over 4 months she's hiking 6 miles and over 1200 ft gains in the snow packed Mt.'s of New Hamphire. picture taken today. People are way too insecure or not confident on what a good Golden will do. She's my 5 th golden over the years. Last one was 13 1/2 and hike all over the USA. Not walks but real mountain hikes. Mt. Washinton,etc.


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## rjhangia (Mar 25, 2019)

Thanks everyone for sharing all your experiences and suggestions! We went on our first hike today, and my puppy did amazing on a 20 foot long lead! He stayed close by and kept coming back to us without being called the entire time, and all of us had a great time hiking and seeing the wildflowers in Los Angeles!


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