For how long should I play with my puppy??

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  Started by Christian Jones

  on 2nd Aug 2023, 9:54 am

  Joined 2nd Aug 2023

  1 Thread

  1 Post

  Hi all, 

  I've recently (8 days and counting!) brought home a 9-week old female labrador puppy and to be honest i'm finding it pretty overwhelming. 

  She's sleeping quite well through the night, which i'm extremely thankful of, but the days are really challenging and I'm not sure if i'm getting it right. 

  I suppose my question is really for how long should I play (bit of chasing after balls in the garden, or playing tug with a toy indoors etc) with my puppy at a time. I do so multiple times throughout the day because I don't want her to feel bored or neglected, usually for anything between 30-90 minutes at a time. She quickly seems to go hyper and then struggles to calm down. 

  I've read loads about only exercising labs for very short periods as a puppy because of their physical development and also because they can be over-stimulated, but I'm not sure the extent to which that applies to playing with her. Should I be having a 15-20minute play and then start to calm her down/take her to her bed to sleep or is what i'm doing too short a time and I should be tiring her out more? 

  She's got a great set-up (i think) - we have her in a crate in our bedroom during the night and we settle her in our room (but outside of the crate) during the day when she needs to nap. It's a large room, quiet etc but she struggles to calm herself to go to sleep. She has time in the garden when she wakes up to burn off energy, is progressing well with potty training etc. We have lots of toys, foraging mats etc and try to stimulate her mentally as well as physically. 

  I'm also now introducing click-training for sitting etc and I'll be extending that to other things like settle, bed etc as things progress.

  I've probably rambled for far too long anyway, but basically i'm just wondering if anyone has some guidance as to the very approximate amount of time (I accept every dog is different) i should be playing with her each time I do so. I keep reading lots of generalisations about 'not wearing your puppy out too much' or 'not getting them overexcited' etc but can't seem to find any advice as to what that might translate to from a time perspective! 

  
  

  thanks

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