Is 10 miles too far?

[Husky42]

Me and Kodi walked 6 miles the other day with no problems, today i decided to push the envelope with him a little and we walked 10.2 miles today. However at about mile 7 1/2-8 he was getting frustrated (this was after a break to go play in the river in which he swam, drank and had a good time. He pretty much just said, nope not going until i rest, well i knew where a bench was so coaxed him another 15 mins to the bench, we sat down i let him rest up (the bench is next to a marsh as well) This marsh he suddenly decided he need to just go stand in.. no drinking.. just stand.. now he had been given ample opportunity to keep cool and plenty of water on the walk, it was about 78f today. He stood in the water for about 5 mins (i even got pictures of his tantrum) and finally was willing to continue one, which he did without a complaint, he's sleeping now and seems fine.

Was going to do another 10 tomorrow and am wondering if i should plant for 15-20 minute break at the 5 mile point for him?

Some pictures of our walk today :-)

First photo is of his tantrum, rest are just various from walk and him playing in river.

[sutsibe]

How old is Kodi? Is he used to walking for a number of miles each day, and are you sure that he has no hip or otherwise joint problems?

10 miles for you with 78F temperatures might not be much for you, but then you aren't wearing a fur coat! Keep in mind that he can only sweat through his feet and his tongue, so has a harder time cooling off than we do - especially since the fur tends to hold body heat in. It looks like he has a fair amount of coat, too, which won't help him cooling off... Listen to what your dog tells you - he knows how much is too much for him.

[Husky42]

He was fine after the rest, his owners only walked him for 3-5 miles every other day which is too little. He LOVES to walk and was not showing any signs of wanting to stop completely, just needed a rest. I just need to make sure he is fine with that rest, he seemed perfectly fine after he cooled off the water thing, i dunno if it was to get cool or because he has this thing with attacking invisible objects in water. I'm just concerned he may not be able to handle 10 daily and I need to move it to every other day with a day of rest between. He's a very healthy six, no hip/joint problems I'm aware of and he was just vet checked last week. After that little rest he seemed completely refreshed - I just want to make sure he was, and was not just pushing on because I wanted him to.

I obviously do not want to push him too far, but i do not mind pushing him just enough to keep him healthy and going strong. :-)

[sutsibe]

I'd mix it up a bit - maybe a shorter walk a couple of days in a row, a longer one, here or there with rest, and a day off occasionally, as well. At 6, he IS middle aged, which I can attest means getting sore more easily than used to be the case! Build up gradually, and he'll probably do fine... 78 IS pretty warm temperatures, for a husky or another coated breed.

[lebe03]

I agree with Gigi. Try mixing your walks up a bit and rest frequently when walking in high temperatures. If he's anything like Polee he doesn't realise his own limitations and as a result will walk and walk regardless of how tired he is.

[Dunc]

Seems to me your going to do him more harm than good what happens when he goes back home and only goes for his usual 3-5 miles every other day ? unless you are going to take him everyday you should stick to his normal routine, IMO.

[Husky42]

Seems to me your going to do him more harm than good what happens when he goes back home and only goes for his usual 3-5 miles every other day ? unless you are going to take him everyday you should stick to his normal routine, IMO.

Excuse me? I adopted this dog... and I do not like your general tone. I'm doing all that I can to insure I maintain a fit healthy dog. He gets a great shot at life with me, high quality food and the best care.. considering he was a day away from death I'd say I'm doing him far more good than harm...........

Let me add this: I ultimately just want to insure he does not push himself too far..he wants to please and I'd never ask him to do anything outside of his ability.

[flyingspanner]

I'd certainly allow time to build up to daily 10 milers.

If he's been used to maybe 15 miles a week and you now want him to do over 50.

[Dunc]

Excuse me? I adopted this dog... and I do not like your general tone. I'm doing all that I can to insure I maintain a fit healthy dog. He gets a great shot at life with me, high quality food and the best care.. considering he was a day away from death I'd say I'm doing him far more good than harm...........

You don't like my tone lmao I'll take that on the chin but please be careful

I read your post as the dog belonged to someone else I apologise for that I still feel any dog at 6 years old that is only used to walking 3-5 miles every other day its to much to expect then to be ok to then do 10 miles a day

[Husky42]

I'd certainly allow time to build up to daily 10 milers.

If he's been used to maybe 15 miles a week and you now want him to do over 50.

So how often would you throw the double distance walk in there? 5 daily with Sat/Sun off? He still gets his exercise on Sat/Sun but my work means no long walks. So he has 5 days as I do for our walks..First two weeks only 1 10 miler then throw another in after you think? A lot of concern does come from his age too, while everything was checked out fine and he was given a good bill of health there is always a thought in there in regards to his heart as well. Had a friend with a Rot who had a heart attack suddenly at 8 and that dog was amazingly healthy on the outside. Was just sleeping and boom, it hit him.

[raindog]

You do need to be very careful exercising Huskies in hot temperatures. They are susceptible to heat exhaustion/heat stroke if they over-exercise in hot temperatures. Check this out (it was written for the UK, but applies equally to other areas). Although it was written specifically about working in harness, long distance walks in hot conditions can also be problematic:

Siberian Husky ownership in the UK has increased massively over the past 20 years – largely due to an increase in those breeding Huskies commercially, whether as large scale puppy farmers, small scale backyard breeders or what I call naïve/ignorant/stupid “pet†breeders (the bloke round the corner who puts his poor quality bitch to a friend’s poor quality dog for pin money).

Some of these new owners haven’t done their research, can’t cope and eventually either sell their dog on or give it up to rescue. Others take it more seriously, learn all they can about the breed and do their best to provide the best life they can for their husky/huskies. This often includes them deciding to allow their dog to do what comes naturally and run them in harness. This is brilliant and to be applauded. Increasingly however, we are coming across people who don’t realise that running their dogs in warm and humid conditions during the UK spring/summer/early autumn can be extremely dangerous for their dogs’ health and welfare.

The Chukchi Inuit people, who first developed these dogs over thousands of years in North-Eastern Siberia, used them as long distance, endurance sled dogs throughout the winter months, hunting and fishing wherever game was plentiful. In their hot summer months, the Chukchi would let their dogs roam free around their summer villages hunting for themselves. The dogs would not be worked at all in harness during the warmer months.

Most husky owners in the UK take the same approach as the Chukchi and do not work their dogs during the summer. Indeed, even during the winter, most of the husky racing organisations will cancel events if the temperature rises above 12º C.

Huskies can cope very well with the heat and humidity as long as they are not expected to work in such conditions. Working in harness in the kind of hot and humid weather conditions found during the average UK summer is extremely dangerous for sled dog breeds. Heat exhaustion can swiftly lead to heat stroke and even death. Heat stroke occurs when normal body mechanisms cannot keep the body's temperature in a safe range. Animals do not have efficient cooling systems (like humans who sweat) and get overheated easily. A dog with moderate heatstroke (body temperature from 104º to 106ºF) can recover within an hour if given prompt first aid and veterinary care (normal body temperature is 100-102.5°F). Severe heatstroke (body temperature over 106ºF) is seriously life-threatening and immediate veterinary assistance is necessary.

Why are sled dogs so prone to heat exhaustion? – because of the heat built up during strenuous exercise. After all, not only are these dogs running, but they are running pulling a sled/scooter/rig and heavy passengers. Their muscles are able to convert some 20-30% of the chemical energy they use into mechanical work. So, 70 – 80% of the energy produced by an intensively working dog ends up creating body heat. During intensive pulling there is a large quantity of heat generated by sled dog muscles that must be dissipated.

When muscles get too warm, they function less efficiently. When a dog's body warms too much, its non-muscular body functions not only work less efficiently, but actually may fail entirely, thus presenting a life-threatening situation to the dog.

As mentioned above, sled dogs can't sweat. If they did, they could improve their rate of exercise-created heat dissipation through their skin surface. Instead, it is by increasing their breathing rate and the discharge and evaporation of water from their mouth area that sled dogs can increase the amount of heat dissipated during exercise. However, the hotter the outside temperature, the less effective heat dissipation becomes. Atmospheric temperature air is drawn into the nose and mouth and -- via the air passages -- ends up in the lungs. In winter conditions the cool, dry air is warmed to body temperature traversing the air passages to the lungs. The air exiting the nose and mouth from the lungs is warm, moist air close to body temperature. On a frosty day, if the air entering the mouth/nose is at around 30º F and it takes heat from the body before being expressed at body temperature (optimally 103º F) it is obvious that heat is being dissipated effectively. On a humid summer day, with atmospheric temperatures of say, 60º F, the amount of heat and moisture that the dog’s breathing can take from the body is much less with the result that heat builds up in the body and the dog’s core temperature can very quickly rise to dangerous – even life-threatening levels.

Not only that, but a dog which has suffered heat stroke on one occasion, even if it has apparently been lucky and survived the experience, is likely to be much more likely to suffer the same problem in the future – the trauma having permanently damaged its thermoregulatory function and lowered its threshold of tolerance for working in warm conditions. This will make the poor dog pretty much useless as a sled dog from that point on.

Terry and I have personally been involved in treating sled dogs (not ours) with heat exhaustion even in mid-winter in the UK . For us, the thought of running dogs during the summer months is way beyond common sense and is not a risk we would take with our precious dogs. A simple rule of thumb is this – if it is warm enough for you to take your dogs out without wearing a sweater or jacket, it is too warm to run them in harness.

Mick Brent

[James]

As Others have said its probably a good idea to build it up, do 5 miles everyday for 2-4 weeks, then 6 miles for 2-4 weeks, until you build up to 10 if you want to do 10 everyday.

You could throw in the occasional 10 miler if its not to hot.

[Husky42]

I'm thinking he's fine with daily 5's and 1 10 on one of our cooler days, temp will start dropping into the lower 70's upper 60's by next week and only start to lower after that so I think as it gets cooler I can work him up until we are both on a good physical pace that matches each other without either of us being warn out, but both getting a good exercise.

[sutsibe]

I guess I'd "listen" to what Kodi has to say, since he told you when he'd had enough and needed a break. Work up slowly, and if he seems unenthusiastic one day, consider giving him an extra day off the next day - they have off days when they don't feel well, too, after all. As long as you don't overdo things, and he doesn't have an existing heart condition (not overweight, doesn't/hasn't had heartworm disease, or something similar), I wouldn't worry overly much about him dropping dead from a heart attack. The majority of Siberians I've had (most of them were closely related) have lived to be 14 years old, and cancer seems to be what has gotten them...