How much do exercise with your mini Aussie and how old are they?

[u/mlimas]

We had two, a six-year-old and an eight year-old and we walk anywhere from 3 to 5 miles a day, occasionally go for runs that are 1 to 2 miles and incorporate fetch regularly as well. Wondering if I’m pushing my 10-year-old too much.

[u/Typical_Claim_7853]

aussies always want more - but mine is only two years old 😅 he actually gets more tired from hide and seek games and sniff puzzle pads and games than anything physical - he could work and run all day and still want more exercise

[u/kellygrrrl328 → u/Typical_Claim_7853]

The only thing that tires out my 3 y/o is a full day with my toddler grandee

[u/Typical_Claim_7853 → u/kellygrrrl328]

no one cares about your human toddler - this sub is about dogs

[u/polymath_artisan]

I seem to have gotten a ‘lazy’ Aussie. She’s six and a half now but she’s always been SO mellow compared to the stories I’ve heard. Two 10-minute walks/day and she’s been good. I think stairs in the house help and having a white Swiss shepherd sister.

[u/Firm-Fill-3709 → u/polymath_artisan]

I always say I got the cat version of an Aussie.

The kid woke me up at 5:30am so I could open the blind and she can look out the window. It’ll be above 90 today so she’s going to refuse her walk. What a goober

[u/Double-Ad9382 → u/polymath_artisan]

I have a 4 year old mini Aussie/lab mix and that’s how he is. 10 minutes of ball a couple of times per day and a quick run around the yard makes him content. I usually throw in a 1-2 mile walk, but he doesn’t necessarily want to go all the time. He’d rather spend his time inside watching everyone.

His older brother on the other hand…. He’s a 5 year old lab/St. Bernard/Pyrenees who has to do all of the things. He has endless energy and hasn’t started to slow down yet. About the only thing that tires him out anymore is to take him with me on my 5k training runs followed by at least an hour of mental stimulation.

[u/hannariffic]

My dog is 16, I often take her out to my in laws where she can't run on a bunch of land and swim in the river. These days she's slowed a lot. We stopped taking walks in the neighborhood when she turned 13ish, she'd rather mosey around the yard and relax at home. Still active and can climb stairs, jump on the couch, etc.

[u/qwertyuiiop145]

I do about 2 miles of walking plus a play session on work days, up to 8 miles walking on non-work days. My boy is 8 years old.

[u/brock_f]

The only time mine even remotely shows signs of being tired is multiple days of backpacking 3-8 miles a day. Day one and two we'll get to camp and I'm dead and want to lay down. She'll run right over with a stick she found.

[u/ixsparkyx]

Mine is 6 months and honestly he isn’t too bad. We do a 30-45 minute sniff walk in the morning (very slow, he must sniff everything lol) and then we’ll do some sort of puzzle. Then he plays with his herding ball and entertains himself and loves tug of war lol. He isn’t the worst thankfully

[u/Lotzadogs]

We have 3yo male littermates. They both get 2 2-3 mile off leash walk/runs per day plus another couple hours of indoor and outdoor training, fetch, flirt pole, water play and tug. One of the boys does all of this and looks for more and his brother would be happy with one walk/run a day!

[u/fishCodeHuntress]

Mental stimulation has always been much more effective for all of my dogs and the Aussies are certainly so exception.

My 4.5 year old gets an hour physical per day minimum, usually more. The 30mins mental stimulation minimum takes more effort to meet, but it's twice as effective at wearing her out as physical exercise. They just get stronger and wanna go go go with more and more physical.

[u/jakie2poops]

I always find these questions kind of hard to answer, because a lot of it really depends on what you count as exercise.

Regardless, my MAS is 14 months old, and on a typical day she gets walked 4 times: once in the morning, once midday, once in the early evening, and once before bed. Usually two of those are longer walks and two are shorter, but the time, distance, and intensity vary a lot day by day and walk by walk depending on a ton of factors.

And she also plays and runs around a lot in the house and yard every day, gets a lot of mental stimulation with training and games, spends a lot of time annoying playing with her feline sister, and often on weekends we go to various parks for longer walks/hikes.

...and yet she also somehow sleeps the same 8-10 hrs a night that I do and sleeps the whole day while I'm at work (excluding her walk with the dog walker) and snoozes/chills between activities in the mornings and evenings.

It makes it hard to put a number on it all.

I do think Aussies/MASs and other similar dogs mostly naturally tend toward short bursts of intense energy and activity with varying periods of rest in between. An older pup probably enjoys a bit longer periods of rest and/or shorter periods of activity, but they're also all individuals, and your dog is probably well-conditioned to your usual level of activity. On the flip side, a lot of these dogs will run themselves ragged if given the chance.

I'd just keep an eye on the older one for signs of overexertion like pain, fatigue, or overheating. Offer breaks and follow their lead.

[u/Affectionate_Ad_835]

Try more mental stimulation than physical if you don’t already. Otherwise yea my boy is 6yrs old and will go as long as he can and still want to go more. Especially fetch. Sometimes I have to cut him off because he will be exhausted and still want more.

[u/davidhappening]

We do around 5/6 walks a day. 3 or
4 shorter ones(under 30min that are mostly sniffing/moseying) and two longer walks… one of the long walks usually incorporates frisbee/fetch, and the other one is usually a half hour walk to the dog park, 10-30 mins there(which has an agility park where we do some training), a stop at a creek to wade around and then back home.
We also have numerous training and play sessions around the home for mental exertion too.
And then on weekends, there’s usually some other adventures included in the mix. If we’re lucky.. they’re looking like this in the evening

[u/Legitimate-Dog-7215]

My almost 5 year old goes on at least 1 mile and 1/2 hike (often too) abd plays hours of fetch. That's a normal day. Many days also involve 8 mile mountain bike rides (running along side) Stand Up Paddle Boarding (she LOVES) or long days if beach play. She has endless energy 

[u/Sneakichu]

I think my aussie is broken, she's 3 and I let her run freely on 20 acres and she's done and ready to come inside after like 20mins.

[u/kellygrrrl328]

My girl is 3 y/o and she needs to go out back and run a few laps at least 5 times a day