People who know their setters?

Question

I have a 6month old Gordon setter female and I was wondering when a good time to start taking her for jogs and long walks is. I heard doing hard excersize at a young age can harm their joints and cause hip problems. She gets about an hour walk a day after I get home from school. When is a good time to start training her for dog sports like agility and flyball?

Oh yeah, one more thing. Do they all go through such a leggy and awkward stage? She basically all legs and sometimes they just don't do what she wants!

Here is her dogster profile if you want to see her:
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/456517

Answer 1

Isabella is a lovely Gorden! Yes, all long legged breeds go through the very awkward puppy stage. You will miss it when she has matured..

You can begin to increase her workouts at about 6 months, but not too much stress until a year.
You can tell when her bones are mature, by feeling her ribs,,Run your fingers the length of the long ribs, and if they are bumpy or knobby, she is still growing..
Using the preferred agility levels, she can begin training at about 11 months to a year.
However, now is the time to brush up her basic obedience skills..as well as the gentler agility tasks.

Answer 2

What a cutie! She's a doll. I don't know bout Setters specifically but for Labradors (which also have elbow problems on top of CHD) we wait till 18 months to 24 months before starting anything really that hard. At least wait till after the first heat because that will help her bones to set. Ideally though you wait till after they've finished growing so as not to stress soft bone tissue. Labradors also go through this ugly teenager stage. It's around 6-8 months through 18 months I think. Horrible! If you ever watch 6-9 at a show, the Labrador ring is just filled with terrible dogs and bitches! lol
Enjoy your little girl and best of luck with her. She's a love.

Answer 3

Some walks are fine, but you don't want to overdue it. Keep jumping to a minimum, no jogging until she is a year.

People don't start serious agility/flyball training until they are a year. But you can prepare her for these things. Take her to a puppy pre-agility class. Get a book (dogwise.com) about raising a performance dog. There are many things you can do to develop teamwork with your dog and prepare them for the future.

She is adorable!