How long should you walk your dog? A frank answer.

If you've searched this question, you've seen the rule: five minutes of walking per month of age, up to twice a day. A three-month-old puppy gets fifteen minutes. A six-month-old gets thirty. And so on, until adulthood, at which point the rule simply stops and you are told to walk your dog enough.

This rule is not nothing — it's a conservative default for puppy joint development, and it has its defenders among veterinary orthopedists. But it's also wildly over-applied to adult dogs, for whom the relevant question is not minutes but exertion, terrain, and mental engagement.

Here is a more useful framework.