Morning- I am wondering how much and what type of exercise people give their GSPs on a daily basis. I know so many dog people who never walk their dogs or let them run. Just curious as to what everyone here does.

My guys (almost 2 yr GSP and 11.5yr Hound cross) go out in my big fenced yard in the morning. If it is decent out, I go out and play fetch, encourage them to run around for a bit. I leave work at 6:50am so...not much daylight. At night, they get a 1-1.5 hr walk (run for the GSP, flexi lead for the old girl) through fields and woods.

I get about an hour walk each day and some ball/dummy fetching for up to 30 minutes. I am in phoenix and the dog swims nearly everyday also. In summer the walks are a but reduced and the swimming increasing. The gsp seems to take as much exercise as you are willing to give, on the high side. Not enough and mine starts to eat/chew and wreck everything

I live in the city, have no yard, and work M-F 8-5. I walk Tessa 1 hour in the a.m. and 1-2 hours in the p.m. Depending on season, weather, available daylight and park hours I run/train her an hour in the park after work. On the weekends we usually do 1-2 hours in the park (3 acres fenced), two hours off leash seems to get it out of her system. We also train with NAVHDA once a month. I found her "breaking point" is 6 hours of off and on activity during a typical training day in the field; meaning, she will still go, but starts to sit down in-between.

I find 1 hour walk is a bare minimum. She does fine if we skip it due to bad weather but I try to give her a two hours per day. City walking is a lot of mental stimulation as well and I found that wears them out too. I take every opportunity to get her the exercise she loves - running through fields, woods, swimming, etc. either on check cord or fenced fields. I was surprised to see how many options there are, even living in town.

 I also tend to haul her around with me running errands, traveling, going on photo trips - dog in tow - so she gets some extra walks that way.

I'm a utility worker, and off during the frozen ground months of December-March.  During that time, the dogs have a lot of yard time to run.  We also hunt them and work fields a couple times a week.  When we can't do that, we run them off of the ATV for 30 minutes.  They're also out with us when we're doing chores, cutting firewood, etc. 

Once we're back to work, which we're only away from home about 3 days a week, they have an outdoor kennel.  Then we try to play frisbee or do some retreiving, after work or they'll drive us nuts. And then on our days off from work, we do field training and visit ponds for swimming, which is a favorite around here too.

We take Zeke out on the check cord for about 45 minutes to an hour each night.  He also spends about 20 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the even roaming the fenced yard.  It's only about 1/2 an acre, but he finds lots of song birds to chase back and forth.  Sometimes I'll play fetch with him for a while, but not every day.

While getting him out of the yard for long walks on the check cord defintely helps his energy level, so does working with him in the house.  If we work on his tricks, obediance or play find-it with him while we're at home in the evening his exercise needs are much less.  When we first got him, we thought the only way to settle him down was to get him walking.  I'd take him out for 45 minutes in the morning and 2 hours walking in the afternoon.  He'd tug and pull the whole time and come back just as high strung as when we left.  Just exercise didn't seem to do the trick.  He needs something to challenge his mind.  Now when we walk on the check cord, I do alot of recall exercises, let him sniff out whatever he can find and generally let him explore while reminding him of where the end of the check cord is.  I'll also practice some sit-stays while we're out at the park.  I think he's taking to it much better. 

Of course that doesn't mean he's calm, but it's all a matter of degrees.

Oh yea, someone mentioned skipping days when the weather is bad.  When it's wet or really cold (10 F with a windchill below zero), Zeke actually prefers to stay in.  He'll take a look out the door, look at me with the leash and then go bed down.  Sometimes I think he can tell that the weather is bad even without looking outside.