maximum mileage for my young puppy?

Question
Hello!  I have a 4 month old husky pup.  I know that in the long term it is bad to run a young puppy too much; my question is, how much is too much for a puppy his age?  And, what mileages should he be able to handle at 6, 12, and 18 months?  

We live in Alaska I let him run along when I go nordic skiing every day.  We usually do 5-8 miles.  Is this too much for him?  He doesn't lag behind or seem excessively tired afterwards.  Before owning him I have been accustomed to hiking or skiing up to 30 miles a day.  At what age will he be able to participate in this type of exercise?

Answer
Well, first of all congrats on actually engaging your dog in exercises that it was meant to participate in.  The health benefits are important for your dog, but so are the mental benefits of running and having a "job" or daily activity.

You are right to be concerned about the mileage, and each dog is unique so there is no one answer.  In fact, it's better to judge the dog individually.  If the dog is from a well-bred stock then it will be easier.  Sibes have been more closely bred to their original working lines than have many other breeds, and what this means is that genetic working ailments happen less often.  While a large dog like an Irish Wolfhound should be limited in exercise as a puppy to prevent damaging growing bones, Sibes are much more robust dogs and don't need quite the soft treatment.

With that in mind, your chief problem comes in discouraging the dog from the runs.  We see this most often in sled pulling or similar activities, but sometimes even free-runs.  You should, as a rule, stop while your dog can still go longer.  If you notice that your dog is keeping up without much trouble for 5 miles, then you are working him fine.  If you see that at mile 7 he starts to lag behind, keep to some 6 mile runs for a while.  Like any athlete, he needs to be built up to longer mileage; rest between runs, good food, and massages don't hurt either.

To answer your age question, I would think that as long as he is not pulling anything (just running), at 6 or 8 months he should be fine based on his own athletic conditioning.  If he can run for 10-15 miles at that point and is still wanting and able to keep up - Great!  I would put no real restrictions on his distance based on age for just running; the restrictions would be based on drive and endurance.

If you are going to introduce him to pulling (maybe skijoring), then I would scale back the mileage to allow his muscles and bones to develop - usually around 10-12 months is a good age to introduce actual pulling, with 18 months being the normal age to incur full weight.

As I tell a lot of people interested in the breed: "Remember, this is a dog that was bred to run 1100 miles, with 15 friends, pulling a sled in snow . . . and oh yeah, they do it in 9 days.  So unless you are planning on running more than 110 miles a day . . ."

Hope that helps and feel free to write back if you have any questions.  Also, one reminder that you are probably aware of, keep an eye on your dog for ailments and injuries.  Sibes are often well-known for having a high pain tolerance and ignoring injuries just to run.  Sometimes it takes an owner to remind the dog to chill out for a while for his own benefit.