Physical Conditioning for hunting/trial dogs

Might be worth sharing how as individuals we condition our dogs as we get ready to hunt or attend a trial. We have numerous people here with wide sweeping backgrounds and various types of dogs. No doubt this should concern us all to maximize a dog's ability and hopefully avoid soft tissue injuries or worse.

Warm up/cool down activities have also become very important as we learn more about the physical side of dog anatomy. For those of us who have had ACL surgery done, it has become routine.

In retriever training many have started routines prior to any retrieving exercise and subsequent cool down periods.

Your ideas?

I don't do anything very extraordinary. One tip:

When my dogs have been sitting around more than usual - like this interesting winter- on the first above zero, sunny day we don't go running for 2 hours. They would be glad to , but I build up to hours of hunting by increasing the time out from January to March.

In the cold weather and heavy snow I try and get the gang on the treadmill for 20-30 minutes and then I put on the snow shoes and go for 30-60 minute walk. I like to give them a massage once a month or more often as needed (especially if they have been working hard). A couple of years ago I had the need to take one of mine to a chiro/acupuncturist and decided to take the others to just have them checked. I think I would take them sooner than later again if I had any injuries. I think there is a lot more to keeping them in shape and injury free than just exercise, which also includes diet and regular exercise as apposed to the weekend warrior routine.
deb

I walk my dog with another older friend, about 2 hours 6 days/wk, no matter the weather. He is 6 mths old, lots of energy and doesn't mind low temperatures, as long as he can run around and wrestle his older pal. During the walks, I often check on him, giving him a full body rub, check the paws and clean the ice if necessary. When the time comes to go, we just know he is ready and than we had home. Good rub again with a dry towel, food available and only after that some water. he can have more water after he calms down after the walk. He started building up stamina, speed and strength and I am very happy with his progress. Dogs will let you know when they had enough and are ready to go home. Find a place where they can run around, smell the wildlife tracks and listen to the crows.

I think this is a great thread and hope more people post. I haven't ever thought about it much since my dog is always so high energy but today was the first we got out for a walk in the bush in the past couple of weeks. He was noticeably slower and more tired then during bird season and the only reason I can see would be his conditioning is suffering from being cooped up in the house. I cut our walk way shorter than what he is used to as he was obviously fatigued.

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Originally Posted by Grasu200

I walk my dog with another older friend, about 2 hours 6 days/wk, no matter the weather. He is 6 mths old

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That seems quite excessive for a 6 month old puppy?

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Originally Posted by Cass

That seems quite excessive for a 6 month old puppy?

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so you are telling me you never left your puppy play for so long with a pal? Play is never excessive for a puppy ... ask yours...

Not 6 days a week no. I'm sure he would've if I let him. Doesn't mean its good for his joints. I love wings and beer but that doesn't make it good for me lol.

try replacing the beer and wings with two hours in the gym.....just joking - not the best of examples.....

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Originally Posted by Grasu200

I walk my dog with another older friend, about 2 hours 6 days/wk, no matter the weather. He is 6 mths old, lots of energy and doesn't mind low temperatures, as long as he can run around and wrestle his older pal. During the walks, I often check on him, giving him a full body rub, check the paws and clean the ice if necessary. When the time comes to go, we just know he is ready and than we had home. Good rub again with a dry towel, food available and only after that some water. he can have more water after he calms down after the walk. He started building up stamina, speed and strength and I am very happy with his progress. Dogs will let you know when they had enough and are ready to go home. Find a place where they can run around, smell the wildlife tracks and listen to the crows.

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Frost bitten ear tips, testicles, nipples, tail tips etc. can be expensive to heal. Under -10 and we stay in.

I don't my dog run hard two days in a row. Athletes( sports conditioning) are clear that the same muscles should not be worked two days in a row. A day in between is needed for muscle healing or you /dog run the risk of a muscle tear.
In the summer we run hard one day and swim the next. In the winter , every other day we work out hard... even on one knee. :)

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Originally Posted by Sharon

Frost bitten ear tips, testicles, nipples etc can be expensive to heal. Under -10 and we stay in.

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You "are" talking about the dogs right??


:rolleyes:

I don't believe in the one size fits all approach - and although I appreciate all the good advice - seems to me you rushed into conclusions, without understanding my post entirely. The dogs are the ones driving the play, and by the time they tire and lose interest we're already on the way back home. Different breeds have different needs, and I wouldn't venture as far as setting an ideal baseline for all dogs or dog owners. Let them have fun and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible.

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Originally Posted by terrym

You "are" talking about the dogs right??


:rolleyes:

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LOL - I've earned that one from you to day. :)

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Originally Posted by Sharon

LOL - I've earned that one from you to day. :)

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Heh heh heh.....

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Originally Posted by Sharon

Frost bitten ear tips, testicles, nipples, tail tips etc. can be expensive to heal.

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Originally Posted by terrym

You "are" talking about the dogs right??:rolleyes:

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Don't think it's applicable to the annual "convalescence" in South Georgia - but could be, dogs included. You under steam this week, kraka? - everybody else in my environs is heading down at the weekend or already there working on getting their psyches and pooches in shape. And getting them back on bare ground and into open water...

Also one new pro trainer whose presence down there ain't exactly antithetical to better focus for your eyesight. That's not about marking for the dogs, either...

MG

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Originally Posted by crackerd

Don't think it's applicable to the annual "convalescence" in South Georgia - but could be, dogs included. You under steam this week, kraka? - everybody else in my environs is heading down at the weekend or already there working on getting their psyches and pooches in shape. And getting them back on bare ground and into open water...

Also one new pro trainer whose presence down there ain't exactly antithetical to better focus for your eyesight. That's not about marking for the dogs, either...

MG

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Just say it. There's a good- looking lady training labs in Georgia. :) Men.........Keep your eyes on the dog.

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Originally Posted by crackerd

Also one new pro trainer whose presence down there ain't exactly antithetical to better focus for your eyesight. That's not about marking for the dogs, either...

MG

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This is meaningless without pictures.

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Originally Posted by Sharon

Just say it. There's a good- looking lady training labs in Georgia. :) Men.........Keep your eyes on the dog.

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What dog? There are dogs?

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Originally Posted by Sharon

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I don't my dog run hard two days in a row. Athletes( sports conditioning) are clear that the same muscles should not be worked two days in a row. A day in between is needed for muscle healing or you /dog run the risk of a muscle tear.
In the summer we run hard one day and swim the next. In the winter , every other day we work out hard... even on one knee. :)

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Just from an athletics stand point, I'm involved in what most would consider pretty high level athletics. I race bikes at the highest level for my age category (including racing at nationals). The only category above me is 'elite' where the top 10 are generally people doing this for a living. Even in my category we have former pro-riders, some of which still make a living being 'athletic'. I also spend a lot of time in the community, talking with many top level athletes/coaches. I also help younger athletes, and myself having been coached by a nationally recognized coach.

This a broad generalization, but any high level endurance athlete is typically training 5-6 days a week (endurance athlete is generally any one performing for 30min to 5-6 hours). Of those work-outs, typically only 1 will be straight endurance. That would typically be me out for a ride that I could sustain 'all-day'. I'm working, but no hard efforts. All the other work-outs, obviously back to back, would have some form of 'stress' or higher efforts. The amount and intensity of effort depends on the time of year, proximity to a big event. Even on a 'rest' week, I'll ride 4 days per week, two will have efforts. The day before a race most athletes will do 60% volume of their race, with up to 20% of that being hard efforts. I feel way better racing when I do this. So anyway, I don't think there is any issues with doing back to back days that stress your body. Athletes do it all the time, and it's very specific to their sport.

I got a JRT/Westie mix about 12 weeks of age in September. Decided she needed company and picked up, what I believe is a Rat terrier/Cattle dog mix in early December. Both are about 7 months (rescues, not 100% sure). Given my life style, I spent lots of time researching about exercise/age as I want them to mountain bike with me. I read a lot (I have a PhD in the sciences) and found there was very little scientific studies done on the impact of early exercise on dogs. Lots of experience out there, which I respect , but very little science. There is far more studies on children suggest moderate impact is good for development.

Anyway, I've been 'training' my dogs. I try my best to keep track of their 'effort'. From what I can see, walking on leash is not even endurance pace for them. It does nothing for their fitness. Off leash is their endurance pace. They generally hold an effort that they can sustain for multiple hours easily. (It didn't start this way, they used to go to hard to start, then burn out and I'd need to stop them). So I generally will allow them to be out for up to 8 hours a week off-leash.

I've been slowly introducing them to mountain biking (when conditions permit). Luckily this time of year, riding is pretty slow. I've got a pretty good idea of what average speeds each can handle. The cattle dog mix has done back to back 15 km rides (over 1.5 hours). A 10 km/hr average for her doesn't put a major stress on her and she behaved normally (and normally isn't sleeping all the time). I generally at this point won't go any faster, though I still haven't (and that is my goal) seen either dogs pant. On vets advice, the panting tired will come at a year of age.

From Saturday to this point, they have got 5 hours of snowshoeing and 45 minutes of jogging, with another 1.5 hours coming tonight. They've been out in down to -15 for a snowshoe (coats and paw care). They love it, as long as they keep moving (and we always do) and shown no ill effects.

I actually got yelled at one evening from a woman. I was riding with the cattle dog (at about 10 km/h) down a common path on leash. She started screaming at me that dogs couldn't/shouldn't be out with bikers, it was too much for them. She had the most beautiful purebred cattle dog (blue healer) that was very over weight.

So that's my mileage. The dogs gets lots of love, great food and I'm going bring them on every adventure I go on if I can.

You sure know more about the subject than I do. Of course I'm not talking about not letting your dog exercise EVERY day but rather working the same muscle groups hard every day.

This is the kind of info I've followed:

http://www.sixpackfactory.com/should...re-still-sore/

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Originally Posted by Sharon

You sure know more about the subject than I do. Of course I'm not talking about not letting your dog exercise EVERY day but rather working the same muscle groups hard every day.

This is the kind of info I've followed:

http://www.sixpackfactory.com/should...re-still-sore/

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Lifting (power sports) and endurance sports (what I would classify dogs as being involved with. ) are fundamentally pretty different in terms of the stress the put on a body. The goal of weight lifting is generally to stress the muscle to an extreme (to the point of tearing them), they then rebuild bigger and stronger. You certainly need that rest to let them rebuild.

In an endurance sport, you are generally stressing them to exhaustion. You are training them to manage a stress for a long period of time, which doesn't mean they need to be bigger, or even stronger. It's actually better to stress them daily to adjust to the exhaustion. Actually I've done extreme endurance sports, including multi-day stage races (36 hour race weeks) and 8-10 hours races and your body generally does not stop, if trained. What stops most people is improper fueling. I actually loose muscle mass as I get in better endurance shape.

Good info. Thanks.