Are any of you starting to get dogs into shape??

burls

burls

New member
What are you guys currently doing to work your dogs towards fall ...or is it too early?? I am currently working my dogs for about 20 to 25 minutes 2 to 3 days a week right now...letting my GSP run and work ....Labs are running a little then swimming the rest. Curious to see what others are doing??:thumbsup:
 
Burls, I have really been light on training as of late due to the hot weather. For example, the other day it was about 92 with a dewpoint of 74! My shorthair, and as anyone who has/owned shorthairs will attest, is ALWAYS ready to go chase something. Wish I could tap that energy!

Anyway, I let him out and started our "funtime" session. This is where I will simply toss a tennis ball for 10-15 minutes without any commands to let him burn off his initial "stupid" energy, and then I concentrate on commands after that.

How hot was it? 7 tosses, he zips by me with ball in mouth, heads straight for the kennel, immerses his entire face into his water bowl for 30 seconds, comes up slobbering and spitting, and heads indoors into the garage part of the kennel. Not a peep the rest of the night!

Work you dog as much as you can, but another important thing to remember is your conditioning too. Too many guys will wait until their first hunt of the season to do any walking whatsoever, and then they complain for weeks about how sore and tired they are!

Keep it up!
 
Burls, I am doing about the same thing as Pheasants is doing, some light funtime retrieves and then some basic yardwork commands with an occasional free run maybe once a week, with as much swimming as they want, I will start roading about 3 times a week early in the morning closer to hunting season.

Chip :cheers:
 
I'm glad it will be my dog thats running those fields right now and not me. I'm starting to get my fat @$$ in shape. More worried about me holding my own in the field then him holding his. I have him right now in summer school getting a tune up.
 
Oh yea I know what you mean, I have been doing 3 miles a day on my mountain bike, with a nice little hill to climb about midway, I am going to work my way up to 5 miles a day :eek: but a pretty hard fast 5 miles at that, so we will se how that goes. Yea my younger dog is ata pro's right now getting broke out. :thumbsup:

Chip
 
im takeing sage running me walking slow lol about 3 to 5 in the morning then alittle running and swimming at 6 to 8 with some light retrieves.. i will find more dirt roads the closer we get to hunting season..
 
I have been working hard on conditioning my 2 year old Golden Retriever. Roller blading her seems to do the trick for about 45 minutes a day. Need to start to work on retrieves. She will retrieve a frozen Chucker no problem, but won't touch her dummy. Anyone else have these issues?
 
i had the oppiste problem last year.. she would retrieve a dummy but not bring the bird back... she would site on it itll i gotr there. then on day she just brough the bird to me... anyway my friend had that.. that she wouldnt bring the dummy back so we took sage and his dog together then his dog started to just by watching sage acouple of times.... sorry if that isnt the best advice but that all i got lol hope it works
 
get back on get them in shape, i took sage for a walk sat. on a dirt road we got about ahalf mile then she was acting birdy really didnt know if it was just a black bird or something stupid.. then she jumped in the bean field then she just locked up(black lab)anyway i said get it.. she flushed a rooster up scared the sh** right out of me... u can be as ready as you want to be but it still a rush when the flush :cheers: i love
 
Dog and Human in Training

My dog and I live in town. Every morning regardless of weather we go for a leash walk of at least a half hour duration. I let him pull, never at heel. He has big muscles and a trim build from this work and the rationed diet I keep him on. This exercise and weekend weight lifting keeps the dog's master pretty fit too. When hunting season arrives, we are ready. We hunt in western Kansas, where the hunters sometimes walk the fields for up to nine miles in a day.
 
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with all the hunt test and trails in the off season, mine never get out of shape..:p
 
Conditioning

I like to get my dog out running as much as possible. I have a large back yard that is fenced in and she plays outdoors most the day. When I have time usually 3-5 times a week I like to take her swimming in the river. This seems to be the ticket as it is a whole body workout that is easier on her joints. She is a GSP so her energy is always there. As for me I am employed by Uncle Sam so I too get my workout all week. By time season comes along and I know this is gonna sound crazy but it is the truth we have no problem hunting 4-5 hrs a day at least 3 times a week.
 
I've been swimming RUby behind the canoe for half and hour at a time. It wipes her out and she loves it. I also train her across tidal current on retrieves using a dummy launcher (200yard retreives). For road work I take her down logging roads every Sunday morning at least on my mountain bike. Because she's a city dog her pads see lots of pavement and salt, so they stay tough as nails year-round. She' good to go!
-Croc
 
I've been working on Ruby's whistle-sits. Trying to stop her from chasing flushed birds in open cover. The second most exciting thing in the world (second only to a pheasant skimming across the corn tops at full speed!) is the 22.cal bumper-launcher that I bought this year. In these early stages I use a land-water transition to make a "line" to stop her. Here's a little vid for fun:

-Croc
 
Well just a little update, after taking July off for some much needed rest, the dogs and I are back at it hard, I started out with 20 minute free runs off a wheeler 3 x a week, were up to 45 minutes 3 x a week now, along with some roading/resistance training 2 x a week, there coming on strong for the upcoming HT and trial seasons.

Oggie, I am in the same boat as you with all the offseason training and trialing, my dogs very rarely get out of shape. Good looking dog you have there in your avatar, looks like something out of Gulledges kennel.

Croc, nice dog!! and some really nice water work, I wish I had a pond for some conditioning that really is a nice stress free workout, I'll have to settle for the old creeks we have around here.

Lvrgsp :cheers:
 
I've been taking the dogs to the park 3-4 days a week for the past month. Also been running them on some state game areas but those close in a couple of weeks. I have a 6 year old female lab and a 6 month old male. Even though he is bigger than our older dog, he is all pup. As for me, I've been hitting the fitness center we have at work. Can't wait until this fall.

Scott
 
My six Pudelpointers run the dog out of me twice a day. They are starting to swim in the pond tho it has skim ice on it most mornings. Has to be like 33 degrees?
________
EASY VAPE
 
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