Stamina

[sweet_ceana]

My two dogs are very different when it comes to stamina. Ceana can run for hours and hours while Poke gets tired after about 30 minutes of physical activity. Poke loves learning anything that he can. His brain can easily handle long classes and he was able to not mentally tire out as fast as Ceana around livestock. Ceana needs shorter intervals when it comes to training because her brain starts to fritz out and she gets fraustrated.

 

Do your dogs have one type of stamina that is stronger than the other, or are they pretty even keel?

[urge to herd]

At age 14, Sami's physical and mental stamina is waning. She doesn't enjoy learning new things nearly as much, shuts down really quickly when frustrated. Physically, she'd love to fun and play fetch a lot more than I let her, but she limps really badly if I play ball with her much more than 15 minutes, 3 or 4 times a week. She sleeps a lot these days.

 

Shonie, at 13 we think, is much brighter and on the go than Sami was. She can hear a cheerio drop from the next county, and she's always up for a walk or some trick training. Her running days are completely over, alas, due to bad spinal arthritis.

 

Ruth

[JohnLloydJones]

Senneca is a true sprinter, she's fast as lightening when she needs to be, but doesn't have the staying power to keep on running and running. Her batteries recharge pretty fast, though. Mentally she's middle of the road; while things are going well, she will keep going, but she does shut down easily if she's told she's wrong too often.

 

I'm still learning about my new foster, Rhys, but one thing is certain, he's got a real stubborn streak in him. Physically, he's got his gimpy hind leg to cope with, though he has adjusted to it and you hardly notice that it bothers him.

[border_collie_crazy]

Happy has incredibal physical stamina, she can run for hours upon hours and still scale a wall..at thats at 8 years old, when she was younger I called her a never ending spring of energy because she has never been hyperactive or anything of the sort, but anything I needed her for, she never ran out of energy, at flyball tournys when all the other BCs and dogs in general were slowing down after 2 days of racing, Happy was still as fresh at the end as she was when she first walked in. I cant really measure her mental stamina, she is extremly smart but she is not interested in parlour tricks, so how long can she last learning new tricks? about 30 seconds..but it has nothing to do with what she is "capeable" of and everything to do with the fact that she simpley refuses. however if you ever need anything actually useful done, SHE is the dog to choose.

 

Misty I would say is pretty equal in both, HOWEVER she has a bad back(her own fault, she caused it by never ending jumping). because of her back, she simpley cannot last very long physically without stopping for a rest. mentally though she LOVES learning new commands and tricks, and never tires of it, I have been running out of tricks I can safely(without hurting her back) teach her lol. she is what people tend to picture when they think of BCs and tricks, she is that dog that ready and willing to do and try ANYTHING with this complete and utter enthusism and darn it..hurry up or she will start getting creative lol.