Conditioning

[Pippin's person]

Besides working stock, what do you folks do to keep your dogs in good condition for working/trialling. I remember a post a while ago where someone said that they spend more time keeping their dogs conditioned than actually working them and I'm just curious about what strategies seem to keep them in tip top shape.

 

Thanks

Robin

[KathyF]

For us, since we don't own an ATV, it means lots of walks with the dogs to get them into condition and keep them in condition. Which is good for me too. But, other than working, I try to take the dogs for walks every day. Since we've got a lot of snow I can't walk them across the fields as much, so we try to still walk down to the barn a number of times a day. The walk down to the barn is probably around 700 feet. They still romp through the snow too, which is excellent exercise for them. Once the snow is gone we will be walking them on the neighbor's 20 acre field again.

 

I know that there are people who will take their dogs out for runs with an ATV. I have also heard of people who will use tread mills for their dogs. We don't own enough land to justify buying an ATV and I certainly don't have enough money for a tread mill.

 

Kathy

[Moss]

We walk three times a day, with plenty of free-running and mental games too.

[juliepoudrier]

Long walks here, and swims in the pond when they want to. I'm thinking of getting back into jogging, and if I do, I'll take them for jogs too--which means they'll be doing long periods of trotting.

 

J.

[haleigh]

any body thought of weight pulling for some conditioning, in moderation? would it be ok on a border?