dog exercising in suburbia

[bullseyebill]

With the turn of the weather, I am starting to think about better ways to exercise the dogs this year. Last year I was lax in their training and they suffered a bit during hunting. While I can get the dogs to open space on the weekends it's during the week that I am looking for ideas.

I envy those that have huge tracs of land to exercise their dogs daily. But to those of us who live in suburbia and are not retired, what do you do to train your dogs during the week?

I jog/walk with them in the morning but I am not much of a runner so I need more exercise ideas. We live in a subdivision in town. There are no fenced in parks around and the roads have steady traffic so there is the worry about them running into the street and getting hit.

Cindy

[AzDoggin]

Someone makes a dog tether that can be attached to a bike - seems like it has a spring in it to allow a little flex, and extends the leash hook maybe 12-18" out away from the bike axle. Can you ride a bike on the sidewalks (do you have sidewalks?).

2nd - roading harness for the dog(s). They pull you on roller blades or a big wheel skateboard. Wear a helmet!!

Depending on what breed you have, you can get the dog a pretty vigourous workout with just a roading harness, get them pulling hard and you walk/jog along behind to keep tension on the dog. My Britt used to get a great workout in only 15 or 20 minutes of this. She LOVED to pull in that harness. I used to tell her she was a better sled dog than a bird dog/

More than 1 dog at a time is more of a challenge. If you let 2 dogs pull you when you are on foot, you are going to develop quads like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[Birddogz]

I have one. I believe it was manufactured in Italy if I am not mistaken. Watch out that you don't injure the dogs pads. When I ran my dogs off of the bike, I darn near ran their pads off. The asphault was rough on them.

I like to just throw a bumper in a pond/lake or on land and make them run. Swimming is fantastic, non weight bearing exercise.

A tread mill is the best. Get a harness and turn it on to about 5 mph. This takes some getting used to, but after a while the dog will love it!

[Neil]

I use to road them with a 10' flat lead wrapped around my waist and the dog pulling 20 pounds of old welding cable, 10 pounds each from the D-ring on the side. You could use very heavy chain with a rope from the side to the ground.

You cannot get enough resistance from a bike or just pulling you, the treadmill is not long enough for a dog to get full extension unless you modify it.

From a 4-wheeler, you need a full range of motion, that is a slow walk where they pull hard, to a trot, to a lope, to a sprint. Try to get them to an hour+ and over 10 miles.

Neil

[MikeB]

Most of my life I have been exercising my dog/s while living in the suburbs of Los Angeles using a bicycle. Yes there is the "Springer' that attaches to the frame by the rear wheel.
If the dog knows how to "Heel" along your side you can teach them to run along side the bike just using a leash. I have always used just a leash to bike my dogs.

If your more adventuresome you can roller bladeyour dog/s like Cesar Millan does on his show. He also promotes a dog backpack with water bottles in it for extra weight.

Check out Cesars roller blades... http://www.landroller.com/

[mountaindogs]

My son has a peddle go cart, and I have been eyeballing it, thinking it could be a could pull behind for dog excersize, when he outgrows it (mentally, it's pretty big actually and I can use it, but then I am 5'3". Any way the peddles system could come off easily and it has a built in hand brake - which seems awfully handy. Here is the type it is.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/gifts-home ... rt-5203695

There is an adult version also.

And yes on the dogs feet. Get them used to some boots or find a level grass park you can use until they get tougher feet.

[AzDoggin]

http://www.dogpoweredscooter.com/Home_Page.html

This would be alot of fun.

[NC_GSP]

I use the dog bicycle thing found at springeramerica.com It works really well but please remember don't over do it at first bc their pads will wear down quickly if they're not used to it.

[nighttrain]

I also use the springer on the bike for my GSP. Works great, big work out for the dog and not too hard on you. It also keeps their nails short, which helps the hard wood floors.

[jetjockey]

Ill 3rd to the springer. I got one on craigslist with a cheap Murry Mt. Bike for $35. I road my brit off it and it only took 2 times for her to figure it out. Its a great workout for her, and me. We knock out 5 miles in about 30 minutes. Id like to go for 1 hour+, but thats going to take me getting in shape as well! haha. Easier said then done!

[jt807]

I just use basically a long leash. Heel my dog and she runs next to me on my bike when we start out. I then tell her "out in front" and she takes off in front of me and pulls me a long. I have one of those bikes without a front wheel for my son, instead of a front wheel you clip it to your seatpost.

When I started getting her in shape for hunting season, she got the hang of it right away. It took about a week before she would pull my son and I 7-8 miles (with bikes, probably around 320 pounds (yeah, my bike is really really heavy)), without us pedaling except maybe a total of 1/4 mile. I do it on a jogging trail, and heeling her into my side works well when we pass people. She is absolutely not aggresive, but I want to keep her in close to me when passing other people or dogs so they don't worry.