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conditioning

Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 12:50 am
by terrylndrs
I'm new to field trialing and handling dogs. I don't have access to a ATV or horse to condition dogs with. Realistically is it possible to get a dog in condition to run in hour events if your conditioning them with a bike (pulling in a roading harness attached to the bike). Any recommendations on a workout schedule?

Re: conditioning

Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 6:08 am
by jetto
We're in the same boat you are and hubby does alot of conditioning on the bike. He also rigged up a chain weight system for them to pull and we walk with them in that. We also have a treadmill they go on if the weather is too bad to condition outside. Our male has run in two- one hour stakes this spring placing in one. Made the hour easily in both. One horseback stake and one walking stake.

He bikes him at least once and sometimes twice a week and one day a week usually walks him in the weights especially if the weather is too bad for the bike. We trial almost every weekend so on the weekends he's getting run twice in usually 30 minute stakes. Mondays and Fridays are off days. So yes it is possible. Kristi

Re: conditioning

Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 8:00 am
by fishvik
I don't trial but hunt hard in the fall (4-6 hrs) and I run my dogs next to a bike 8 miles 3-4 times a week and seem to be able to keep hunting all day.

Re: conditioning

Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 10:13 am
by jimbo&rooster
I also am not a trialer but my dogs are required to put on a lot of miles during the hunting season to get into birds. I happen to be in a situation where I have time to run my dogs 3-5 days a week. I run them for about 2hrs on roughly a 2mile loop over some rolling hills and cover. I also try to swim my dogs using repeated retrieves for 1/2 hour several days a week. seems to keep them in good hunting shape and keeps my wife from killing me and the dogs. not sure if that helps you.
Jim

Re: conditioning

Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 10:30 am
by Casper
terrylndrs wrote:I'm new to field trialing and handling dogs. I don't have access to a ATV or horse to condition dogs with. Realistically is it possible to get a dog in condition to run in hour events if your conditioning them with a bike (pulling in a roading harness attached to the bike). Any recommendations on a workout schedule?
Your a brave one if you let a dog pull you on a bicycle :lol: Its scary enough letting two dog pull me on one of these. Its fun but there has been a few "moments" I don't wish to repeat.
Image
www.dogscooter.com

Re: conditioning

Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 5:14 pm
by SubMariner
terrylndrs wrote:I'm new to field trialing and handling dogs. I don't have access to a ATV or horse to condition dogs with. Realistically is it possible to get a dog in condition to run in hour events if your conditioning them with a bike (pulling in a roading harness attached to the bike). Any recommendations on a workout schedule?
We have one of these http://www.springeramerica.com/ but to be honest, have never used it because the dog runs like the "bleep" all on his own. We take him to the conservation area (or other suitably big space) and let him go. For every mile we cover, he does about 5. ;)

Of course right now it's considered "off season" here in FL. There are no field events until the Fall when it gets cooler. Bearing that in mind we don't run the dog more than 30 minutes and even then he has immediate access to water: we either carry it with us, have it at the car, or are running him in an area with natural water sources.

Re: conditioning

Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 5:37 pm
by birddog1968
You can road the dog on foot, make yourself a harness , install a bungie in there and lean back and let him pull against you walking.....both of you will get in shape. You can then also free run him some and swim him in the summer.

Re: conditioning

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 4:58 pm
by Rick Hall
birddog1968 wrote:You can road the dog on foot, make yourself a harness , install a bungie in there and lean back and let him pull against you walking.....both of you will get in shape. You can then also free run him some and swim him in the summer.
We don't use a bungee in its rigging but road on foot. Just snap one end of a length of rope to the roading harness and tie the other to the middle of a short piece of wooden dowel for me to hang onto. Gives me the option of working my own upper body while we're at it or just moseying along letting Pup get most of the good from it.

Re: conditioning

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 8:07 pm
by AZ Brittany Guy
birddog1968 wrote:You can road the dog on foot, make yourself a harness , install a bungie in there and lean back and let him pull against you walking.....both of you will get in shape. You can then also free run him some and swim him in the summer.
Thats what I did when we lived in the Burbs. I let two pull me and I could lean back to a 10:00 positon. Of course they were just 40# Britts :)

Re: conditioning

Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 8:33 am
by MTO4Life
I've let my pup pull me on the bike. It was harrowing at first as he loved to run and pull and would dart every where. We started slowly, and had only once incident. Now he will respond to my commands quite well and just pull his heart out. He's 29 lbs and can really get my bike rolling. I have a gravel road that is rarely used by cars so we go there, and it is a 6 mile out and back run. He's pretty much done by that point if he's pulled me for a lot of it! However, I also do free runs on the bike on the trails where he ( and my other britt) just go. If I do 10 to 12 miles, they do 25 or so. It really keeps them in shape. That being said, there is LOTS of water where we are so they are continuously taking a dip and getting a drink. It is fun though.