Gun Dog Forum

At what age can I begin strength training my GSP?...He is about to reach 1yr of age this coming month. And by strength training, I mean, taking him along with me during my strength conditioning period for upcoming hunts. Adding weight to his pack and taking him up nearby mountain trails and having him do a series of laps at nearby lakes. Thank you

The added weight will be bad for his joints. Just turn him loose and let him run.

From what I have read and been told....18 months at the earliest before roading or adding weights.

I don't know about adding weight to him... Might want some more experienced posters to comment on that.
For strength training I like having mine do sprints up long steep hills or lots of swimming. Sprinting up a hill works well for both of us.

I have never added weights use to take my old dog out with me when i use to log and let him run all day. Always seem to work very well!

jah -

There is strength training and then there is endurance training. For endurance training, letting the dog free run is probably about the best thing you can do.

If you plan on having the dog carry stuff in packs, I would suspect you will want the dog to walk or jog with that weight instead of running with it so free running will have some value to you but would probably not be ideal.

When you take your dog on walks, you could rig the dog up with the pack and harnessing and start out with it empty/ I suspect that getting the dog to stay with you will be more of a task at first than anything else. Once the dog is staying with you and matching your speds, whether you are walking or running or whatever, youcan start adding weight slowly.

I do strength training as well as endurance training with my pointers because I want them to have explosive speed for a full hour at a trial. I put them in a roading harness and road them at a walk. They pull against the resistance, building up what are essentially sprint muscles. I alternate this with free running to break down those sprint muscles somewhat and build endurance.

You might want to do some of this type of strength training in addition to training the dog to carry packs. Just be careful, especially at first, regarding asking too much of the dog. I road my dogs, starting at six to seven moths of age, but I road them on foot. I am the resistance. The dog's harness is attached, by a short rope, to a weightlifter's belt that is around my waist. I can sense instantly when the dog quits pulling hard...and that is when the dog is put at heel to walk off the remainder of the session. By the time the dog is a year old, it is typically able to slow road against resistance for a half hour without letting down. I typically do not ask more from my dogs because I don't need more than that.

I have been doing this for several years with several dogs(all pointers) with no problems whatsoever. I would suspect you could do very much the same things with a GSP that I do with my pointers.

RayG

Thanks for your replies...

I do a lot of other hunting (other than birds) and get myself physically fit before every hunting season. Out here in the West (arizona), we do a lot more hiking/scouting for game than many of the people do in the East. We have to first find our game then stalk...very time consuming and you also need to be physically/mentally perpared.

With the time I spend getting prepared for my upcoming hunts, this is time I could also be spending with my GSP...in the end, he is a good friend and not just a bird dog. I figured it could be nice if I could also include him in my workouts and build up his strength/stamina.

I thought I could use his pack and add little weight over a period of time and build up his strength...