# Conditioning



## Robley Smith (Apr 20, 2012)

So the thread drift in the "scratch pants" discussion has me thinking about dog conditioning and fitness in general. (I hope to leave my own lack of fitness out of this, but see that I will likely have to use myself as an example at some point..lol)

I am new to the working and sport dog thing and I remember early on, being struck by how short winded (for lack of a better term) some (or even a lot) of the dogs were. I initially wrote this off to my own inexperience and lack of judgment on how long the dogs should last. And maybe some of that is still true....but as I have come to know some of the people and dogs better you start to see that oh, that dog comes from a multi dog house, or a person who breeds and so the dog spends a lot of kennel time, or that owner isn't particularly fit or active, or doesn't have a ton of time available or whatever the case may be. Like say myself, a 42 yr. old fatboy whose work has been eating into home time and the result is less than sufficient training and exercise time.

What do you do when the dog's overall fitness, beyond just % of body fat, is tied to both the owners fitness and available time? Surely it's a big issue both for work and sport? I know some of the pitbull and weight pull guys use various equipment like carpet mills, slatmills, springpoles, and some sort of carrousel devise whose name I don’t know. But I don’t hear of anyone else doing that stuff.

I guess my question is, how you working and sport dog owners approach your dog’s overall fitness, and how important is it to what you are involved in (work or sport).


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## Faisal Khan (Apr 16, 2009)

Just working the dogs on a regular basis gives them good conditioning. Working them and then swimming them in off time gives them great conditioning. The key word is "regular".


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## Brittany silveira (Jun 20, 2012)

Uphill hiking, running, swimming, etc. Same things that challenge humans. My main sport is agility so I do a lot of rear end strengthening exercises.

If I don't keep with up rear-end stuff my dog loses his ability to jump *up* and over. He'll tend to jump very flat and forward which causes knocked bars. It's very obvious when I've slacked on his regular rear-end work. 

Also, most dogs that get winded fast (how fast are we exactly talking?) are fat as well. Sport dogs are a lot thinner than their non-sport companions.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

unless you are very disciplined trainer/owner, in most cases, the dog's fitness will be a reflection of the owners lifestyle and fitness level ... hard to have your cake and eat it too
...the older i get the more obvious this becomes

the herder groups might be an exception here ... 

but there are owners who do a lot of fetching and ball tossing to try and keep their dog in better shape or run off tension, but i've never seen that style ever result in better control of their dogs 
...key to a balanced dog IMO is to make all the play/work/training interactive and go thru the handler

allowing a dog to self satisfy and exercise on its own does nothing to enhance the dog/owner relationship unless you just want a nice tired pet to live with

OT and only an opinion, but my wild assed guess is that the primary baden "philosophy" of dog training is to get the owner and dog working together out in the woods where the dog gets challenged to do INTERACTIVE AGILITY with the owner; which helps build up the dog's confidence and trust with the owner, rather than be the basis for a new and revolutionary canine training system 
...that by itself would still be a good thing .... if you can afford it


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## Sue DiCero (Sep 2, 2006)

Off season - swimming, some biking, minimal jumping.

Back in season, road work, short/long runs, swimming, running blinds, jumps. All few times per week, change in diet.

So, not only the training and competition, but the traveling, staying in crate/trailer...

This has worked very well for Frodo. He came off of 3 events this spring (12 hours 1x for SE Regionals, 5000 miles 1 way for WUSV/FCI Qualifier, 4 hours for AWDF) in excellent physical and mental shape. Pushing to work during his vacation, when Gabor was going thru ortho surgery for plates and screws removal from his right arm and then trialing Dena....

Maintain basic conditioning and training during off season and them ramp up, based on date of competition.


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## Jessica Kromer (Nov 12, 2009)

Twice daily runs on the treadmill, two to three mile each time. If he didn't, the dog would bounce off the walls. I just use the time to put on my make-up and have a cup of coffee, or make/return calls. Also, three or so times a week I put the weight pull harness on him and have him drag a car tire for a half mile or so. 

You won't see me doing any of this though, running and I don't get along no matter how hard I try... 

Other than that stuff, the rest is training, blinds, tug, hurdles, etc....


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## Bart Karmich (Jul 16, 2010)

I work on dog fitness in two areas, cardio with aerobic exercise for endurance, and high intensity interval training. What I don't do is a lot of resistance work, simply because I have not found a practical way to do that within my lifestyle.

Loping around on a search is good aerobic exercise, flush prey and you get a high intensity interval. Lose the prey and you go back to aerobic. Repeat.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

all the suggestions for the ways to physically condition a dog are great
but one thing i wasn't very clear on is how the interactive part comes into play ...

a dog can be in tip top physical condition due to any variety of ways the owner uses...what does this produce ? a well conditioned dog 
,,,kinda refers to the old saying that a tired dog is a good dog.

i believe a tired dog is just a tired dog, and that getting it tired will have NO effect on it's relationship to the owner...which is where the mental part comes into play
--training is ALL about getting into the dog's head and teaching it to pay attention and LISTEN and than react to what you want it to do

i've worked with other animals beside canines, so even tho many will disagree, i happen to feel a dog is pretty stupid on the animal IQ rating chart; which is GOOD because it doesn't take much to exercise it's little brain.... but if all you do is work it out physically and not wear it out mentally too, you have nothing but a tired dog, not a better dog or a more controllable better trained dog

...before you give me the "duhhhh, of course i knew that" answer, consider that most suggestions so far have been on the physical conditioning side 

all i'm saying is that shorter but more interactive workouts will do just as much good overall than the extended physical only workout sessions If your goal is to have a more responsive dog
- i've seen this MANY times for real so i am not just giving an opinion

typical case :
- superbly conditioned dog that could run or swim all day long that will NOT pay attention to the owner and blow off whatever command is given....
- 15 min of mental OB and the dog will literally flop down and crash after it's over
...THAT is a GOOD tired dog imo 

that's why i feel it's great to provide all the ways of exercising it's body; but don't forget to actually PLAN and include the mental exercise and conditioning too


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## Chris Keister (Jun 28, 2008)

The people I know who had the best conditioned dogs were my old training partner and my ex-girlfriend. 

My old training training partner used a slat mill. Girlfriend lived in a rural area and did road work with the dogs running next to the truck. Dogs in both scenarios were in phenominal physical condition. 

I do not own a slate mill not foresee having funds for one in the near future. I also live in a large city so am unable to road work my dogs. 

What I do is play heavy sessions of fetch, often times up a hill. I also swim. My dogs extensively. I combine the two by walking along the river throwing a stick into the river, then throwing it so they run up the levee. Combine this with regular training and my dogs are usually in pretty good shape. 

It helps that most of my dogs have heavy influence of FR and BR lines so the are genetically pre-disposed for good endurance.


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## Bart Karmich (Jul 16, 2010)

rick smith said:


> all the suggestions for the ways to physically condition a dog are great
> but one thing i wasn't very clear on is how the interactive part comes into play ...
> 
> - 15 min of mental OB and the dog will literally flop down and crash after it's over
> ...


I would add the exercise of olfactory faculty as well. That's why I like hunting

I get what you mean by desiring interactivity in the exercise but I don't believe OB is the answer. First of all, 15 minutes of mental stress may cause exhaustion but it does not physically condition the dog at all. Even 15 minutes of vigorous The Game style tug-obedience doesn't really physically condition an athletic dog. But besides that, I don't see the OB adding interactivity.

I certainly don't always add a really interactive element to my dog's exercise. I would if I was able but he just has more energy than I have brains.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

maybe OB was a bad choice of words ... means a lot of diff things to diff people

i also agree a tug game is not much physical exercise..... i only use it for OB and to give him something to satisfy the need to bite and grip ... control of the dog to hit it when i want him to and out it when i tell him to; meaning he still has to listen when he's playing around rather than toss him a big egg he can do with as he pleases 

not sure how much stress OB lays on a dog ... i really don't look at it as stressful at all but maybe that's a part of it that i overlook

all i meant was that you can physically build up a magnificent canine specimen with all sorts of workouts, but if it won't pay attention, it's kind of a waste for me to keep around, and that there are a lot of physical things you can do that can still be made interactive, including treadmill work; and of course long send outs and recalls with distractions planned

of course some conditioning can't really be made interactive and i'm fine with that too; just pointing out the importance (to me anyway) of the mental side .... that's why i try to make as much of it as interactive as possible .... my dog loves to swim, but i don't just take him to the beach and let him charge off on his own and have a blast; i make sure i have a bumper that he will have to change directions to get and retrieve to me

otoh i see lots of people who take their dog to the beach and let em stomp around and swim while they have a beer with their buds
....different strokes


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

Sometimes I think the best thing we do for our two dogs is let them be dogs for awhile. I am very fortunate in that I have a wife that loves our dogs more than .I do and also wants well trained, well behaved and healthy dogs. I am also lucky that she's in a position to take them to a rural off lead park almost every day for an hour or so. We go together on weekends. There are a lot of regulars that go there and it's not unusual to have 10-12 dogs, all of different breeds, running together as us owners walk and talk.

This is not a controlled dog park but just a park that a lot of dog owners go to and nobody bothers us. We usually hike at least 1.5. -2.0 miles. The dogs of course get in way more than that. In the summer they go into the river and swim while we are there. 

They also spend most of the day offleash in the yard together and play quite a bit. In the evenings, after dinner in the summer, we throw balls in the yard, maybe do some basic OB. And of course I take Meadow out 2-3 times a week for SAR work which usually means an hour or more off leash or so each time "hunting" in the woods somewhere.

Being in SAR, as well as a firefighter, (volunter), I think it's very important to be in shape myself. So I try to go to the gym daily, work permitting. I have a target of a sub 24' 5k by Thanksgiving. I'm not a stud in any sense but at 53 I can still out do most of the twenty-somethings.

From your replies I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for. Conditioning is one thing, mental conditioning something else, and response to handler something else.

On rainy days my wife sometimes works the dogs on an "object" board. It's a peg board with 3 -7 different objects wire tied to it. She'll say "show me the keys", or "show me the spider", (rubber). The dog is clicked and rewarded for a proper touch. The game has no true end purpose. (I guess it could if we wanted). She just does it to wear the dogs out on rainy days. 20 min apiece and usually they calm down a lot.

I'd say the easiest way to keep a dog conditioned is to spend the time early on and make sure you have a 99.9% off leash trained dog. It allows so many more opportunities for exercise. I don't think my wife or I have ever had a dog that couldn't be off leash.

Craig


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

I used retrieving for conditioning but to keep the formal retrieving clean I use two ball for the conditioning, fun and games. The only command I use in that is to keep one dog on a down while the other retrieves. Even then it's a "down" instead of "platz".
Wish I would get off my ass and do road work with both dogs. That's hard to beat for endurance.


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

Moderation!


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

re: "From your replies I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for. Conditioning is one thing, mental conditioning something else, and response to handler something else."

don't know if this is directed at me, but i don't consider these as three different issues at all ... one total package; easily blended; shaken not stirred 
.... imo they are only three separate things when you write em down on paper or in cyberspace

...and i also happen to think a dog can enjoy just "being a dog" at the same time too !


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## David Winners (Apr 4, 2012)

In my experience, the most effective conditioning, that doesn't require a lot of human work as well, is mill work. I have never used a slat mill so I can't comment there. I have always used regular human treadmills. 

I like to work dogs up to an hour trot, typically around 8 mph. Then alternate with incline days at 4 mph, 5 minutes steep incline, 5 minutes flat for an hour.

This is just for conditioning and doesn't replace fun activities or training. 

With my current dog, we do a lot of off leash woods adventures, up hill fetch, swimming and Nosework in deep grass. 

I agree that combining fitness and training is preferable, but if the dog has a job that requires fitness, additional conditioning can be beneficial. Cardio is incredibly important for SAR, detection and tracking. A tired dog will stop hunting, especially in the heat. A fit dog also covers a lot more ground in less time. 

I don't train sports, but fitness has to be beneficial, particularly in ring sports.


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