Good exercise regime advice.

[tracie]

Hi,
We have always kept our two fit and active with varations of exercise.
But know we really want to get serious.We do two walks a day now,one is on the hill a mins walk from home where we throw the ball and they sniff and chase etc,they get this every morn apart from a day off.Then we do 10mins of flirtpole,and just fitting a springpole and other half is gonna make a aframe after reading instructions on here.
They also get a walk through the woods which is every other day and at a late evening run on the fields chasing and tracking rabbits etc.Then theres the boomer ball and bread crate that Kia found and loves it.We also do a walk on lead on path.just really need a more formal routine and regime so any tips please.??
They are fed on the frozen beef and natures menu nuggets raw,with carrots inbetween,apple,sardines,chicken,with flaxseed,salmon oil and glucosome chondontrin capsules.Thanks for any tips and advice.

[shakkastaffs]

It sounds like you know what your doing already i believe in 2 things mostly resting days and variety you seem to have everything going your way. Try some drag weights or a tyre or biking too.

[tracie]

Cheers,cant see myself riding a bike,but will give it ago,will be fun as not been on one for 22years
My sons got a mountain bike,will ask him to show me how to do gears.
Maybe then my other half will give me a rubdown too,not just the dogs.

[dog]

That all sounds good, I can't really add much other than to ensure adequate rest and recovery. Biking or dog scootering is also very good and would help with the variety of exercises.

As far as diet goes just watch the sugar levels with the carrots and apples as they both contain alot of sugar. That may not be a bad thing but I'm not sure about the effects on digestion as it's not totally natural for them. The other thing to ensure is that the flax seed oil is kept fresh in the fridge once opened and used within six weeks of opening as it can be carcenogenic when it goes off but you probably know that anyway...cod liver oil is just as good in my opinion without the difficulties.

[dog]

Dog scooters are brilliant of you're not 100% confident on a bike and they are much safer.

www.pawtrekker.com

[tracie]

Cheers,didnt know about the carrots,is that raw too?
Yeh keep flaxseed in fridge thanks.I did give codliver oil,but was told that it didnt really have that much fish oils in,but ill take your word if its just as good,its alot cheaper than salmon oil.Thanks for the link too,gonna have a look in a sec.

[dog]

Yep, that's raw too, although on that point most veg is actually easier to digest and extract the goodness from when cooked. Carrots are fine every now and again but it might be an idea to limit the quantities...the same for apples.

[tracie]

Consider it done
See you learn something new everyday,
Muchas Gracious Dog

[martinl]

als its better to blend the veg up into a purere as dogs wil digest and get the good ness out nof them faster.. as carrots take a while to break down..

that why u always shee carrots when yur sick lol

[hiphoplyricalrobot]

Not sure about that cooked bit O? This is good reading jackie.

Stress & Rest = Success

The canine body is an incredible boilogical machine, second to none in the diversity of it's athletic potential. Capable of running over 40 mph, briskly walking more than a hundred miles uphill on an eleectric treadmill or pulling over a ton of weight, the canine athlete is likely the most multi-talented animal athlete the world has over seen.

An adequate nutritional intake and carefully planned, productive exercise plan are, as everyone knows, the two primary components of any conditioning progam. But, an extremely crucial and oftentimes overlooked aspect to increasing a dog's fitness and ability to compete at higher levels lies in what may be an unexpected area of the training program: rest and recovery.

Adapt or Die

Physical training (working out) is beneficail to the dog only if it forces the dog's body to respond to the stress of training and allows the body to adapt and prepare for further stressess (workouts). If the stress of training is insufficcieant to effectively overload the body, no positive physical adaptation will occur and the dog will not increase his current fitness levels. If however, the stress is too great or adequate rest and recovery periods are not provided, the results will be overtraining, exhaustion, and descreased performance and overall health.


Making physical stress and adaptation the central part of a training program is simply a way of using the dog's natural reaction to physical stress, which is, in basic terms, the "adapt or die" survival reaction. In the workout, the conditioner places a stress on the dog, and the canine body not only satisfies the demand of the stress, but also sets into motion a highly complex series of internal changes that prepare the dog to handle even greater demands in the future.
Training works in this waay because it upsets the dog's biological balance and drives the canine body to increase it's physical capacity. As do all animals, the canine body seeks "homeostasis", a condition in which it's biological systems are in balance with the enviroment, maintaining the status quo, when training stresses the body beyond this threshold, the body responds by adapting, so that the workload will become easier to handle in the future. It's as if your dog's body was saying, "Today's workout was tough, but the next one may be even harder. If I don't want to die, I'd better adapt to this workout and get in better shape."

Adequate rest, recovery, and, recuperation are absolutely essential or otimum physical training and are often overlooked or not given enough attention. The connection between stress and rest is probably best shown through an illustration: Suppose you were to rub your finger repeatedly against a piece of sandpaper every day without exeption. After a while, your finger would develop a blister, a red, sore spot that would never a chanceto heal since you rub it every day.. If, however, you were to rub your finger against the sandpaper every other day or maybe every third day, the finger would have an opportunity to recover and adapt to this stress. A callous would form that would allow you to increase the time that you could run your finger against the sandpaper without hurting yourself. With this alternation of stress and rest, the size of the callous would grow and become tougher, the essence of adaption. This point is - before your dog can adapt to the stress of training and get into beter shape, he must first recover form the last workout. Or, as the saying goes, "recovery precedes fitness gains"

Bill Kazmair, the World's Strongest Man and the world record holder in powerlifting, agrees saying, "When I'm asked how to get really strong, I always say train really hard. Of course. But, also allow enough time for rest and recovery between hard workouts or you'll never make the big gains. The biggest mistake most athletes make in my opinion, especially the new guys, is that they don't allow their bodies to recover enough between workouts".

Far and away, the single most common mistake that most beginning conditioners make is that they overtrain and overcondition their animals while under feeding them. They do not understand how critical the integration of stress and rest is to success in training. They seem to believe, in many cases, that dogs are mechanical toys that need only to be worked harder every day to get into shape. They fear that a rest or a light workout day will erode conditioning gains they have already made when the facts are just the opposite. You see, to train effectively, to make the time spent conditioning as productive as possible. Dogs need to be worked hard and smart, not just hard! Intense workouts combined with adequate recovery periods.

[dog]

May 5, 2009 11:00:32 GMT @hiphoplyricalrobot said:

Not sure about that cooked bit O?

In regard to vegetables there are benefits to cooking, it softens the food and allows the body to break it down and extract the goodness. The wisdom that uncooked veg contains more vitamins and minerals is true but unless the body can get at them they are useless. If you're going to feed raw veg the best way of allowing the body to get at it is to stick them in a mixer or finely chop them.

Feeding raw meat is a different matter, the bacteria and enzymes that are contained in meat will be destroyed by cooking so it needs to be treated diffrently.

[martinl]

very true.. ive been workin india harder over the last 2weeks, and then i twisted my ankle(bloody rabbit holes) i had to rest for 2days and so did the dogs.. took them out y'day to the field and let them of.. india burst into life and sprinted flat out, for about 10mins none stop twisting and turnin g away from lennox when i claled her back she wasnt even panting.. just sat there wanted to go for more.. i feel that the 2day rest helped no end.. so now on its going t be 4days on(training) 2days of and 1 day with a lighjt walk..

[ianhurley]

cheers neil, i've known for some time that rest is important but this article has shown me exactly why rest is so important. game to learn.

[Griffa]

wen you all say rest day do you still walk them or nothing at all coz i will take him on a walk every day but one day a week only about a mile the others we do other things like spring pole wp etc on top off two big walks

[hiphoplyricalrobot]

a gentle walk is not really exercise so its fine me thinks

[Griffa]

ya thats wat i mean as a rest day a short walk cant keep him in all day

[Griffa]

i dont under stand why people get dogs and do nothin with them a walk on a sunday if its sunny

[Vincent]

heres a question for you lot what do you deem as strenuous and gentle exercise. for example misty gets walked 2 times a day about an hour each walk everyday sometimes ill go through park and let her off but it depends on her behaviour and whos about because shes naughty is what i do strenuos? or would you deem something high impact or some high tempo CV work as strenuous.

[tracie]

For me giving them a workout is..
Up hill ball chasing,flirtpole and generally their hearts pumping,were they are going flat out at something for a period of time.
Then a normal day is no where near as intense,just a walk through the woods at a nice pace,sniffing and generaly just not flying about.
Hope that makes sense.