fitness

[john horgan 0]

Just wonderin what ye think of this..which would be better for a dogs fitness to take them walking for 4-5 miles or to leave two dogs run and chase each other a football pitch around until they are both tired.. the pitch seems to work diffrent muscles when they turn fast and take off with a burst when they are chasing each other.. any thoughts on it.. nice one..

[pluckers son 0]

Just wonderin what ye think of this..which would be better for a dogs fitness to take them walking for 4-5 miles or to leave two dogs run and chase each other a football pitch around until they are both tired.. the pitch seems to work diffrent muscles when they turn fast and take off with a burst when they are chasing each other.. any thoughts on it.. nice one..

good question mate

[socks 32,253]

both types of excersise works different muscles (ie fast twitch and slow twitch) and to get a dog in peak condition you need a training regime where you combine both ... road work over 4 to 5 miles is good for stamina and tightening up the muscles tendons and sinues where as short burst cardio work helps build muscle and helps the dog with its overall recovery time ..............

[dobby 1]

yeah definitely do them both bit more on the walkin id say stream line the muscles for the run instead of bulking muscles up in the wrong places got to get too em to turn em :11:

[socks 32,253]

yeah definitely do them both bit more on the walkin id say stream line the muscles for the run instead of bulking muscles up in the wrong places got to get too em to turn em :11:

 

bigger muscles = more explosive energy = a quicker dog mate ...............

[john horgan 0]

nice one lads.. thats the sort of info im looking for..

[jpt 285]

the more muscle the higher the risk of injury so be carful about letting them run on pitches especially in winter. try them swimming aswell if you can that works them and hard!

[socks 32,253]

if the dog is at his optimum muscle capacity and not overloaded then he wont have any probs with injury ... you will have more chance of pulling a muscle by swimming a dog in this weather as the water temperature is to cold and the blood will be sent from the muscles to the vital organs causing cramp and leading to a pulled or strained muscle .............

[Guest oldskool]

socks, your a whole wealth of info mate

[Crow 1]

Why hasn't anybody considered the cardio-vascular effect of the different exercise regimes?

 

The fitness of a dog is more about heart and lungs, and less to do with muscle size.

 

 

Edited to add that I've just noticed 'socks' mention of short burst cardio work - that will help but it's not the whole story!

Edited December 15, 2006 by Crow

[jpt 285]

i didnt even think of that mate! hows about in a nice warm bath then? lol

[whin 463]

me personaly they start sep behind the van for a few miles then over the stubble feilds then after a few weeks lamping etc daytime hunting they soon get fit and you notice there muscles starting to drop ,and there wind gettting better , im out in the winter constant so they get plenty of work , all the best , feed them right and treat, them like heroes

[skycat 6,173]

Muscle size will depend a lot on what breeding the dog is as well as how fit it is. The more Greyhound in a dog, the bigger the muscles: like human sprinters. Collies and Salukies are distance runners and have nowhere near the same type or size of muscle: who ever saw a pumped up marathon runner?

And of course the heart is a muscle too, and exercise helps it to operate more efficiently in pumping the blood rund the body.

[socks 32,253]

Why hasn't anybody considered the cardio-vascular effect of the different exercise regimes?

 

The fitness of a dog is more about heart and lungs, and less to do with muscle size.

 

 

Edited to add that I've just noticed 'socks' mention of short burst cardio work - that will help but it's not the whole story!

 

obviously it isnt the whole story as there isnt enough room on an internet forum to comprehensively go into a correct training regime for different types of lurcher depending on what quarry they run ... all i did was give the fella a quick idea on what needs to be done for an all round training regime .........

 

Muscle size will depend a lot on what breeding the dog is as well as how fit it is. The more Greyhound in a dog, the bigger the muscles: like human sprinters. Collies and Salukies are distance runners and have nowhere near the same type or size of muscle: who ever saw a pumped up marathon runner?

And of course the heart is a muscle too, and exercise helps it to operate more efficiently in pumping the blood rund the body.

 

thats why i said if the dog is at its optimum muscle size meaning for its breed ................