Earth dogs fitness

[Guest Chip]

Something i have wanted to ask for some time regarding the fitness of earth dogs.

how serious do you take it?

when i look at the training regimes of some of the bull enthusiasts...or the coursing and greyhound men to get best results from the dogs..then i consider what is expected of earth dogs.

i wonder how many terriers quit due to lack of fitness,

yet read comments like "the dog would sooner die than come away"...are you of the opinion that if its got the minerals it wont regardless?

or maybe your of the opinion that a terrier worked regular will maintain a good level of fitness throughout the season...but that cant be said for the dogs that need two to six week layoffs or more.

something written a while back on here stuck in my head since, a fella said he likes to give his dogs hard dig then easy dig and so on.

well we cant all afford that luxury but i like it.. its the kind of thinking you rarely read regarding earth dogs .

its be said a fair bit that every dog has its breaking point and i agree with that.

 

just your thoughts.

[wink hound 0]

the only thing that gets a terrier fit for work is work... do the basics and build them up, but day in day out work is the only way with a terrier to have it truely fit. its in it mind as much as its body, and dragging it around on a lead will not help with former. i cant think of any execise that a dog can do that can replicate squezzing through roots/rock, jumping up bale stacks or digging to get on.

[Rabbit Hunter 6,613]

This could turn into an interesting post, would like to hear the replies off other genuine digging lads, see what their take on this is...

[earthpig 0]

Good feed ,good housing,rest and plenty of care and respect to your little warrier and plenty of WORK will ensure they are in tip top nick HAPPY XMAS :weight_lift2: there is plenty of out of season work to sharpen em up

[dogs-n-natives 1,182]

Mine get shit loads of exercise apart from work, there out over the fields/woods, following the bikes about, it keeps them in good shape all year round.

Through the season they are well dug to, and like WH said, theres nothing like plenty of work to get the best out of them!

 

Happy christmas

 

DnN

[woodard 32]

They need to be exercised every day you can lose good dog if there not fit to ground in pipes and piles

[blackdogs no 1 24]

They need to be exercised every day you can lose good dog if there not fit to ground in pipes and piles

plenty a walkin were no borrows around 4 an hour or so dog int ready for another yet so plenty walks for him n after a shift he gets his nite in front of the fire

[Bosun11 537]

the only thing that gets a terrier fit for work is work... do the basics and build them up, but day in day out work is the only way with a terrier to have it truely fit. its in it mind as much as its body, and dragging it around on a lead will not help with former. i cant think of any execise that a dog can do that can replicate squezzing through roots/rock, jumping up bale stacks or digging to get on.

 

Your 100% with that WH

 

But for those on here who think any working dog should ONLY aquire fitness from graft could be sadley mistaken. Any terrier that has not or cannot (due to, say, a long injury lay-off) see day in day out work, needs to be out, at first, in some form or other to start to aquire that mental accumen, before being used in the work they were born to.

Dogs that are 'full of themselves' is the term I use.

Seen too many terriers, after long spells in kennels fail to hit the mark when taken out, dogs that sadly have then been written off by idiot owners.

 

A tale,

 

My first working dog show was about 1980. Back then i owned a tidy Lakie dog, Tyson/Cowan bred, typical of that type, gassey, hard and definatley, 'full of himself', he went with me everywhere and by ANY standards was one hell of a dog to ground but learning was all important and you never know what you got till it's gone.

A mate had secured a lift with a couple of much older local digging lads, who supposedly knew the score and an invite to a show was a real big deal to us.

"No dogs, were going in the works van"... wasn't a problem, just get us there!

We arrived and buzzing by the spectacle of it all, we wandered off to view all the wonderful working dogs and asked many inane questions, as youngsters do, to the men holding their leads.

After a few hours we wandered back to our drivers to see them buying an over weight Border terrier from a bloke they knew. Looking past his size, the dog was a 'beaut', one of them old types, big by todays standards, with skin like a Rino and a massive otter head, with marks to prove it had done sommat. It's seller told our drivers that the dog had not been out the kennel for over six months, first due to injury then to him getting out of the game. "Get him fit an he'll do the job for ya", were the parting words and we all headed back to the van.

No box, so we had the task of holding him in the back and I asked (as if there was some special way!) how they were gonna get the dog fit to graft? Sneeringly came the reply...... "Keep his food back for a few weeks, should get him right"....... EH? Even to my inexpierience this was no way to get a dog fit for work and I thought of how my own dog would do with that treatment.

We were dropped off and I honestly felt for the Border now being owned by two obvious 'helmets'.

I never did see it again, about three months after, i bumped into the owners and asked on how he was doing?

After a memorising roll of the eyes... One replied, "Oh yer, THAT dog, had two digs with him on his first day out, ok on his first, shite on his second, not up to the job, I shot him"......

 

Maybe that dog just didn't have the minerals for honest earth work BUT it's a tale thats stayed with me through 28 years of working dogs, because maybe, just maybe, getting that dog moderatly fit for his first days graft in months would have seen him do better on his second and 'last' ever dig!

 

[Guest Eamon.Mc]

This subject was touched on a while back. Not sure

what it's title was try conditioning, but the best posts

I read in it were from p***y. Top class advice and

information from him. I think the topic was started

by SPIFF.

 

http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/index...hl=CONDITIONING

[Guest Eamon.Mc]

Bosun11, maybe the dog was'nt up to it? That's

maybe why it was sold on in the first place?????

Nothing to do with conditioning or fitness???? If a

dog is getting passed on and it is a proper digging

dog, it won't be getting sold at a show or gamefair.

JMHO.

[erik 71]

i let the dogs swim there ass off and do some ratting near the river and for the rest lots of hunting

[BBB 7]

yep they gotta be fit to go the distance

[BBB 7]

yep they gotta be fit to go the distance

saying that a lad i knew years ago never exercised his dog's much. just kept em in run's and they came out when they were needed . he used em like tool's but i never saw these dog's quit. they were rock hard and would stay till the crack of doomsday to ANY quarry. if need be . but they were bred from the right stuff..parkes strain...

[Guest Chip]

thanks lads i was under the assumption that regardless of breeding a dog could spew due to not being phisicaly up to it,healthy body healthy minds and all that

i know a lot of people put little thought in to it good food aside deeming a dog good to go soon as its healed.

didnt realise the thread had been done cheers.

[paddy31 120]

chip, i think every lad digging should do his best to have his dog in top shape for the country.....fitness wont make a dog stay in ground till he is dug.......the breeding behind him makes him do that.......raising a dogs heart beat with exercise will always help a working terrier......just like it does with a boxer....a good fit boxer will quit when ever he wants....just like a good fit dog will quit any time he wants....... a good fit" game "dog that wont quit "deserves " the best of food and the best of exercise, a dog that walked and exercised wont heat up as quick as an unfit dog....... a fit dog is more alert at what is happening around him.

Well said lad.I have ta say i very rarely exersise my do just because i dont have time but they still do there job every time thank god...