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None of you use hills or mountians?

Hi Steve. I chuckled with you (not at you) on your post. I have yet to locate any mountains in the plains of Northern IL. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

That being said, somehow in this flatland our house is at the top of a small hill. We call that the Hill of Death. The dogs never have a problem with it from what I can see, but the humans sometimes do after long carries, etc. as the training field is at the bottom of this hill, and the parking is at the top. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Beth

Just thought about that lol Im sure the FL people are scratching their heads as well. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Hills and mountains are great if they're close. I used to use bleachers to train when I used to compete in fitness(no bragging last competition was 99)I think it is good to use a lot of different ways to built any kind of endurance which is in fact the outcome of your stamina. But you have to work with what you have and a field or park is far easier to find and get to them mountains.But I fully understand "The package " comment and I agree, but at the end do what you can to keep your dog healthy and exercised. John too has a great idea I have used that too before.
A warm up is always good before any kind of exercise for humans and dogs (since they both have to be there together)

Dear Angelique,John,Steve and Beth, I am answering the 4 of you in this post.Angelique, I agree with you when you say it is a great reward when in the exercise of the recall your dog comes back to you really fast. All of my dogs come extremely fast back to me.At the 2004 Northeastern Regional Championships one of my dogs reached the speed of 34.7 miles per hour.If I throw the ball to him or if he sees the decoy guy he reaches 36.8 miles per hour.At that event he was up against different types of breeds such as Malinois,Dominick Pinschers,Shepherds and also some hunting dogs were entered into the contest.Some of these dogs for genetic reasons are supposed to be faster than a German Shepherd.Like I proved it is not true it is how you train your dog. I still own the dog and his name is Quero Di Oroval.If you like you can see him at my website.Still I Ido not train my dog for stamina with only the recall exercise.John ,I was not asking for tips on how to train a dog for stamina.I was asking to this board how many people train their dogs for stamina and how they go about it.And you answered my question when you said"I do not know much about stamina training".You were right when you said there is not much difference to train a dog or a human for stamina.You have to un derstand one of my main phylosophies in dog training is to train your dog like he is an athlete that also includes diet and exercise.Steve, I agree with you on what you say in your post but not everybody can be so lucky to have hills and different terrains to train their dogs for stamina. Beth, I un derstand what you say in your post and like I said to Steve not everybody lives around hills,mountains etc. but still there is a way to train your dog for stamina no matter where you live.So I would like to know if you do train your dog for stamina what do you do? Francesco Carotenuto http://www.K9Nation1.com

Francesco,
I'm sorry for what ever reason I thought you were asking advise on how. I think my last comment describes best how I train for stamina(my dogs) By the way I love fast recalls , that's awasome about your dog. I like that.

Francesco-
Since I train dogs for USAR, I consider stamina to be incredibly important. An "un-fit" dog will not work effectively for the duration of a search and might possibly suffer from heat-related illnesses if not properly conditioned.

In order to keep my dogs in good shape, I run them on a treadmill or run with them at least 4 days per week. I try to vary the surfaces and degrees of slope we run on too so all the muscles get worked. I intersperse these distance workouts with sprint workouts - either in a training setting or just fun retrieval of a ball on a rope. And, of course, running around on the rubble pile during training helps build up some stamina too.

When I've started new dogs on my "exercise program," I use their panting and visible physical level of fatigue to determine how much time to put them on the treadmill for or distance to run them. It has been different with each dog.

I'd love to do more, so it will be great to hear how others build stamina in their dogs as well. Franceso - how do you do it?

Dear Konnie,I believe the stamina is more than important for a working dog. I do not put any of my dogs under intense work unless they have excellent stamina. Especially for a search and rescue dog, because you know better than me when they are put under stress for tracking and searching the body temperature goes up. Like an athlete you need good stamina so fresh oxygen is always readily available to get to your brain. How I train my dog for stamina I use my 360 acres of forest driving my 4wheeler.Rain or shine everyday I take my dogs for at least an hour and a half running through the woods. I take them on different trails and at the same time I go off the trail where my dogs have to go over fallen trees ,over creeks ,sometimes having to swim across and up and down different hills ,all of this at different paces.And in the wintertime I still do the same using my snowmobile.And that's how I train my dog for stamina.Konnie I would like to speak to you,if you can call me by telephone my number is 315-564-5459.Thank you for replying back to me. Francesco Carotenuto

http://www.K9Nation1.com

This is a very good topic. I agree that stamina is very important. I live in So Calif, & because of the intense heat, I try to swim my dog as much as possible to build stamina.

my dog's work is that he is regularly used as a pack dog on long backcountry trips, and this winter i hope to start him in skijoring.

just as for humans, there is no training like doing the actual activity you need stamina for. we are lucky to live in a place surrounded by mountains and accessible trails, some of them at high elevations.

i have trained my dogs by gradually building their endurance three ways: distance, speed, and the challenge of the terrain/elevation gain.

we begin with 20 minute walks out the door down a bike path, and over the course of six weeks progress to hour-long brisk walks on level ground. then we move to increasingly steeper and more uneven terrain. we also add in a backpack, and gradually increase the weight in the backpack.

my dogs don't need to be fast, but they need the endurance to travel many miles at high elevations for several days, carrying a heavy load. you build that up slowly. the dog i have now is extremely fit, muscular, and powerful from this training. he is not fast, but he has great endurance.

in the winter he runs alongside us while we ski in deep snow. that is a very intense aerobic workout.

the only downside to all this conditioning is that he can't be left to just lie around the house. he wants to maintain his high activity levels, even when we would like a break from them! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Francesco and Alice,
You guys are spoiled.I certainly don't have back woods or a forest to just leave the house and walk to.The open desert is far from my house , and to let my dogs off leash I would have to go very far into the desert and probably get lost, or rely on my dogs to get us back to my car. I think you guys stamina exercise out does mine by far.I think you both don't have to worry about your dogs stamina with what you're doing.Sounds like a good thing.

Hi Francesco. For stamina, we bike the dogs. We are fortunate to have several forest preserve areas very near our home with very nice trails.

Congratulations on the speed you have achieved in the recalls, etc. We work on that (as well as working to achieve a number of other objectives) in the context of two toy play mixed in with a variety of obedience type work. The actual "game" varies by dog - what turns them on the dog the most, as well as what specific objectives we are working on in any given week. I know that's really general, but I suspect this is similar to what many do.

Beth