Dear Beth, Thank you for the congrats about the speed of my dogs. Let me know if I can help you with any objectives you are trying to overcome. Anyway I was asking this question to this board about stamina because I talked with several people and I have several clients that do not work on stamina and never did it before. Most of the people who train with me they tell me their previous trainers never brought up stamina they only focused on working the dogs for protection ,obedience,and tracking. So my tip for everyone out there and at the same time this is just common sense, your dog can never give you his 100% in any kind of phase of work you put him through without stamina.And remember stamina comes from exercise so that means at the same time they are building up muscle,and muscle helps to prevent injuries.So good luck to everybody and if anybody needs some tips to build stamina no matter where they live I have some tips to offer you. I have to let you go got some training to do.
Thanks,Francesco Carotenuto

http://www.K9Nation1.com

I do not compete my dogs in anything except for weight pulling (plan to get Sweeties BH and AD sometime in the next year or so) but I do a lot of stamina work with them, especially the APBT. I have a tentative schedule of one day long, long walk and the next day a good run on the bike, rollerblades or skateboard. I really like using the rollerblades because she gets a work out pulling aswell as building stamina. I do a lot of retreival with her too, and try to find a large area that is uphill, and throw the ball uphill. On our walks, I sometimes put a backpack on her with some weight, I just got the backpack so we are only up to about 10 lbs right now, but we are working up to more weight. Swimming is great for endurance when weather permits, especially if it is a windy day with lots of waves and you send the dog into the waves to retreive a ball or stick. I also do hard tug sessions just about every day aswell as letting them go at the boomer ball a couple of times a week, this really poops them out.
Even though I don't compete my dogs in much, I feel it is very important for them to have strenuous excercise everyday, they are retards if I don't.

When I get a dog, I plan on having a treadmill at the disposal as well as access to bodies of water for swimming, areas to bike in, things to climb on, etc. I wouldn't mind having a rock pile set up as well as an obstacle course in the yard to promote climbing, jumping, agility, anything that works all the muscles and forces the dog to learn balance and navigation of various surfaces. What good is a working dog if his muscles aren't trained to operate in every way nature intended? I'd also do the backpacking, hopefully we'll have a place near a hill or bridge to utilize inclines.

Do those bungee poles used to exercise bulldogs and pits by biting and gripping a toy detract any from the nature of bitework a working GSD would have to do? It looks like fun exercise that teaches a dog to hang on, but if it's detrimental I wouldn't touch it. Seems like a dog would have a blast running and jumping and gripping.

Thanks Francesco. Any tips you have to offer on how you specifically work on that speed would be very interesting!

I touched on this in a different thread about the AD, but here is where (as a newbie to this) I have seen stamina become very beneficial to OB and Protection training. In our training environment (www.JolietSchutzhund.com - trainer is Dave Blank) we always try to end each session on a high note - having accomplished something new. Sometimes something great happens quickly, other times not as quickly. (and the accomplishment is often something seemingly small, with an occassional "break through" moment) It's a benefit for a dog to be in good enough condition where a session rarely has to end "because the dog poops out" before an "accomplishment" occurs.

Hope that makes sense.

Beth

Bernhard Flinks commented in several seminars about the need for training stamina in dogs that will compete in SchH - he bikes his dogs for at least a couple of miles daily.

It was interesting to watch Francesco "bike" his dogs during the last Flinks seminar at his place - he used a four-wheeler and was able to run several of his dogs at once for a real workout.
He did demonstrate that he had control of multiple dogs at once in this kinda unique situation ( he's a very Alpha-type handler and had complete voice control over his dogs, most people could never get that level of control that he showed us ).

It was a hoot watching Francesco wheel around his property with his packing running with him.......reminded me of some hapless deer being run down by a pack of well exercised wolves... <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Will & Francesco, WE WANT VIDEO!!

Beth

Dear Mikelia Bradford,
I have a question for you, how old is your dog?

http://www.K9Nation1.com Francesco Carotenuto

Dear Will,
After I read your post you made me reflect!!!!
Deer season starts in a few days so it would be a good idea if I stop to run around looking like a deer <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> .
Beth,
I have a better idea for you than a video, why don't you come up here so I can take you fror a ride on my 4wheeler with my dogs and I can show you a few techniques I use for speed.
Diana,
I have some advice for you but right now I am too tired to post but I wiil try to get back to you tomorrow.

Good night to everybody, Francesco Carotenuto

http://www.K9Nation1.com

Hello to everybody.
I received alot of private e-mails on stamina and alot of people have asked me about backpacking,skateboarding and rollerblading, with the dog pulling in the last two exercises.Also biking with the dog. Maybe for me it is a little bit more easy to answer to everybody this way rather than individually.
What I believe about these forms of exercise is :
I put together biking,rollerblading and skateboarding in a similiar category.I do not like when the dog is running for a long period of time on a hard surface, plus rollerblading and skateboarding besides that they have no choice they need hard surface to roll and it could be dangerous for the dog and the handler.
Biking is ok if you can ride your bike on trails where the surface is not so hard for the dog.
I believe what I say because I am looking at the long run for the health of the joints of my dog.
Backpacking same thing in the long run it is not good for the spine and the joints, and at the same time a dog it does not need extra weight, if you know how to train your dog for stamina his own body weight is more than enough.
I wish I have answered to everybody.
Sincerely, Francesco Carotenuto

http://www.K9Nation1.com

 Quote: francesco carotenuto

Beth,
I have a better idea for you than a video, why don't you come up here so I can take you fror a ride on my 4wheeler with my dogs and I can show you a few techniques I use for speed.

WHEE!! I would love to. But until I can, I would love to hear your ideas about speed, stamina, and just overall "good lookin' work!"

If there is one thing I'm learning fast, it's that being quick on your feet is pivotal to this!! MOVE MOVE MOVE is something I'm getting used to hearing often!

Mean time, I want to know more about being "quick" on the 4-wheeler. That sounds a lot easier on the handler.

Beth
http://www.JolietSchutzhund.com