Good evening all,

In modern times and with the work schedules of most folks these days, it's not too often that we can experience the legendary stamina and endurance of our GSDs, even for the many people on this board highly dedicated to the training and exercise of their dogs.

This morning we awoke to a beautiful, crisp fall day and I promptly decided to join two friends for a day-long mountain bike excursion. All told my GPS told me that 34 km had transpired by the end of our ride. For my dog, who is fortunate to be able to run free most of this time due to the remoteness of the location, the distance was surely much further. In addition to trotting the entire distance, for 'rest' he swam repeatedly, often retrieving, in many of the lakes we encountered for a distance of at least 500m in total, I would guess. At the end of the day I fed him a raw supper, and he napped for 2 hours while we ate. Then a friend of mine, who loves dogs but doesn't own one, threw 'bumpers' (the hunting kind used to train retrievers) for him in the river for another 60 minutes or so. He exhibited no signs of fatigue during that time. His feet look great and he is not tender in his shoulder or wrists (unlike his human cohabitant). Even now, at the end of a long fulfilling day, is looking hopefully at the drawer in which I keep his toys in the event that I may initiate a game of some sort. He also looks sublimely content.

Wow.

I DO try to keep him in a trot for the most part(and not a lope or run) to reduce stress on his joints and increase the total distance we can travel when we bike, so the pace feels relaxed to humans and dogs, especially at first--but he is routinely still trotting at 15 km/hr and our average pace was 12 km/hr.

Anyhoo, I find it really neat and even a little exhilarating to be able to experience first-hand the tireless trot and stamina of a dog doing exactly what it was once bred to do (herding).

Sorry if this post is a long winded way of saying almost nothing--but perhaps the experience resonates with some of you.

Cheers,
Isabelle and Kapvik

It is amazing, isn't it, the stamina that some dogs have?

I took Casey for a long backpack hike one weekend. We walked 15 miles a day, three days in a row, at altitude. She has her pack and carries food, a sleeping pad, water bowls, etc.

Every morning, when I'd be working out the kinks and aches of the day before, she'd be ramped up, ready to do it again, and play fetch when we reached camp.

Research told me that Kelpies are high energy dogs, but I never really knew HOW high energy, until that weekend. And, I gotta admit, this old boy has trouble keeping up.

While you wouldn't think walking while guiding in harness would need much stamina, I'm amazed at how little stamina the chessy guide dog in-training I'm working with has, compared with GSD's I've worked with. And there is a huge difference in walking speeds and in continual leaning into the harness too. This chessy has to be encouraged frequently to exert forward pressure, and he not only begins an outing at about 75% of the speed a GSD walks; he slows down to 50% or less after only a few miles.

Chessy?

you could of got the couch potato of the litter

I can honestly say that I have never seen a cough potato chessy.

There were a lot around when I was doing dockdogs with Nico and they were powerhouses!