Trial Fitness

[Judy]

I find swimming builds stamina but they also need half decent food if you want them to perform at their best. Road work needs to be fairly brisk, as I understand it, to build them up at all. Train for what you want, if you want the dog going flat out for however long then thats what you aim for when training, build up to the time you want the dog to run for. For picking up I swim mine a lot, memory retrieves at good distances and long tennis ball marks using a chuckit. We tend to pile straight in to three days a week so they have to be pretty fit before we start.

What is the killer for everyone is getting a level of fitness in hot weather, hence the swimming for my dogs.

[Stihl 090]

As Judy said,and I forgot swimming is a great activity especially on warmer days, good cardiovascular for the dogs!

[Naj]

I would think SP knows exactly what's required in getting a dog trial - & shooting - conditioned.

Do many spaniels get runs lasting 40 mins? Wouldn't have thought so unless things have changed dramatically. I would have thought 30 minutes was exceptional. In any event, if you're conditioning your dog for 10 - 20 minute bursts & the run goes on for twice that length of time - 40 minutes - then it's likely to struggle a bit, especially if it's been accustomed to working under the incentive of high densities of game.

Naj

[Stihl 090]

Wiltshire novice last year, was a long stint for me 25 mins and not an ounce of game. I was dog 11 and uptill that point ony two dogs had a flush and retreive on there first runs. Another novice, not me was a 40 min run again no flush or retreive. Infact that trial was canceled due to lack of game, in December! So yes its very much possible for long blank runs unfortunately.
10 min conditioning is a good start, then build up lenghts of time, not just 10mins all the time!

[Naj]

... but was your dog flagging after 25 minutes?

Naj

[Miesque]

We do lots of swimming - including in a horse pool, on a long line so you can work them up to 1km. Gets them very fit!

[Stihl 090]

... but was your dog flagging after 25 minutes?

Naj

Nope

[newf]

I like to throw this in there about conditioning. Is it better to develop fitness away from actual hunting and retrieving. It was mentioned that pacing could be one side effect. Then too, boring the dog or even punishing the dog indirectly could in the end, I would imagine, slow down a very fit dog. Perhaps swimming behind a boat or biking with a dog would do the trick of promoting fitness and make hunting and retrieving even more delightful.

[Miesque]

I like to throw this in there about conditioning. Is it better to develop fitness away from actual hunting and retrieving. It was mentioned that pacing could be one side effect. Then too, boring the dog or even punishing the dog indirectly could in the end, I would imagine, slow down a very fit dog. Perhaps swimming behind a boat or biking with a dog would do the trick of promoting fitness and make hunting and retrieving even more delightful.

There's an element of that and a paranoia about hammering joints on hard ground that makes me do the long distance swimming with mine.

[Naj]

... but was your dog flagging after 25 minutes?

Naj

Nope

I hoped not, especially in December.

There's nothing to beat the real thing, shooting over a dog, for improving fitness & motivation. That's why the top handlers spend so much time shooting rabbits over their dogs. This 'pacing itself' argument is overplayed, I think. A young, keen dog doesn't settle into its hunting until it's been going 30 - 40 minutes to an hour. Granted, short interval training (hunting) might promote an explosive start but even a dog that is normally hunted for a couple of hours without a break doesn't start to pace itself in it's hunting, & then only marginally, until it is, 4, 5 or 6 years old, arguably long past an age when they would still be competitive in trials.

Naj