Building Muscle & Endurance - Page 2

I was thinking about puting in a pool as well but how do you keep it clean? Do they make vaccums for an above ground pool?

Im in Vegas. I exercise with my dog at night. Or have you thought about getting a treadmill? You would have to modify it for your dogs but if you look on CL, they have them for free on occassion or cheap in the exercise section. Come this fall Im going to get the bike attachment for my dog. He will be 6 next month and looks better than most younger dogs I see these days.

Cleo - I am renting a house so I can do a above ground pool.  I wish I could as it would be good for them.  Heck a lake nearby would work...lol...but I don't have one.  Nothing but desert.

I wish I could build a run but I can't build one where I live.

Tarakiwa - I looked up and there are some but it wouldn't be cheap which means I couldn't do it often.

Bhaugh....Yeah a treadmill would work for sure.  I know I dont have the cash to dump one for now but would be great for summer time use as you know the temp gets way too hot out here.

I agree that just muscle won't build endurance.  I think that you have to do a balance of both.  If just eating meat worked then guys int he NFL, NBA, NHL and other professional sports (including Olympic athletes) would only do that.  We all know though that it takes a comibination of many things to acheive a great physical condition.  It is the combination of a good diet, proper food, plenty of exercise as well as taking supplements.

Meat will help develop the lean muscle.  Good consistent exercise will bring endurance.  Supplements is that added X Facotr to help bring it all together.  Im not looking for cheap fast results.  This is a long term thing that takes time.  I have a 11 month old & a 2-1/2 yr old so Im in no hurry.

Steve...Great argument.  The only flaw in it is that what those big guys aren't training for the samething as you are. 

Ace
Fair point, I guess they are building up there muscles for the show bit, Where is if i had built up the same ratio of muscle in my own body weight it would have been a burden to me in as much it would stop the flexibility i had and the speed which was very important,
However with Dogs i see no reason to give muscle enhancers of any kind You can only build up Stamina by steady work never over doing it and the food you eat and the intake for the work you are putting into the dogs exercise, As said on here swimming is a great thing But over here there are no rivers or streams we have just one Canal that runs through Belgium to Holland and the Sea, The only place you may find a stream is in the Ardennes but they are to far away to get to regular then you have to find one
Steve1

Bhaug...i bought above ground pool 15 x 48" its a good size pool...perfect height for me to stand while guiding dogs in circle...2 laps and she is huffing and puffing...pools like that come with water pump/filter...you do have to buy chemicals..like chlorine tablets and shock for algae...also add baking soda to soften the water (balance) and whala....you for 4400 gallon pool... (I am still waiting for water bill..)

also...regarding building muscle...do they make protein powder to make protein shakes for dogs? or can i just give her my vanilla shake?

Bailey even with swimming is still loosing muscle mass on the leg (post surgery) and it's looking bad...i can see outline of the bone now...and when comparing (by touch) there is a HUGE difference in hind legs...if there could be some sort of Protein supplements I would not hesitate to get...she already gets 2 chicken quarters a day, also a bowl of food (mixture of grounded beef, or vegies, or what ever is left over from my dinner) with her glucosamine, "green" multi vitamins and brewers yeast along with fish oil...

Steve....Excellent points being made.  I wish I could do some swimming but I don't have anywhere to go.  Don't get me wrong I don't want to put muscles on him as if he was a bully breed and needed tose muscles for pulling competitions but I do want to assist in their current training.

LF....Yes there are powders available that you can give.  lol@vanilla shake.  Now with your dog and the surgery and everything that ould probably be a good way to go to help out.

i always wondered about this also for both cats and dogs


my dog will loose muscle weight very easy and gain muscle very hard

Swimming is great, but I find that you really need to condition for the specific exercise, whatever you are doing.  example: Bitework, I do 300 yards of wind sprints, simulation of a blind search, and then go directly to barking (you need to work up to it) 3 minutes straight.  3 minutes is approx the guarding and after out barking at a big event.  Jumping I do reps of jumping 1 way so there is very little joint impact, I use a 4 foot loading dock, 25 reps up from the ground, close to the dock, take the dog down in my arms and repeat, this builds the rear bicep muscles and makes jumping effort less (Technique is VERY important but leaning technique when in top physical condition makes learning much easier).

Same with obedience, a schutzhund routine is 6-7 minutes long and you need to be sure the dog will work for that length of time without fading.

At the end of it all, K9 Super Fuel www.k9power.com for recovery, it is equally important that the dog be as close to total recovery before starting another workout.  Supplements give you this edge. If you did bench presses everyday you would not grow muscle.

john

"The Muscle men with bulging Biceps could only manage no more than 30 of these exercises and they all took Muscle enhancers.. They could not believe there eyes when i did a 100 and was not even flagging. and i never so much as took a pep pill in my life. plus they strained to lift huge weights 5 or so lifts and they were breathing like a broken winded cuddy"

This is because you trained for high reps, they did not, very different routines for very different purposes. Could you lift what they did even 3 times?, most likely not because they trained for it and you did not.

"I'm totally with you Steve1.  One cannot cheat real muscle power.  Like most things in life, enhancers are just that; nothing more nothing less :)"

If this were true, professional athletes would have a boat load of chefs following them around the country cooking for them.  They cannot get where they need to go on diets (steroids aside). They need nutritional supplements to speed recovery and keep them at their best, so do dogs.

john

Rik,

I would think that a sand pit in AZ may be too hot for a dogs feet, I could be wrong though.  But i bet you could get sand for cheap in AZ, probably free.

Schznd
No, i could not lift the weights those Guys did but then they themselves were overdoing it and i told them if you you can lift a weight only 5 times and sit there with your head in your lap then that weight is to heavy and doing you no good but they were more intent on showing up to the Girls in the Gym i think,
To me it was very serious training no messing about why did i do small repetitive weights they did what i wanted them to do anyway i had to go to a class 2 hours later and that was enough work before that. The whole meaning if this is do not over do the dogs training in getting it fit to make it stale,
However we need to get the Dogs fit no mistake about that because how many dogs do we see run the 6 blinds in a competition and then have to hold and Bark but do not have the Puff left to Bark in the Blind, all the good work getting the dog to run the blinds well is gone out of the window when it loses points for not barking correctly it happens all the time, The Handlers have not got the Dogs fit enough they forget that inportant thing
Steve1