RetrieverTraining.Net - the RTF banner

Conditioning your dog?

3K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  Hunt'EmUp 
#1 ·
My lab doesn't seem to be in as good of shape as I thought. We have been hunting upland the past few days and he seems to get tired rather quickly. We train 3-5 days a week with one day including a good run, but after 10 min of quartering he's spent. Any tips to increase his endurance?
 
#2 ·
I am not a pro, but that doesn't sound right. I would hit the vet up. Even out of shape he should give you more than that.
 
#6 ·
"We have been hunting upland the past few days.... "

If he was ok on the first day and into the second before he slowed down you might want to consider a high energy supplement before and during the hunt and especially shortly after you are done for the day. Once dogs deplete their blood sugar reserves it is hard to replenish and it shows up in performance, usually after the second day. I carry a tube of Nutri-stat when we are quail hunting.

Not only does low blood sugar effect energy levels, it also effects brain function.
 
#7 ·
Running marks does very little for upland conditioning.We train 7 days a week and my non-slip dogs cant keep up to a 3rd of what my flushing dogs do.We start out running with four wheeler in august at 10 minutes and by October we are at 2 hrs.
With that being said ,I`ve had dogs that never have learned to "pace themselves"
How old is your dog? What you describe is what I see everyday here with club members. Pm me and I`ll give you some cool drills to do with dogs and 4 wheelers to get in better shape and its fun for them,especially if you got 2 or 3 out working. Jim
 
#8 ·
I don't think disinterested, but we are severely down on bird numbers. So after not finding birds it is possible. He will train all day if I let him, and has no issues when waterfowl hunting. It happened on first day as well, he made most of that day but we took it real easy. JD I just sent a pm.
 
#12 · (Edited)
How old is your dog? Age would play a factor for sure. If the dog ran fine on the first day maybe there's some sore muscles on day two. Also as others said running a few marks just won't build the stamina needed for upland. Thats kind of like taking a sprinter and throwing them into a marathon...

This year as pre season cardio training I would take my dog out on daily walks with the chuck-it. Nothing too strenuous at first but it was non stop throwing and retrieving for the duration of our walks. Easy to do, as there's no setup required, exercise for both of us and the dog loves it. Win-win situation! We did it almost everyday for a for a few weeks. As we progressed the walks got longer with more non stop retrieving, by the time the season rolled around we were walking for about an hour a day...well I was walking, the dog was running. Really made a noticeable difference in the cardio conditioning.
 
#13 ·
How much upland work has the dog had (i.e. training with birds planted)? Some dogs quit because they don't know they're supposed to be looking for birds if all the training has been retrieving.

What's the cover like? If he can't quarter in a fairly light cover situation for more than ten minutes without quitting, I'd say he's disinterested. If it's really heavy cover, like five foot tall, thick canary grass and brush....hard for you to walk through....imagine how much harder it is at his level on the ground where it's thicker. I guided a youth Pheasants Forever hunt last weekend, and the cover was really heavy and hard to get through...and my dog is fit and hard. After an hour, he was played out, and he can usually go for three or so in normal cover.
 
#16 · (Edited)
This doesn't seem very unusual to me. Even field training everyday will not condition a dog enough for significant upland work, field training is just not intense enough for that. Walks will not do it either, you've got to road them bike or quad, to get the conditioning you want. You'll need to break him out of a trot-lope and into a run. Dogs can trot for hours and not tire; way longer than you can walk, trotting does not build endurance. He's running when he's upland hunting; you need to build endurance at that speed. Also take a look at your food he might need a high fat formula to maintain energy requirements.

Figure my top upland dogs, can only maintain for 2-3 days straight of pheasant hunting; which is why we bring 6-8 dogs when we take a week long trip, so we can rotate them out. These dogs can road for hours, days on end with a quad; upland hunting is an extreme sport.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top