Drills in Parking lot.

[brandywinelabs]

Some of you have mentioned recently that you train in a plowed parking lot because there is too much snow on the ground for drills....
I have always avoided this for two reasons, there is no give on the black top when a dog stops, or turns, when running hard. Another concern would be the dog will slip and splay out while stopping or turning on snow/ice.

Am I being too cautious?

[lablover]

I don't think you are being too cautious.

[BonMallari]

I dont think you are being cautious, parking lots have two things, broken glass and cars, neither mix with dogs at all

[1st retriever]

I dont think you are being cautious, parking lots have two things, broken glass and cars, neither mix with dogs at all

On a lighter note that would be an embarrassing note to leave on a car with an imprint of a dog smashed into it!

[copterdoc]

I did it once on concrete. After 10 runs to the back pile, I noticed blood spots on the ground by my left foot. My dog had worn the skin off the back of both of his hocks, from "spinning his wheels" taking off from sitting at heel.

We only train on turf now.

[ladylwyer]

I had to laugh at this one. The first lab I trained was a spitfire. I lived in a culdasack which made a great T. After we finished the first time, I realized she'd left her pads on the black top. I felt sooooo bad and soooo stupid. Needless to say, concrete, blacktops, or even rocks, no matter how good the T looked, are no longer in my training bag of tricks.

[Bud Bass]

In Anchorage the city rents large fields and lot for dumping snow that is plowed in the winter. If your area is so snowed in to where you can not find fields, check for where the city dumps its snow. They are kept plowed except for the end they are dumping in, and usually trucks are only in dumping immediately after a snow fall. While they are posted, I park outside and have never been kicked out of one or harassed for using the area to train in. These are usually gravel or frozen dirt as opposed to black top, some froozen puddles and ice but generally do work pretty well for me. Bud

[Howard N]

I train on parking lots a lot in the winter. If it's freezing and thawing you can't as it all turns to ice. If it's just packed snow I train on it. We don't see asphault inthe winter.

[Kevin WI]

I train on parking lots a lot in the winter. If it's freezing and thawing you can't as it all turns to ice. If it's just packed snow I train on it. We don't see asphault inthe winter.

yep...what he said...

There is a 1/4" layer of ice on the snow, so training in fields is out of the question....only place left is parking lots....and it's just a couple marks or blinds...nothing too awful serious. Just gets the dogs out and doing something constructive.

[DSMITH1651]

I train on the school parking lot all winter, they are lighted so i go at about 10 and i have it all to my self, no cars. there is usually snow on top but when there is tar i haven't seen my dogs pads torn up and i have looked for it, the one thing i will not train on is if they get ice on the lots.
Duane
ps another good spot is lakes when the snow gets hard