when do you start gettin your dog ready for the season ?

[byron 1,155]

keep the dogs fit all year round then they can just go out and work ........

[Guest Buck]

a try to keep my dogs as fit as i can throughout summer months aswell, although it is difficult with this warm weather. am up at 7 in mornin doing 2 miles roadwork, then at night [bANNED TEXT] am home from work about 8 ish, am out doing another 2 miles roadwork, plus som free runnin across fields. maybe not every1's cup o tea, but it works for me

cheers folks, Buck

[Kane 2]

I agree with a lot of what socks is saying,I try to keep my dogs reasonably fit through the warmer months.

 

There is a lot of difference between reasonably fit and lamping/coursing/racing fit.

[Guest chilli]

do you work asd ?

[Guest chilli]

i didnt think so !! how many nights you out to be running that amount of hares ?

[Guest chilli]

all depends what you go afther dont it !!

 

I imagine youve a nice market for the meat ! . myself i am out weekends...

[IanB 0]

Just edited this thread slightly lads..

[Guest lurch]

i didnt think so !! how many nights you out to be running that amount of hares ?

 

Weather permitting Chilli,i'm out at least 5 nights,not keen on Friday/Saturday nights as not most but all my hunting is ...

When i say i don't work,i'm working at the moment mate but in the next couple of months it'll have to stop.Cheers Andy.

is it a self sufficency life you have living off your catch as fivenights a week s alot of lamping it must be a stuggle to find enough stuf to catch

[rocket ronnie 243]

the way i see it you should wrk all summer an hunt all winter thats the way to do it

[Guest alastair]

I agree with a lot of what socks is saying,I try to keep my dogs reasonably fit through the warmer months.

It is difficult in these conditions.I expect some one who lamps rabbits 3 or 4 times a week through the winter would have different ideas on fitness than for a greyhound that has 3 races a week through out the year.

Some lurchers are used almost like coursing greyhounds but a lot arent.

 

In reply Kane,i run anywhere in the region of 150+ hares a week during the winter months and letting the dog rest up over the summer makes no difference to the dog at all ,it may take an extra one or two nights to get him upto a reasonable fitness level which ain't no big deal ,imo for a lurcher the way to go is forget about the summer months for keeping the dog fit,let them rest,enjoy the break yourself and bring them back super keen and raring to go,nothing wrong with walking the dogs and preventing a (shit up) :11: dog run,as you can walk them a hundred mile and it will do almost nothing for them fitness wise.As socks says whatever methods you choose..good luck,i'll stick to the one i've used for over 25 years.Cheers Andy.

 

asd mate ,how many acres do you have ,i have about 1000,and cant come close to those figures,not questioning you,just interested.regards from me.

[J Darcy 5,871]

I would hazard a guess that Andy has millions of acres/.....just like me

[Guest mucker]

i tend to get the dog out abit more a couple of weeks before the season start and change the feeding abit ,terriers abit sooner.

there impressive numbers andy, theres a couple of lads on my road bang into the coursing couldnt beleive the milage they do in a season to run the hares and its all they do.

id have got bored after a time :11:

Edited July 5, 2006 by mucker

[rocket ronnie 243]

[bANNED TEXT] u say you'll change ye dogs food wat do u change it to or do u give it less ?

[Guest mucker]

[bANNED TEXT] u say you'll change ye dogs food wat do u change it to or do u give it less ?

adult dogs i feed mostly a complete feed ,meat occasionaly.

as i dont work the dogs out of season im not too fussed about the content of what they eat also no set time to feeding.

but in a few weeks there,ll be fed at night and i,ll be looking to up the protein content etc a bit. although nothings set in stone as to what that will be.

[foxdropper 17,098]

A few have said they like to keep a dog fit all year round and I agree.By fit I mean capable of doing a nights lamping all year round .Just as an athlete needs to acclimatise to hot weather so does a running dog .

Obviously the performance is different in the warmer months but it makes the winter nights easier on the dog if its used to a bit of muscle work before hand.Road work is no substitute for running as it does not stretch muscles or diaphram.Wrongly or writely I lamp all year round as ground is not a problem to me .I have the lamping on several golfcourses where the grass is watered in the evening,providing a perfect base .

What I have noticed over the years is that working a dog continuous shortens its working life!The greyhound boys will understand this Im sure .Ive found that working a dog continuos takes roughly 3 years off its working life span .Obviously this varies but if you want to test a dog to the full then work it all year .A dog is in its prime at between 4-5 years old and every year after this that the dog works satisfactory is in direct proportion to the amount of work its done in those 5 years .The only thing that varies for my dogs is the protein content.High in winter and medium in summer . :thumbs-up: