Road Walking.

[Ideation 8,217]

Can you do too much?

[sandymere 8,263]

Feck me yes, when I started I was 6f 2" and now I'm 5f 7"!

 

Make a dog stale with to much walking and wear a dog dowm with to much trotting with a bike or behind a car etc. Variety the spice of life and exercise.

[skycat 6,174]

Thank you S!!!! For once we agree. I got slated on another thread about walking/trotting, though with hindsight I could have explained myself better at the time

 

With my first lurcher many years ago I was so determined to get her properly coursing fit that I followed the advise of a greyhound trainer< and cantered and trotted her for miles and miles beside the car. She looked incredible, like a shot putter; great meaty thighs and a back like a weight lifter's. She had great take off speed, could run like a greyhound, in a straight line for about 200 yards very fast, but then lacked the agility and suppleness and cross country stamina to turn sharply, over and over again. And she also tired very quickly.

 

So that taught me that whilst a certain amount of trotting by a bike or van is good, a dog also needs to do galloping, twisting and turning if it is going to be able to compete with any wild animal which is running for its life across country, ups and downs, all sorts of terrain etc.

 

Like I said that was many years ago. Nowadays I prefer to do a couple of 10-14 mile bike rides per week, (about half of which is on riverside paths and grass so the dogs aren't all the time on the lead on the road) and on the other days they get more galloping free.

[Blue one 89]

Thank you S!!!! For once we agree. I got slated on another thread about walking/trotting, though with hindsight I could have explained myself better at the time

 

With my first lurcher many years ago I was so determined to get her properly coursing fit that I followed the advise of a greyhound trainer< and cantered and trotted her for miles and miles beside the car. She looked incredible, like a shot putter; great meaty thighs and a back like a weight lifter's. She had great take off speed, could run like a greyhound, in a straight line for about 200 yards very fast, but then lacked the agility and suppleness and cross country stamina to turn sharply, over and over again. And she also tired very quickly.

 

So that taught me that whilst a certain amount of trotting by a bike or van is good, a dog also needs to do galloping, twisting and turning if it is going to be able to compete with any wild animal which is running for its life across country, ups and downs, all sorts of terrain etc.

 

Like I said that was many years ago. Nowadays I prefer to do a couple of 10-14 mile bike rides per week, (about half of which is on riverside paths and grass so the dogs aren't all the time on the lead on the road) and on the other days they get more galloping free.

 

great info.

[Ideation 8,217]

Cheers for the info.

 

I didn't quite mean it like that though.

 

I give the dog plenty of varied exercise, but during the summer, with the extra long evenings an nowt to do, and less to do, and with it being a bit dangerous running the dog off road round here in the half dark, i've been doing miles and miles every night around the lanes.

 

He's happy as larry with it as we are not running, and he finds plenty of interest in the hedges and ditches,

 

Just wondered if there was such a thing as too much walking and trotting on roads with regard to any kind of joint problems or something?

[sandymere 8,263]

Road is walking likely not a problem, it's more twisting and turning causing minor strains etc that lead on to osteo-arthritis latter in life, ie a road runner will likely have good joints whereas a squash player not so good due to the nature of the strains placed on their joints rather than the amount of exercise.

 

Taken from a study The Effect of Lifelong Exercise on Canine Articular Cartilage by

Peter M. Newton, MD et al.

 

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa

The effect of long-term exercise on canine knees was studied to determine whether an increased level of lifelong weightbearing exercise causes degeneration, or changes that may lead to degeneration, of articular cartilage. Eleven dogs were exercised on a treadmill at 3 km/hr for 75 minutes 5 days a week for 527 weeks while carrying jackets weighing 130% of their body weight. Ten control dogs were allowed unrestricted activity in cages for the 550 weeks. At the completion of the study all knee joints were inspected for evidence of joint injury and degeneration. Articular cartilage sur faces from the medial tibial plateau were examined by light microscopy, the cartilage thickness was meas ured, and the intrinsic material properties were deter mined by mechanical testing. No joints had ligament or meniscal injuries, cartilage erosions, or osteophytes. Light microscopy did not demonstrate cartilage fibrilla tion or differences in safranin O staining of the tibial articular cartilages between the two groups. Further more, the tibial articular cartilage thickness and me chanical properties did not differ between the two groups. These results show that a lifetime of regular weightbearing exercise in dogs with normal joints did not cause alterations in the structure and mechanical properties of articular cartilage that might lead to joint degeneration.

[sandymere 8,263]

Thank you S!!!! For once we agree. I got slated on another thread about walking/trotting, though with hindsight I could have explained myself better at the time

 

With my first lurcher many years ago I was so determined to get her properly coursing fit that I followed the advise of a greyhound trainer< and cantered and trotted her for miles and miles beside the car. She looked incredible, like a shot putter; great meaty thighs and a back like a weight lifter's. She had great take off speed, could run like a greyhound, in a straight line for about 200 yards very fast, but then lacked the agility and suppleness and cross country stamina to turn sharply, over and over again. And she also tired very quickly.

 

So that taught me that whilst a certain amount of trotting by a bike or van is good, a dog also needs to do galloping, twisting and turning if it is going to be able to compete with any wild animal which is running for its life across country, ups and downs, all sorts of terrain etc.

 

Like I said that was many years ago. Nowadays I prefer to do a couple of 10-14 mile bike rides per week, (about half of which is on riverside paths and grass so the dogs aren't all the time on the lead on the road) and on the other days they get more galloping free.

S/cat we agree on many things it’s just when you get into Alternative medicine that the differences appear .

[Gunner123 103]

Cheers for the info.

 

I didn't quite mean it like that though.

 

 

These halfwits like to hear themselves type and always running of on another topic *rolls-eyes*

 

Walking will do more damage to you first before your dogs get any ill effects ! To answer your origonal question ;o)

Edited June 15, 2011 by Gunner123

[blan89 159]

Cheers for the info.

 

I didn't quite mean it like that though.

 

 

These halfwits like to hear themselves type and always running of on another topic *rolls-eyes*

 

Walking will do more damage to you first before your dogs get any ill effects ! To answer your origonal question ;o)

 

there was me thinking they were good informative posts

 

i dont see what harm it could do, putting on a little bit of muscle out of season isnt the end of the world, and keeping the dog doing something rather than sat has to be a good thing.

[Blue one 89]

 

 

These halfwits like to hear themselves type and always running of on another topic *rolls-eyes*

 

Walking will do more damage to you first before your dogs get any ill effects ! To answer your origonal question ;o)

 

Prick.

your 3 posts on here, are:

stop talking out of your hole, you gibbon.

[Gunner123 103]

 

 

These halfwits like to hear themselves type and always running of on another topic *rolls-eyes*

 

Walking will do more damage to you first before your dogs get any ill effects ! To answer your origonal question ;o)

 

Prick.

your 3 posts on here, are:

stop talking out of your hole, you gibbon.

 

Listen to the f*****g numpty in the corner ! go back to trying to bite your elbow PRICK.

 

Had a few pm's saying ignore you, stating your an anti prick. Worth watching then.

[boyo 1,398]

road walking ;like most things are good in moderation the answer is to vary the ways of excersicing that way your dog is getting all the benefits plus he is looking round at the differant areas you excercise him in which is good mentally for him.what i would say is dont overdo the road walking when you first start as you will give them sore pads and put their fitness back instead of foreward..