Building Muscle and toning

Here's a link to a video and a few others of Weight Pull

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Msv4SWrmJE

I don't like rail systems with carpet a whole lot...seems the dogs have a hard time getting traction.

Sara

 

You think so? I think it just depends, some have slick carpets but others are ok. Especially if you dremel the dogs names. That is one thing that helps a lot.

 

Hmm
I dunno about carpet. I've seen it done once. and they were on asphault.

 

Where do you get NuVet Plus? I looked online but couldn't find it.

 

www.nuvet.com/63656

 

yeah i do have pictures of rowdie but i dont have a comp at home, i come up to the library to get away from my kids from time to time and i play on the computer then. can i put pics of him on here from this computer or do i have to save them, or what? i honestly dont know how to do it.....next time i come up here i will bring a disk with a few pics on it and see if i can get them on here...but i do have a question about letting him drag weight...how long do you usually leave the weight on? because his chain is probably 50foot long and 3/4inch in diamater and at the end i have 1&1/2inch about 6 feet of it. it is way longer than i need but it was free so i just rig it up and it works, but if i leave him on it will it hurt him or just wear him down? because he likes it, he would rather pull his monster chain around that be in his pen any day..he acts even more energetic(sorry cant spell) and happy when he is on it so a few times durring the summer i would leave him on it for a few days or more. i fighured it was fine since he had all he needed (dog house,food,etc.,etc.)but now sometimes he seems to favor his back legs when he is running or playing, dont get me wrong it hasnt slowed him down any. i was just wondering.

 

Actually from what i've been told and studied up on, You shouldn't start them off on more than half their body weight, and in short distances. NEVER use a collar or regular harness, always use a proper fitting weight pull harness. With collars, your damaging the neck and shoulder muscles, along with all the arteries, nerves and cervical vertebre. Too much weight over a long period of time, or if the dog moves wrong, it can break his neck or cause serious serious damage.

Regular walking harness's will put pressures in areas where the dog can not bear weight, Causing tissue, joint and bone damage.

If your dog is showing any lameness in the hind end. My first indication is hip displacia or arthritis of the joints. You can take him to the vet and have an X-ray done to determine what the problem is. Hip displaysia is not only genetic. It can actually be caused by physical and nutritional abuse. (not like hitting your dog) but raterh by too much work, improper handling or equipment. or over working and doing it at too young of an age or too much weight at one time.

You can train your dog with proper equipment in two ways.
1.) Heavy weights in short distances.
OR
2.) Light wieghts for longer distances.


I started my dogs off, by having a 50lb chain. i loop it up and attach both ends to their weight pull harnesses, I let them drag it while we go on our mile walks.
And then on alternate days (since my knees are bad i can't do the mile run/walk daily) I'll attach about 200lbs for my male on a skid, and let him pull it about 20 feet down my drive way. (only flat concrete surface around here.)

Definately before you start anything, have those hips checked and an OVERALL health exam done. $25 vet check and $40 x-ray is well worth detecting any problems in my priceless dogs.....

 

Leaving your chain long is better because it pulls more evenly and you don't get it caught on things, that's why chain is better than draggin' a tire, a sled works well to because that won't catch like a tire does... Generally if you're gonna have them pull at all you start out with noise, then work up to a chain, empty and move up from there. There's a lot of informative websites out there on Weight Pulling... IWPA is a good place to start (International Weight Pullers Association). APA is also an org. that has some info... I'd definately read up before adding any weight to a dog...too much weight can sour a dog or mess up their joints...SLOW babysteps.

Sara