weight pulling on a walk

[PittieLove]

Is it ok on a dog to drag a tire on a daily walk (with an actual weight pull harness)? I wanted to get him used to pulling things and build some muscle-figured this would help!

Behind my house is a big trail so i wouldnt be on the narrow sidewalk. If anyone lives in FL its called the Cady Way Trail, they are going to make it HUGE! Anyways..

[Romanwild]

Sounds great to me.

[bullyboi]

dont start of with a heavy tire maybe 3-4 pounds and work your way up.

[PittieLove]

he pulls about 75lbs with ease, so i have started off with a 15lbs tire. He just walks with ease

[Mike A.]

are you interested in doing any other sport with him?

[PittieLove]

yes i wanted to do Aglity, after i get his CGN, i think thats it.

[bahamutt99]

Sounds like good exercise. When I work Loki like that, we do 15-30 pounds, depending on the surface.

[PittieLove]

i just started, he is fine with it. ANd cant wait to jump in the pool after a nice weight walk
its on grass, and sometimes cement or dirt.

[bahamutt99]

Watch out on cement. I've heard it can be hard on the dog's joints. And I know its hard on your drag.

[bullyboi]

he is gonna get even more ripped.

[grizzly]

i would NOT pull on cement at all
you want the weight heavy enough so when the walk is done he is pooped- but not too heavy to the point where he/she quits or stops alot
the best conditioning is pulling uphill on dirt/grass
grizz pulls 120-160lbs for one mile with hills 3-5 days a week
the hardest part is the temptation to add too much weight to soon
but you still can't be afraid to take it to the next level
at this years iwpa championships most handlers who i asked(mostly the winners) trained with drag weights

[PittieLove]

he has been stopping, like once in the trip. What should i do when he stops? I ushally just say "pull" and when we are walking again side by side i praise him. I havent been doing weight pull for awhile though, i will start up for comps during summer!!!! I have been running him along side the bike for about 30mins to an hour. I really want to compete, i have been spending extra time obedince(cant spell) training, i will take him out to nosiey places, places with other dogs, and ETC... he does great listens and is getting better. Im working around the bonceing ball thing, he doesnt much care about the bonceing ball anymore !!! But we still need to work on that...! Im really working my hardest with him, i REALLY want to do some fun stuff...after all this work LOL

[grizzly]

when he stops just give him a second to rest and restart him on the walk
never lose your cool
if he only stops once on your walk thats fine-he's testing you to see if he has to do it or not -once they know they have to do it anyways they won't stop on you anymore
if he is stopping quite alot the weight is to high
how far are you pulling - is it too far - once i tried to have griz drag 3miles-way too far he just couldn't handle the distance
with a young dog your better of with keeping it real light but training every day-condition the mind-not the muscle- think of work horses who work everyday it becomes habit to them-thats what you want

[PittieLove]

i dont even pull half a mile, the weight is about 20lbs(chain and tire). It is on grass or dirt. HE is 2yrs old, is that all sound good?

[grizzly]

that all sounds perfect
a dog that age can start to muscle conditioning-after a week or two of every day or everyother day up the weight a little
key note -just a little- if the dog is quitting too much you went too heavy
but you also can't be afraid to take it to the next level
i like to follow my hard sessons with easy sesson
two steps foward one step back two steps foward one step back....
i found it works the best for taking it to the next level
but light weight everyday high reps of workout is the first level of training
you really need to drill the format into the dogs head before you start muscle building
keep up the good work
i love to hear people are out their training because you hate to see a dog worked that isn't prepared

[mnp13]

I'm getting two tires for Riggs today. We'll start with one, but the little bugger can pull 800 pounds so I'm pretty sure we will use 2 tires before long.

I was going to go with a cart, but I don't want to have to worry about him getting wacked with it on downhills.

[Hoyden]

Very interesting read.

I want to start Petey pulling a landscape wagon on our walk so I can get him into shape again. (Husband decided he needed to eat 3-4 cups of Timberwolf per day b/c he ate that much on Pedigree )

He's pulled it before, so he knows the drill. I know he can pull 400- 600 lb. of cement on the wagon with no problem up a slight incline and across grass, so I figured I'd start him with the wagon only for a few days, then add some weight gradually.

I am planning on just walking him up and down our street with small amounts of weight until I can get the chub off of him.

[PittieLove]

Grizzly is pulling 110lbs ground weight(two tires with some other stuff) harder then 400lbs cart weight?
I was training with the tire today in the back, it has been super hot, to hott for a walk!

[Leslie H]

It's really hard to compare drag weight to cart weight, adding in the assorted variables. Xanny has never pulled more than 75 lbs on a drag sled, she typically pulls between 1000-1500 tops on a cart. Ground conditions (texture, resistance, how damp or slick), all come into play. It's even hard to compare cart to cart. Our first weekend of competition, Xanny pulled 1500 the second day. She has never pulled that again, despite having been better trained and conditioned. It has so much to do w/the track and cart conditions.
Grizzly, I thought the Tractor Supply pull in Winsted (wheels) had a very nice set up. It looks like Nationals was tougher, though you did great. See you guys in June in Enfield.

[mnp13]

I pulled Riggs yseterday on a 20 minute walk. He pulled one tire, which I didn't think was much but through higher grass and over rough ground he had to put forth some effort. I got some weird looks