Keeping Dogs In Shape?

[WayOutWest]

Slim, you are throwing some major generalities out there. The dog Chinaman was conditioned on a carpet mill and every dog that his owner had was.  If used properly and it is a well made freerunnin mill they have their uses. They do tend to build bunchier muscles when used too heavily.

[redriverslim]

Slim, you are throwing some major generalities out there. The dog Chinaman was conditioned on a carpet mill and every dog that his owner had was.  If used properly and it is a well made freerunnin mill they have their uses. They do tend to build bunchier muscles when used too heavily.

You are right, they do have their uses,  in the hands of somebody who knows how to use it.  I probably should have clarified my point better in saying that you can't leave a dog on a carpet mill near as long as you would a slatmill.  As for Chinaman, I don't know this for a fact, but I would assume that Chinaman wasn't being conditioned to go for very long (cause he probably didn't have to), lol.   

[Hog Dog Mike]

Here  is a rig I used for a while to condition dogs.

[halfbreed]

  that's similar to what I had rigged up off the bumper of my truck mike , works pretty good if you got the room to run em  .

[Hog Dog Mike]

I also built this one to condition bird dogs. It was designed to go 4 MPH, was built on a trailer, and had an electric motor.




Actually the best way to condition a dog is off of horseback. Put the dog in a harness and it will pull as the horse walks. I used a walking horse so this was a pretty good clip. Once the dog stopped really pulling I would let them run free for about 45 minutes. This is the way we conditioned our competition field trial dogs. They can go waaaaaaaaaay in yonder. A dog must finish as strong as it started to win and they had to be in shape for that.

[TexasHogDogs]

Slim, you are throwing some major generalities out there. The dog Chinaman was conditioned on a carpet mill and every dog that his owner had was.  If used properly and it is a well made freerunnin mill they have their uses. They do tend to build bunchier muscles when used too heavily.

You are right, they do have their uses,  in the hands of somebody who knows how to use it.  I probably should have clarified my point better in saying that you can't leave a dog on a carpet mill near as long as you would a slatmill.  As for Chinaman, I don't know this for a fact, but I would assume that Chinaman wasn't being conditioned to go for very long (cause he probably didn't have to), lol.   

Yeah you have to be very careful on a carpet mill it you can and will mess one up on a hurry if you dont know what you are doing .  You can work a dog on a mill for 30 days and I gaurntee you if you dont know what you are doing he will be in worse shape than he was before you started !

The man that condition Chinaman am sure knew excatly what he was doing so it was no big deal but to a rookie its a real problem .   Also that swimming a dog is a good thing but if you dont watch out you dog will become muscle bound and heat up more so that he did before because muscle carrys lots of heat .

Best thing to do for a hog dog in my opinion is just get out on a four wheeler and let him trot beside it and just watch him so he does not get to hot a good way to do this is to watch his tongue once it starts to flare and get wide you better stop in a hurry as long as its long and hangin down you ok also you need to watch the tip of the tounge once it starts to flare up on the tip you are fixin to be in big trouble .

[TexasHogDogs]

Once a dog gets red hot like that the worst thing you can do is lay one down you need to get him on this feet and start to walk him slowly to try and get his heart rate down are have the meds to fix him right there before he goes into shock .

Slim is also right about the gate of the dog beside the four wheeler you want the dog in the gate right before he goes into a lope not trotting but not loping either it is the fastest point a dog can run right before he goes into a lope .  But again you better be watching the dog close for heating up signs cause you can flat mess one up .  The big deal on the carpet mills was the drag on them it causes the dog to work much much harder and it will burn his kidneys out and mess them up .  If you can get you a free free spinning carpet mill that is a great thing but they are few and far between the old slat mills were the very best not a cheap one either some went for 3500 bucks and more .

[TexasHogDogs]

I also built this one to condition bird dogs. It was designed to go 4 MPH, was built on a trailer, and had an electric motor.




Actually the best way to condition a dog is off of horseback. Put the dog in a harness and it will pull as the horse walks. I used a walking horse so this was a pretty good clip. Once the dog stopped really pulling I would let them run free for about 45 minutes. This is the way we conditioned our competition field trial dogs. They can go waaaaaaaaaay in yonder. A dog must finish as strong as it started to win and they had to be in shape for that.

I like that man .  We use to call them Jennys .  I like the free spinning ones you can touch with your finger and they wil travle two rounds before the stop .   Easy to build just concreat you rear end in the ground and weld arms on each side .  Put you a clip on one end for your dog and put you a ball are something the dog likes and he will chase it round and round and round .  A good track for the dog to run on is a must we us to use cotton seed hulls about a foot thick all the way around .   Before you work the dog you would go out with the water hose and water the cotton seed hull down once they got wet they are like a sponge and it makes the best track you ever seen .