walking the dogs in the rain

[R2L]

Do you, or do you not keep walking your dog in heavy rain/cold during a keep? That's a question about dogs who are actually willing to work in the rain.

I always wondered if i have to worry the dog would get sick. On the other hand it never stops raining and the clock keeps ticking ;)

[unknow kennel]

If u that far behind in the keep that u have to work in the rain you need to pay the forfeit I never work in the rain in special if it cold

[CYJ]

Sorry to hear that. Why I stressed having a well padded 16 Ft Round table that runs low to the ground. A electric dog walker is not a bad idea as well. After I built my round table in a building that allowed for it, a free spinning tread mill and a electric mill.

Never worried about the weather anymore. Just made sure to take advantage of all the good out side days of work that a were available. I did have a 80 foot across Jenny mill and several miles of a back wood road to walk a dog. Used the Jenny on the good days and the Round table on the bad weather days.

The Jenny is at the top of the list for conditioning, but I found mine to be of not much use, during and after a hard rain. In freezing weather the water in the track would freeze over. Still could not be used till running track had completely dried out. If weather was cold and windy you and dog would not be outside very long. The Jenny works the best out in the South West where there is a Desert climate. LOL

Where I live we get lots of rain year round with plenty of high humidity to boot. Where I live like in the deep south is one tough place to win especially in the hot summer days. High Humidity is a sapper of muscle strength and good breathing. LOL

P.S. is rough on people like myself that has Rheumatoid Arthritis. Hate to see the winter get here. Cheers

[R2L]

Thats two strong answers. You do not like to walk your dogs in the rain.
Thanks

I actually just return from a training in the rain. Just 35 minutes pulling the leash, after i dried him really good and put him on the mill. When we come home after cooling down i dry him good again, and keep him in a 20 degrees Celsius place inside.

Im not far behind. The opposite is true. Im just concerned about my dogs. I thought it wouldn't matter so much that's why i asked.

You do have to go outside to empty the dog and warm it up a little for the treadmill. Its hard to find dry moments/days when it never seems to stop raining :confused:

[FrostyPaws]

I don't walk my dogs in the rain whatsoever.

[Kahlil]

Rain or snow it does not matter, use one of those sled dog jackets they are wind resistant and waterproof, they work great.

KD

[LEFTLANE]

War dont stop for the rain, so neither does training.

But I personally have a mill. But if I didnt we'd be wet.

[FrostyPaws]

The dog doesn't really need to be walked in shitty, rainy whether. When you're walking the dog, it's not a war. It's you preparing for a battle to come. If you give the dog the night off from the shitty weather, it's going to do more good than harm. Rest is NEVER bad given everything else has been done correctly.

[Limey Kennels]

Many times in the past this topic has come up. i can tell you that when im walking in the rain with my dog i always think about the competition that sits at home on the coutch waching tv!. and his dog is fed and in his kennel ore running the mil and leaving the power walk behind.These guys with there dogs building up a lot of stamina/atrenght avoing the rain ore snow!!..
I sirguest everybody stop walking in the rain and and snow.
It wil make my job a lot ezer..

[CYJ]

You may note on the Crenshaw video. He mentioned not working his dog to long or hard on his tread mill due to the dog being damp. Due to the weather being damp and one can see it had been raining or was raining. You might also note on his long porch along with his tread mill. He had a e- mill.

If one has enough land to build a proper building wide, long and big enough to accommodate proper work equipment. You will not need to work a dog in the rain or very bad weather. I too have nothing against walking a dog, but for me and each to his own. Would not walk a dog in the rain or foul weather. If one has mastered the technique of man and beast being able walk or work in foul weather. My Hats off to you.

From what I observed over time of how dogs were worked. The interval training with in between sets of short walking is the safest way to go. I really liked what Robert Lemm was trying to demonstrate on a You tube video. Was a lot of info. to take in with a short 2 hour video. Just using his tread mill and a e-mill along with his mill technique of running intervals would keep your dog strong. Till the bad weather cleared and you go back to the Jenny or road work and walking.

But as Limey stated if you are sitting home and the dog is not being worked. Those lost days if to many can not be made up and will surely put your dog at a big disadvantage.

Luck has no place in any serious athletic event. The trainer has to be prepared for all variables in the training schedule. Murphy's Law is always present to try and screw things up. Cheers

[FrostyPaws]

I sit up and watch my dogs work a carpetmill and a slatmill most of the time. Put that alongside some flirt pole and sling pole work along with sprinting with 20lbs of extra weight, and I can afford to sit up and give the dog an extra day of rest if it's raining like 9 hells outside.

CYJ says it best. Too many days in a row will put your dog at a disadvantage. You don't have to walk the dog in the rain to get some work put in. Walking a dog is fine and good, but it's not gonna be a determining factor in a win or lose situation if it doesn't get walked for a couple of days.

[Kahlil]

First off, everyone on this topic has very valid points. The problem is that there is not 1 specific way to get the job done, we all have different ideas and for that matter different lifes. Take me for example; I'm a 9 to 5 type of person the majority of the time, so if the bad weather comes when WE are scheduled to work, we will have to work. I've used the dog jackets for a long time and I have never had a problem.If those fuzzy sled dogs can go for days in -30 below weather, my hounds can do the same in 0 degree weather for a few hours. Thats just me.

KD

[Limey Kennels]

Tru Every man has its on way. In my time and day nearly every body walkt dogs as a foundation prinsiple to get durabilety strenght. tredmill work was seen as a way of interval training,. to give a dog more stamina and to learn to recuver quiker in between first and sec wind. Nobody workt a dog on a mill alone, beside some bolio/tomstone breeders/dogman.
They simply did not have enoughg durable strenght and didnt need to have it.. to be able to compeat.. we walkt dogs in freezing temp snow rain storm you name it. those dogs are not poodles and can take it . BUT you need to dry em up good have good warm bedding and keep them out of the draft. and of the ground. can remember working LK CH Alligator on the Jack Kelly golden keep. witch was more like Grenshaws keep. we would power walk him upto 2 1/2 hours and gave the dog 3 x 25 min mill sesion with 25 min cool douwn walks in between. and rub douwns inbetween the power walk and mil sesion start.
we used that keep more then ones in winter time .. never ever did one of the dogs suffer from walking in the rain ore on the snow ore ice ore in the hard winds that we faced..
Later we left that keep for wat it was. and compleatly canged to a less can be more aprotch..
now having said the above i do realize that not every famely/bloodline wil be able to take wat we used to do.

The defensive typ of dogs like many a Bolio/tombstone strain(read many not al)at the time that where over here. where dogs that could not take it. .
Let me ecsplain why .
As it is back then WE always belived that those screeming tail douwn tuck away legs runn away dogs where curs.
but later when more nolige and ecsperiens setteld in we belived that these typ of defendsif dogs had a mutch >>>lower pain resistance!!<<<. making them defendsif dogs to stay out of trouble and to get to the place where the pain came from>THE HEAD<. they where just as game but simply feld more pain...

These type of dogs are mutch more vunereble to outside influenses like cold rain freezing temp. they where more raingier build dogs on a finner frame,they iven showed it in there recuvery afther a show ivend!!.
These type of dogs do need a diferend aprotch to be sucsesfull then others.. Like many a ofendsive dog from a ofendsive bred famely/ bloodline. Who are sometimes to toughf for his own wel being!!. and simple takes to mutch!!!.

A comon problem umongst Paterdale breeders and hunters, where many a patterdale take to mutch damage in the holle uder ground. witch shorten there career... hensh these guys breed them softer from time to time..... This is why some people can work with one famey and not with others!. and thats why there are many contracditions where many a discusion about quality dogs from diferend bloodlines come from..

[FrostyPaws]

I think all dogs can be worked in the rain and snow. I don't have any doubt of it. I'm just not working a dog in the rain. The only walking my dog does is from my house to my shop to be worked and sometimes on off days. I don't walk a dog in a keep any longer. I did that when I first started working dogs many years ago, but I've since dropped that as it's simply something I don't feel is needed. When I read the keep that Bert Sorrells used, I started using carpetmills, and I've not handwalked a dog since.

I simply am not trying to get sick during a keep, which in turn, makes me miss work and possibly make things worse for the dog. In the job I have, I can't go to work sick with the flu, or any significant sickness, due to the people I care for are immuno-compromised. So while I get some people do it, it's simply something I can't and won't do for aforementioned reasons.

[TopShelfKennels]

If walking is needed, then the weather doesnt matter. I use a different keep for different style dogs, they all do not have the same amount of walking in them. But if walking is a big part of the keep im using, then thats what we have to do. Rain, snow or 100% weather, we still walk.