I recently attended a conformation show over the summer that got me thinking and lead to this post. I watched a damn good looking dog win some points, I watched that dog walk in, do the little routine and walk out. I could tell by the way the dog walked that it spends a considerable amount of time on some type of mill. Anyway, I congratulate them and ask, to no offense, "how do you shape em"? They reply "hand walking, lots & lots of hand walking" I said oh and kept it moving about my business. Now in my head I'm thinking, how the fuck does somebody walk a dog this much and only the dog gets in shape? the more I thought about it I just remembered all the people that claimed to do the same thing and I just don't believe it. Some actually do do it but not as many as claimed. In my opinion the only thing it's good for is to empty the dog out FULLY and get the blood flowing and loosen up the muscles a lil bit for the workouts, then obviously the cool down but other than that I'm trying to WORK the dog the whole time and for me hand walking for a zillion miles is not my remedy. Depending on the season I prefer road work with a bike as far as that aspect goes and if I can't get out there then it's mill time. It's just a real insult to a man's intelligence to have a fat person tell you they walk a dog all these miles a day. QUIT