Same here. I was first turned onto the dogs in the late 70's as a kid. My best friends dad was in the dogs heavy back then.

My first 'real job' in life was walking his dogs. Times I have changed because I could never imagine handing the lead to an all out match dog to a 10-11-12 year old and say 'lap that field'. Making 4 or 5 dollars a night was damn near like being a Rockefeller as a 10-11-12 year old in the rural south in '79/'80. LOL

His keep was affectionately named the 'five gallon bucket keep'. He sat on a five gallon bucket with a dog on his slat mill. His son would leave and go around this huge field, when he made the last turn he blinked his flash light. I took the dog off the mill and hooked the chains to him and off I went. His dog was then put on the mill. The dog got a chain pull, a mill session and a hand walk around the field. It took 15 or so minutes to walk a lap. For a three or four year stretch I bet he worked 25 or more dogs from that five gallon bucket. From there I was hooked.

One of my pet peeves is marked distances and work times for the dog. I think that sets a bad precedent when working the dogs. Every dog is different and will progress, and even regress at different rates.

On Day 25 five minutes of anything may be too much for one dog but nearly not enough for another. The dog has to be read on every session.

Similar to a triangle, and you can make the base as wide and as inclusive as you like. On the furthest two points at the base of the triangle can be the day you started work. His weight, the amount of time til show, starting conditioning of the dog, the dogs ability/desire to work. Then these things are honed and worked and progress is made until things start to get shaved off toward the top. At the very tip of the triangle, where the dog is razor sharp, some guy says, "Release your dog".

That triangle base can be broadened to the point the bottom two points are the two dogs selected to be bred, and from their the keep does not last 8 or 9 weeks, but it starts 9 weeks after conception. Pretty much any and every thing goes into the conditioning of a dog.

The earlier his program starts the better. The right food, the right nutrition, the right amount of exercise, teaching him the principles of work, all starts from weaning forward.

The kicker is that any ding-a-ling can stumble upon a good dog and the good dog then compensates for his idiot partner. And with that good dog the idiot is then referred to as a genius and the idiocy perpetuates.

The start point is up to the owner.

EWO