Conditioning a dog UP TO WEIGHT??

[No Quarter Kennel]

To clarify b/f someone jumps on it, I do know there are more than two things that can stop a dog, but as a dogman, believing in his stock, you have to believe, as any coach of any athlete, that the only things that can stop you from winning are the things YOU control. These are the only things we can address anyways. Therefore, it should be a belief system so you yourself are conditioned to train around anything and everything that can beat you, within your control.

This is all one can do anyways. More simply put, don't beat yourself!

[AmberLamps]

Well fellas, these last few posts have just highlighted the reasons why i'v never got round to trying that method, and after reading those posts I most likely never will.

[R2L]

For sure, loosing weight to fast and being at match weight for a long period can never be good. 1 / 1,5 kilo sounds alright to start your keep with. doesnt make sense to loose this weight within 2 weeks.

[FrostyPaws]

I always find it interesting when you see the posts such as "Top 3 Things Needed To Win" that you never see the ability to breathe. That has to be neck and neck with whatever you have at the number 1 position. Without the ability to breathe correctly and efficiently, everything else becomes a moot point.

[Officially Retired]

I always find it interesting when you see the posts such as "Top 3 Things Needed To Win" that you never see the ability to breathe. That has to be neck and neck with whatever you have at the number 1 position. Without the ability to breathe correctly and efficiently, everything else becomes a moot point.

This is why I have always been such a stickler for air

This is why The Old Man told me, "Jack, if a dog can't give me a good hard hour, right off the chain, then I don't need that fukken dog."

You can last for 2 weeks without food.
You can last for maybe a week without water.
But you can't last more than a couple minutes without air.

The quickest way to test a dog's gameness, is to deprive him of the ability to breathe, and IMO more dogs quit to running hot than they do to pain or any other reason. If you have a dog who's running desperately hot, and who's on the bottom, you have a dog that will 99x out of 100 quit.

This is why super-athletic dogs, who can breathe, will 99x out of 100 beat the rest: they will be on top and they will NOT be running hot.

Jack

[R2L]

Jack and all, what do you think are good legal methods to test whether a dog's natural air is good enough?

[Officially Retired]

Jack and all, what do you think are good legal methods to test whether a dog's natural air is good enough?

Unfortunately, there isn't any.

Why? Because while you can see any dog's natural air in exerting itself, by watching it perform various exercises, the fly in the ointment has to do with NERVES and COOL.

For example, my Stormbringer dog was very short-winded when I would run him on a mill, or have him go all-out pulling weights, so you'd figure he'd be short-winded in the pit too, right? WRONG! Why? Because he was unGodly-strong in the pit, and he was cool and confident, and he never wasted any energy. So while he would run hot when going all-out to common exercises, he would never run hot in the pit. It was all any dog could do (at full throttle) to try to match Stormbringer's strength (at half-throttle). Further, Stormy was so confident in there, and so pit savvy, that he was always ahead and never got flustered.

By contrast, a physically-weak dog (that was unschooled and had some shit in him) might do very well air-wise to common exercises ... and yet when put in the box with a powerhouse supreme, pit master, like Stormy that weak-ass dog might have to use every drop of energy he had just to stay even with Stormy at an average pace. Further, if the dog didn't know what he was doing, and took bottom, that shit might start to come out of him (and he might start feeling anxiety), and so his heart rate would increase due to his nervousness at his predicament ... and he will start running hot.

So the whole concept of running hot in the pit is more complicated than merely running hot to exercise. One dog may have economy of movement in the pit also, and conserve his energy, while the other goes apeshit in there and wastes his energy, etc., etc.

Therefore, while you may be able to get an idea as to a dog's tolerance for exercise in general, by having him do exercises in general, there are enough other positive/negative factors that come into play in the pit, that you need to see the dog actually in there to judge his air properly at that capacity. In this regard, schooling an intelligent dog will go a long way toward increasing his air, as the more experience he gets, the more he will learn to pace himself (whereas a stupid/highly-intense dog will never learn to pace himself).

Jack

[No Quarter Kennel]

Personally, I don't know if it's something that should be tested. What I mean, is I think it is something to develop. I know different dogs have better naturaly wind than others and certain lines are known for a more natural ability here than others. However, I believe the ability to breath through a contest can be developed in any dog.

So to answer your question, I say to "test" a dogs aerobic ability, simply put them to work. It's plenty legal to run a catmill, hand walk, bicycle, etc. and you'll get a good understanding of how your dog can breath. Keep at it and your dog will improve that ability.

[R2L]

Thanks for your response no quarter but what else could the "old man" be meaning then "natural air" when u expect something from a dog right of the chain. i agree its logic that anyone can improve his condition with training, but can you train any bulldog to reach the desired level for top competition if you put enough time in it? For example what i understand from Jack's last post, "super athletic dogs" tend to breath better. What else can influence. Like to read more about it

[Officially Retired]

Thanks for your response no quarter but what else could the "old man" be meaning then "natural air" when u expect something from a dog right of the chain. i agree its logic that anyone can improve his condition with training, but can you train any bulldog to reach the desired level for top competition if you put enough time in it? For example what i understand from Jack's last post, "super athletic dogs" tend to breath better. What else can influence. Like to read more about it

Not quite so.

Silverback, for example, is an incredibly-athletic animal ... he's never been off his feet one time in 9 tries, including spotting 4-lb of weight twice. He is quickly and effectively on a down dog, almost immediately, because of his speed, timing, reflexes, and athletic coordination.

He is short-winded, however, and it's not because he's nervous ... or stupid ... but he is just so intensely geeked-up that he comes out like a bat-out-of-hell, looking to close the deal ASAP. To understand what I mean, you could probably run a mile-long race, if you kept a certain easy-going pace, but you would never see the end of that mile if you ran absolutely as hard as you could.

Therefore, again, the pace that any given dog decides to set will also have an effect on how long he can last.

Jack