My boy can pull!

[HugABull1]

I finally got off my hiney and decided to start back at training Gage for pulling. He's old enough now that I can give him a bit of weight to help him get in shape...

Turns out, he can pull my big booty around on a scooter no problem! I was so proud, we went around our neighborhood, and he just loved it. I'm 160 (shhh!!! no knocking my weight!), but he didn't even have to strain at all - not bad for his first try (previously he pulled a tire around).

Question: How often is it okay to work him like that? He pulled me for about 15-20 minutes today, no prob. Can he do that everyday? How long before I should up the weight? I want to eventually do weight pull with him, but have been going very slow, as I don't want to push him too hard or damage his joints. He's an incredibly laid-back lazy dog, but LOVES to pull, as we haven't been doing it, he's not been getting much in the way of exercise other than ripping around the yard with the girls, and the odd trip to the lake or river.

Gage is 55lbs, and just over a year old.

[jmann4]

If his tongue gets large and starts to roll back. Stop, he's had to much. I usually stop and walk my dogs out for 5 minutes when their tongues are large and they are panting hard.

[chillidog]

If his tongue gets large and starts to roll back. Stop, he's had to much. I usually stop and walk my dogs out for 5 minutes when their tongues are large and they are panting hard.

Gage doesn't hardly have a tongue........how can you gage a dog with an itty bitty tongue?

Sorry, had to have fun with that....

Gage musta been so cute!!!

[HugABull1]

If his tongue gets large and starts to roll back. Stop, he's had to much. I usually stop and walk my dogs out for 5 minutes when their tongues are large and they are panting hard.

Gage doesn't hardly have a tongue........how can you gage a dog with an itty bitty tongue?

Sorry, had to have fun with that....

Gage musta been so cute!!!

Quit pickin' on my little short-tongued boy! You're so weird :roll:

Jmann- sorry, didn't think this would be considered a "health" post, or I would've posted it here in the first place

[wndrtwns04]

55lbs huh? Sam is only 65.5lbs right now and he turned 1 on 8/14. My vet says he looks great but by the breed standards he should be taller and 10-20lbs heavier.

[phez718]

55lbs huh? Sam is only 65.5lbs right now and he turned 1 on 8/14. My vet says he looks great but by the breed standards he should be taller and 10-20lbs heavier.

Huh? By the breed standard, your boy is perfect. Ten pounds heavier would be pushing breed standard. And twenty pounds heavier would be over breed standard. My boy is 53 lbs at 1 1/2 yrs. and he is within breed standard. A little smallish for a male, but he is still within standard.


Good luck with Gage, Chilliwack

[blover27]

technically males should only be 60 at most so you are fine wndrtwns04 ...my guy is 64.8 but he isnt a pure APBT (i think )...you may want to look for a new vet if he thinks APBT should be 85lbs

edit:didnt realize he was talking about his RR

[HugABull1]

wndrtwns04's Sam is a Ridgeback . Gage is "technically" an APBT (I've seen his parents), but he looks and acts much more like a Ridgie than a pitter.

wndrtwns - I've heard RRs keep growing until they're almost 3? I'm surprised Gage isn't a bit bigger than he is, as his daddy and grandaddy were both 100+ pounds, but his mama was only around 45-55 I'd guess. I actually haven't weighed him recently, he may be closer to 60 than 55. He's very lean, and I feed BARF, so he's got quite a bit of filling out left to do, and may even grow some more

BTW, I can't remember, is Sam ridgeless?

Back to my original question - how OFTEN can I work him (is once a day too much?), and how long before I can safely up the weight? I'm uber-paranoid, I don't want more joint problems

[wndrtwns04]

He is ridged but it isn't a "show" ridge. He only has one crown instead of two. I want to rig something up for him to pull around. If he likes it, it would be so funny to make a sulky for him like the harness racing horses. I can just picture my kids driving him around. LMAO Has anyone ever heard of anything like that?

[HugABull1]

A lot of people who have Bernese Mountain Dogs do carting with them. You may want to look into that. I was thinking about getting a wagon and rigging something up so Gage could tow my son around, or possibly Angel of the gibbled up legs

Gage hasn't even a hint of a ridge, and is too small to be an RR, but aside from that, he looks EXACTLY like one. Everyone comments on it, even the vet. He's got very high/tight feet, the exact markings common to RRs, the laid-back mellow 'tude of an RR, the build, everything. But he's a pit bull - go figure!

[Leslie H]

I pull Xanny on a 3 day rotation. Day one, long pull w/lighter weights, just the sled (22#) a little less than a mile. Day 2, heavier weights for short distances. I try to reproduce what she would do in an event, so I pull about 20 feet, do 6 pulls w/25 # plus the sled, then six w/50, then 2 w/75. Day 3, either rest, or bitework when she's up to it. Xanny and I are not serious pullers. I like Holly Lowery's advice on the apbtconformation website.

[phez718]

Well, ya know, don't specify what breed of dog you have on Pit Bull Forum!

[Chocolate Thunda]

Great leave me to comment about the beast......I'm perfectly fine w/ 95 lbs (so he lost some weight...must have left a loaf before he got on the scale)

[mala's daddy]

Just a little peace of advice to all ppl training dogs for pulling
wait a day after a light workout and at least a couple of days after a heavy workout. Muscles need time to repair themselves and even more important , tendons need the rest as much as they can get it.
It is much easier with people , because we feel sore and that is a good indicator for how long we should rest, with dogs it's harder 'cause they won't tell you.
Please make sure you first worm them up with a brisk 15-20 minute walk or light run for the sake of their joints, as well as cool off after the workouts , so their heart rate comes down slowly.
Extreme effort as weight pulling will inevitably, eventually, screw something up, all we can do is postpone it as much as possible by following the basic guidelines as if they were human athletes.
Needles to say a higher protein food is a must if you want the dog to build some muscle, and a good trick I found is feeding them about 0.5 gr of carbs per lb of body weight 3-4 hours before heavy pulls, brown rice or a bagel was what I used with pretty good results.
hope that helps

[eric996]

Question: How often is it okay to work him like that? He pulled me for about 15-20 minutes today, no prob. Can he do that everyday? How long before I should up the weight? I want to eventually do weight pull with him, but have been going very slow, as I don't want to push him too hard or damage his joints. He's an incredibly laid-back lazy dog, but LOVES to pull, as we haven't been doing it, he's not been getting much in the way of exercise other than ripping around the yard with the girls, and the odd trip to the lake or river.

Yeah, Dank pulls me around town on my bike while I lean back and hold the brakes. Its great because we'll ditch my girlfriend and bud for about 10 minutes and then dank lags while bud speeds up.

I don't ride more than 30 min with a rest because dank usually rips his pads and limps for the next few days.