Endurance Test 2013

[huga]

A certain Frenchie gained his ET today :D

[Tassie]

Congratulations, huga ... and lovely photo. Can't imagine there'd be too many Frenchies around.

[huga]

Thanks Tassie :) He is the second Frenchie in Australia to gain his ET (the first was his mum). His breeder has done some research and thinks he might be third in the world (apparently there is one in Sweden with his ET and a Herding title!).

[Tassie]

Wow - that's certainly something to brag about. Well done!

[Steph M]

I'm determined to do this in a year or so. Would love to train up to run it but who am I kidding?

It just looks like such fun!

Better start riding more, I've been meaning to anyway. Our poor bike is so neglected!

Anyone have any handy hints for getting a teenage pup used to the idea without exerting him too much?

Edited October 16, 2013 by Steph M

[huga]

I would be careful about growth plates etc - how old is he and what breed?

Sid and I never went more than 5kms 4-5 times a week. Just start by walking the bike with him next to it.

[Steph M]

Oh yeah, not looking at even thinking about starting to do anything much physical for another 6 months off leash. Currently he has about an hour of free running and swimming at the park, which is mostly spent duck diving at waist height or sitting by me waiting for treats or running about with other dogs or going to the beach for much of the same. We don't do much road work, or much of anything. I'm thinking loooooooong into the future! Haha.

He's a 7 month old Flat Coat, so a large breed we're super wary of growth plates so as I said, very very long into the future at this stage, just struck me as something fun to do we can both prepare together eventually!

[huga]

Ok cool :) well I'm not sure about the growth plates of bigger breeds, so it's probably best to discuss it with a breeder.

To be honest, he sounds relatively fit anyway, so I wouldn't worry too much about the bike at this point. They can't enter until they're two anyway.

We only started training two months before that said, Sid already had a good amount of fitness, we walk 6kms in an hour most days, with some decent hills.

[Starkehre]

I'm determined to do this in a year or so. Would love to train up to run it but who am I kidding?

It just looks like such fun!

Better start riding more, I've been meaning to anyway. Our poor bike is so neglected!

Anyone have any handy hints for getting a teenage pup used to the idea without exerting him too much?

Very easy tip, walk your dog and the bike at the same time. as your dog becomes more and more familiar with the bike, weave the front wheel a bit, so he gets used to keeping out of the way.

It will not affect his joints if you ride 2-3 house lengths at a time once a week.

We do a fun exercise where one of us stands on the road/path holding the learning youngster, the other very slowly rides by and takes the leash as they go. ride a couple of house lengths, practising a slow 180 turn, then back again, passing the dog back to the person standing. Ride past them, turn around and do it again. The person standing can initially start off with doing a slow walk in the same direction and build up to static starts.

Just some good drills for getting the youngsters used to the whole concept, whilst utilising an additional person to help calling etc to make it more fun and encouraging for the dog.

With our breed, we usually slowly work up to around 2kms with a 14-16 months old. And do around 6kms by 20 months depending on gender and individual dog.

Would prefer not to do an ET until close to 3, if not 3-4 years with our breed. Their endurance stamina seems to peak around 3-4 with bitches and 4-5 with dogs, so a bit tough on them expecting it any earlier.

Smaller or lighter framed breeds develop stamina and endurance earlier.

[pheenyx]

I would like to obtain my dogs endurance test for 2014. I'm having problems finding out where and when they will be held and how to go about entering one. If someone could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated.

[Tassie]

If you go to the CCCQ website http://cccq.org.au/Show/Trial-Dates.aspx, you can download the list of show and trial dates CCCQ show and trial dates.

The ETs are in the middle of the year - because of temperature (can't be held if temp goes above 24.)

If you and the dog are not already members of/registered with CCCQ, you would need to do that - and then they should be able to give you information about how to contact the clubs. The schedules with details about entering should appear in the Dog World mag - or will be on the CCCQ website.

Hope that helps.

[Steph M]

Some absolute D-Bag who had squished himself into Lycra and looked like a badly packed sausage managed to smack into Gus (almost 40kg of big happy, slow moving dog, impressive to miss him) on his bike (on a shared path in an off-lead dog park) and then had the nerve to say he needs to learn what ringing the bike bell means and that he dropped his phone because of it! to which I ever so politely replied that perhaps he shouldn't have headphones in and even better, could watch where he was going... needless to say Gus came out pretty bruised on the ribs and is now less than keen on bikes and gets right out of the way when he spots one. Sigh. All it takes is one idiot!

Needless to say we have to work on that before even thinking about his ET as a possibility for post-2015.

[pheenyx]

Thank you Tassie

[Abbiestar]

Some absolute D-Bag who had squished himself into Lycra and looked like a badly packed sausage managed to smack into Gus (almost 40kg of big happy, slow moving dog, impressive to miss him) on his bike (on a shared path in an off-lead dog park) and then had the nerve to say he needs to learn what ringing the bike bell means and that he dropped his phone because of it! to which I ever so politely replied that perhaps he shouldn't have headphones in and even better, could watch where he was going... needless to say Gus came out pretty bruised on the ribs and is now less than keen on bikes and gets right out of the way when he spots one. Sigh. All it takes is one idiot!

Needless to say we have to work on that before even thinking about his ET as a possibility for post-2015.

You are right! It only takes one twit to wreck it for you.

If you want to do an ET in 2014, I think you still can by exposing your dog to as many bikes as possible so that he overcomes his fear. Try walking him with your bike alongside, bike between you and the dog. He should get used to this very quickly. Then start riding it with him. Very slowly and short distances at first. Not sure which ET you would like to do, but when you decide that, familiarise yourself with the course that that club uses. The more familiarity, the better for the dog. Good luck!

M