Hi,

Our puppy is now 11 months old and has been doing reasonably well in the show ring to date.  We are noticing however that compared to the other Airedales, including puppies, she seems to look immature and lack muscle tone, and people have commented that when she is beaten, it is usually because of this as her conformation and movement are good.

We have been cautious about too much exercise after hearing lots about potential joint problems in larger breeds, but she now gets some on road lead walking (30 mins) and off lead running around (30 mins) every day as well as as much time as she wants out in the garden. 

Her breeders say that slower to mature pups can often last longer in the ring as they don't become "overdone" too quickly, but I think even if that is the case, she needs to be firmer and more toned in body, especially now that she is nearly 1 and will be moving into Junior.

Do people generally do any particular types of exercise with their show dogs?  Her breeders have acres of fenced land, and several dogs, so they spend a lot of time romping around together which I suppose helps, whereas ours has only an 11 year old dog for company, so they both spend a lot of time snoozing.

I don't want to go overboard on the exercise, as she is still young and has some growing to do, but just wondered if there was any tips for getting her in better condition.

Thanks!

I know how you feel - my little terrier always looks skinnier than the others in her class but she did have good muscle it was because she didn't eat loads and looked so much leaner which didnt help.

Does she eat well?

You could try swimming with her as thats supposed to be good for increasing muscle tone but i suppose you dont want to over do things.

We are out of junior now but i hated it, my girl never looked as meaty as some of the others and at that age they go through looking a little out of proportion i think where legs grow and not filling out in the body.

What about a treadmill???  You can add incline, change the spead to suit your dog, and its all done in a safe manner.  Works wonderfully to add muscle.  And you dont have to be steanuous about it, and worry about joint issues as much, as you control everything.

I think what you are already doing is fine, she will body up in time.  has she had her first season yet ?

Hi Lorripop,

She does eat very well, but she can get upset tummy quite easily so we have her on Burns.  This suits her and her coat is great and she seems very healthy on it, but I know it's not renowned for putting on weight. I think some of what you say may hold trues for my girl - she has some muscle, but not the bulk of a bit of extra meat on her bones.  Her thigh muscles are great, it's her front and body that seems lacking.

Hi Crespin,

Hadn't thought about that.  Not sure what my OH's face would look like if I suggested a treadmill for the dog though ;-)

Hi ClaireyS,

No, she hasn't had her season yet.  Her mum didn't have her first season until 15 months, and this is about average for the breed.

I would top up her excercise a little bit. i do not think an hour a day is no means excessive.
My puppy has been doing more than that for months and she is a giant breed.
She has been pretty quick to mature though and has had her first season a month ago (at 10 months) which is quite young for the breed.

Her breeder has also mentioned excercising her with bike now that she is coming to a year old.
We have not yet done that though, but will start practising when she comes to UK.
Obviously on soft ground and only something little at the time at first, making sure you do not go too fast.

The only problem with treadmills is that they can make them a little loaded over the shoulders. As the 'road' is actually moving towards the dog, they are using their front to 'pull' themselves into the movement of the treadmill, rather than using their quarters to create the impulsion to drive the body forward, as they would on an actual road. If you want an analogy, it turns them from a 'rear engine' vehicle, into a 'front engine' vehicle.

Hi

We have a similar issue with our young boy (not same breed) who's up into junior.

What we have done is fed more tripe with his kibble. Also cooked pasta to bulk him out just before going in the ring.  This has put weight on him which we are now going to tone and convert to muscle with weekly hydrotheraphy sessions. 

Swimming is great exercise as it's low impact therefore won't damage the still developing joints.

Just remember if you increase exercise and don't increase the food intact you'll lose weight and go backwards.

We found Eukanuba puppy/junior great for building him up.

Vicky

I dont have bitches but dont they usually mature once they have had their first season ?

I still think an hours worth of exercise for a large breed is plenty at 11 months old. 

Hi,

A few people have mentioned Eukanuba now, so I may try and find some sample packs and see how she gets on with it.  I can try tripe too.  She had it as a young pup and enjoyed it.

There's a doggy hydrotherapy pool very nearby, and you can take your dog there for swimming as well as for health issues so I may give them a call and take her over to see how she like it.  She hasn't actually swum before, but loves splashing around in our local streams - though mostly because she loves getting as muddy as possible I think!!

Having put a downer on the treadmill, I may seem to be a bit of a 'Victor Meldrew', but be aware that hydrotherapy pools use chemicals, though not in the same concentration as for a human swimming pool, however, these chemicals can still alter the texture, and quite often the colour, of your dogs coat. Though this is not a permanent change, your dog's coat will not regain it's former status until it changes it's coat, or the damaged coat has grown out and been trimmed off.

Saxon

Do you have direct experience of this coat damage as I have been assured by the owners of the hydrotherapy centre that provided the dog is thoroughly bathed directly afterwards no coat damage will occur.  The bathing/drying they have included in the price for me as they also operate a grooming salon of which I have in the past used for bathing prior to shows.  I'm now a little concerned as we haven't started the swimming yet and if this is going to be a problem then I may give it a miss rather than end up with a ginger and white rather than liver and white!

With regards to Eukanuba they have been selling 4kg for £6.00 or £5.00 at most of the Champ shows this year so if you can get along you can try it for £1.50 a kg.  Also P at H often have BOGOF offers on so it's worth looking there too.

Yes I have had experience of coat damage. Though fortunately, in a dog that I wasn't showing at the time due to injury. I tried the washing thoroughly after swimming route, but if you are swimming a couple of times a week, that is the same as bathing your dog twice a week. In my case, my dogs coat went very soft and I have a breed whose topcoat should feel fairly harsh to the touch. He also started to moult very heavily with all that bathing. So I tried not washing him after swimming, just rinsing him off thoroughly and I did get some fading of his coat colour. Once he had changed his coat, it all went back to normal. I suppose it really depends on your breed and the type of coat they have as to whether they could stand 2 baths a week.

Hmm, the chemicals in the hydrotherapy pools could be a big problem.  Airedales should have a very harsh wiry coat, and my pup had a ver good harsh coat of excellent colour.  Also, I have never fully bathed her, just given her quick feet/leg washes to get rid of mud.  The wiry coat keeps her pretty clean elsewhere.  I wouldn't want to alter the rich colour or texture of her coat.  Also, the coat can't realy be hand stripped if it's too clean as it is painful for the dog, and I need to groom her 2 or 3 times a week.

There is a waterpark nearby with natural lakes.  If we can teach her ourselves to swim there she may at least not need shampooing heavily after swims - the water is pretty clean with beaches for human swimming too.  We could try there over the summer (ha ha!) when the water's not too cold.

I think for your breed the natural swimming would be better although the toning may take a little longer as with the hydrotherapy they are swimming against jets creating a current.

Fortunately I don't think this will be too much of an issue in my breed as he is only going to swin one a week for a coupld of months then I can maintain the muscle development with his regular exercise.  He tends to get bathed once a week anyway as he's a scruffy mite who can't keep clean for a second.

Thanks for the head's up though Saxon - valuable point and much appreciated

I think I agree with ClaireyS, she will body up as she matures, but I also think you could usefully start gradually increasing the exercise about now.  I would aim for an hour and a half of exercise a day eventually.  In my breed, biking makes a difference (and is often the way dogs are trained for hunting in Norway), but I think I'd do this on softish ground rather than tarmac.  Usually my own get a little over half an hour of road work and an hour of free running exercise, but in the last few days before a show, I will increase the amount of road working to really firm up the leg muscles.  Speaking from experience, dogs that only get the free running without the roadwork don't muscle up in the same way as those that get a combination of both.
In my breed, early maturity is not a good thing.  You do need patience - they're not fully mature until three or four.  My own Raider was like this - a fairly skinny creature until the age of two and a half when the ribs really sprung, but he was worth the wait!  I always kept him quite lean - if you put too much fat on them early on (past the puppy stage), you can end up with loose, rolling skin as they mature and you take the weight off.

Yep, I agree. Time and patience are all that's really needed. In my breed, you often see very early maturing puppies that win everything going, when they get to about 18 months to 2 years, they simply disappear off the show scene and are never heard of again. As long as your puppy is structurally correct, and had plenty of substance at 6 weeks, you will eventually get back the lovely baby he once was. I have a friend who has a truly stunning dog who is just coming to his best at 2 1/2 years old. She so very nearly re-homed him at about a year because she said he hadn't fulfilled his early potential. She now thanks God that she hung on to him.

Totally agree. I have a very slow line so I know that they take time. But it is very frustrating when there are more mature puppies winning at every show and yours looks like a baby. I have a young boy at the moment who did nothing in puppy. He is now 16 months and at his last three CH shows he has won 3 firsts and 7 seconds. And in fact since he has been in Junior he has never been unplaced. All of a sudden he is starting to come together. I like to be able to show mine in Veteran classes and surprisingly enough the ones that were in puppy with us are not around when you reach Veteran.

The only problem with treadmills is that they can make them a little loaded over the shoulders. As the 'road' is actually moving towards the dog, they are using their front to 'pull' themselves into the movement of the treadmill, rather than using their quarters to create the impulsion to drive the body forward, as they would on an actual road. If you want an analogy, it turns them from a 'rear engine' vehicle, into a 'front engine' vehicle

Interesting, I have never had that issue, and have never heard of that issue.  About bodying up in the front instead of the rear.  I have only heard of dogs getting over muscled if you go to extremes (like several hours a day on a treadmill)

I also like it, cos I can exercise the dogs on days that it is too cold to take them out, or when the snow is higher than they are.  Muscling up is a bonus, as my dogs dont seem to have a real problem with tone and muscle. 

>>>Her breeders say that slower to mature pups can often last longer in the ring as they don't become "overdone" too quickly, but I think even if that is the case, she needs to be firmer and more toned in body, especially now that she is nearly 1 and will be moving into Junior. <<<<

I have a different breed but would say my boy didnt fully mature until three
all comes to he who waits-I have no problems with slow maturers
he went onto become a champion

So long as your dog is getting the correct food/nutrition and exercising daily without over doing it then its just a matter of waiting

Hi AiredaleKate, as I have mentioned in some of my previous posts I used to have airedales before downsizing and I can let you in to a little trick which works really well for the shoulders.
You need to groom him with a mitt in a very firm swepping motion.  In horses it is called strapping (look it up and just downsize for a dog).  It causes the muscles to firm up underneath.  Technique that has been used for years in show horses and dogs.  Best to do it when the shoulders have been stripped out and not when they are woolley.
Also check you feeding plenty of protein and not too much bulky cereal stuff as this puts a fat layer over the muscle and it doesn't define as much.
As for exercise remember that it is easier to build muscle by having a short walk on lead doing little more than walking and trotting, letting them off it fun but they glide as they bomb about so are not doing the right type of exercise to build up.
It is true that some and I repeat some pups that are small as a pup build into a good dog but sometimes if they are very under-developed you usually have to take them out of showing for a year to condition before they can compete with the big guys/girls and some pups just never do bulk up enough.  Best to start on the conditioning now.

Emma

Thanks for the tips.  I'll look into the grooming with the mitt.  I can see that working well for her as she has muscle there but as you say I think it needs firming.  She's due a big strip down of neck, shoulders, head etc today, so will read up and give it a go.

Hi Crespin, I take your comments on board. I think why you are successful with your treadmill is that you use it AS WELL AS roadwork and not INSTEAD OF, as many lazy people do. I do actually have a treadmill so I am not entirely against them if they are used correctly. I find mine very useful for gait analysis.

Hi Malibu,
Strapping....that takes me back. I used to spend hours strapping my hunters and my daughters show ponies. Just seeing the word in print has made my shoulders start to ache.

Yes the good old days of horses and biting ponies.
I remember strapping my show ponies for hours, glad I own smaller things these days :)

My boy is so slow at maturing compared to his litter brother who the breeder has. I have always been placed at shows, though to be he still looks very immature and i would always compare him to others and think no wonder i'm not winning, he looks skinny and scrawny looking right now.
He was a wonderful pup when i picked him up and he has only just started filling out, he looks a lot better and others have commented on this also. I have booked him in for hydrotherapy starting next week as i need to strengthen his front end up.
I have taken him out of the show ring for now in the hope that he will body up fine, we only have a couple more months to go before he comes out of Junior and then i know he again will look such a baby compared to others the same age as him.
I am having to put up with the fact he sooo slow at maturing and enjoying spending real quality time with him and having fun as well, he's getting as muddy as he can.
He has a very good construction and is a very good mover when i can get him to stop pacing(grr he is a pain with that), so hoping it all comes back in time.
If not then i still have a loving pet dog.