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Elkhounds - Snow - Conditioning -
Exercise - Training
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Nothing conditions like deep snow!
Tora is a powerhouse, she is so strong and powerful she goes
anywhere she likes, and just muscles her way through, and thinks
nothing of it. The discussion always comes up on how to train your
dog, and that is a great area to work on, however an area I feel
that is equally if not more important is conditioning.
Conditioning is the development of the entire dog, the bone
structure, the muscle strength and tone, the flexibility, the
endurance, the lung capacity and much more. A strong dog lives much
longer, has way less fat, has a much larger heart, bigger lung
capacity, and enhanced oxygen carrying capability in the blood.
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Walking and just running down a trail on a leash or off will not
fully condition an Elkhound, they need to be in the natural
environment, which in almost all cases for centuries has been rugged
terrain and heavy trails covered in snow, exactly what you see here.
These dogs absolutely love this, they can't get enough. There is a
perfectly good trail to walk on, but no, they are off to the side in
the deep snow and timber, much happier powering through.
Rarely will you see an Elkhound fully muscle out without the
workouts they require. Ancient Elkhound photos clearly show the
development and structure of the older dogs, who appeared much
thicker, more defined, big thick strong bones, well they were that
way because of work.
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Takoda is a tall Elkhound, Swedish type, it takes some deep snow to
put him in serious work mode, yet give him the opportunity and to
find snow right up to his back and he is thrilled. He loves this
stuff. This is a what makes a powerful dog. The front shoulders
really develop, the hindquarters get massive strength to propel them
right out of the snow at every jump, all three dogs can come clean
out of the snow at any jump at any time.
If you want to fully develop the bone structure, and fully stress
the bones to grow, bones need resistance to grow, so heavy
resistance in snow, the drag if you will is what promotes the bones
to grow stronger, thicker, more developed.
While your dog is developing this very strong bone growth and
structure they build lean muscle mass, and pack on the power. This
in turn builds the heart muscle and lung capacity. The heart muscle,
or heart size of Tora would be considerably bigger than most females
her size, or for that matter much larger dogs, she is such a
workaholic and so busy, and so powerful she grows her heart every
day.
We could see the difference when we took her down to Mate, her
development and strength were clearly evident. |
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Here is Mia, having a great day. Try walking where your conditioned
Elkhound goes, give that a try, you'll have legs of steel. Mia is
content to sometimes just power along, or just simply leap right out
and come clean out of the snow and just keep leaping right out, she
is absolutely amazing in terms of sheer power.
You can't help but have very strong healthy dogs if you give them
opportunity to get back to their roots, their instinctive habitat. |
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The tougher the terrain, the better the balance becomes. Elkhounds
are very agile dogs, they are square, with a well conditioned
Elkhound like Mia, and or Tora well over a foot wide at the
shoulders, with Tora and Mia both very strong up front. This comes
from hills, and working up rugged terrain. They love the timber
areas the most, they can work around and over things, they have an
uncanny ability to move through this type of terrain. To watch them
survey the area and pick out a trail for themselves is really
something to see.
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Takoda, Mia and Tora - some pretty content dogs when it's a blizzard
out. Let it snow they say.
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Snow Training Day
Snow storm leads to great adventure
Mia surveys the terrain
Takoda and Tora deep snow drifts
Takoda, Tora, Mia all happier in snow
Takoda and Tora
Mia in snow over her back
Mia just powers her way around
She just leaps right out of the snow
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