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Trail Riding With A Dog


ZEPING
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Hi,

I go trail riding with my bicycle some time travelling 50km - 150km do you think this is to much for a dog ??

Shes a belgian malinois she not full grown but when do you think would be the right age to take her out bush ?? 1.5-2yrs old

Thanks for any info

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I wouldn't be doing any big KM until the dog has actually been brought up to a fitness level to be able to do it

You then need to consider how fast you go the terrain you are doing regarding the dogs feet etc etc. How often you plan to stop,weather

The dog will need to be conditioned to last no different than us humans .

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Seeing as dogs have to be 2 years of age before competing in an endurance trial, I'd be working towards that age. She's a herding dog, not built for speed but for long days of work with the stock (well that was the original purpose, not sure if that's still the case), so she'd be well suited to trail riding once she's fit enough. Just build her up and keep the speeds moderate.......10-20 kmph and aim for softer surfaces rather than hard (dirt tracks rather than concrete paths).

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You need to build your Mali bitch Zep there is no way she will achieve those distances. Hope you're not thinking that in a day. What average dailys?

By 2 she should be able to cover good distances but build veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery slowly or you'll ruin her.

She's a herding dog, not built for speed but for long days of work with the stock (well that was the original purpose, not sure if that's still the case),

Not called the ferrari of the dog world for nothing :laugh: speed, they're ultrasonic. But like any breed you need to build endurance fitness, Zeps got a working line Mali

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I started training my Sibe when she was 12 months building up slowly to 5km, then increasing by 1km every 4 weeks. By the time she was 18mths we were doing 20km 3 times a week and 5km on the other days.

You will soon find your own dogs limit. In general I would think that 50km would be a realistic limit for one day. Depends on the balance between running and trotting.

Trotting is quite an efficient gait and a very fit dog can do that for quite a few km.

Love to know how you go. Just remember to make haste slowly LOL! :laugh:

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My understanding is that you intend to travel at 50-100 km per hour - not per day..... Is this correct.....?

To fast..... thats for sure.

I have travelled 20-30 km in a day with a dog following on horseback on a regular basis. This is a great distance and the dogs are easy and relaxed. However on horses they would be working at a mix of walking pace at about 6 km/h a trotting pace at about 10 km/h and then canter for short distances at about 12-14 km/h.

Even a fit dog will have trouble travelling at 14km/h for long distances.

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My understanding is that you intend to travel at 50-100 km per hour - not per day..... Is this correct.....?

To fast..... thats for sure.

I have travelled 20-30 km in a day with a dog following on horseback on a regular basis. This is a great distance and the dogs are easy and relaxed. However on horses they would be working at a mix of walking pace at about 6 km/h a trotting pace at about 10 km/h and then canter for short distances at about 12-14 km/h.

Even a fit dog will have trouble travelling at 14km/h for long distances.

Zeping did say on a bicycle... So i highly doubt its going to be 100km per hour ;)

Our sibes race at speeds around 30km/h, but that is for distances ranging 2km - 10km.

50km, is a VERY long distance for a dog to be travelling.

I wouldnt really do anything more than 10 - 15km distance at speeds ranging from 10 - 15km/h. And of course, you shouldnt do that if the temperature is anywhere above 15 degrees C.

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