weight training yes or no?

[reef2310]

hi, i have a rottweiler he is almost 3 years old..i was just woundering whether its a good idea to start training to build up his musle..id rather do him good then any harm so im just looking for some advice..i have good control over him so the extra power he gains will be easy to control..if this is a good idea, does anyone have any methods? he is eating royal canin by the way

[GypsysMom]

Im sorry but Im confused by this question? why not allow him to have the muscle that comes natural for his body size? maybe Im just not sure why you would want this, when I think of "working out to build more muscle" I think of a human for body building.. but with dogs I myself have never heard of this technique

[Blitz31]

Weight training is a great way to build up his muscles. Just don't over do the weight. I would recommend a vest with weight pouches. Or even introduce him to weight pulling. Dogs love it as a game. My dog is only 7.5 months now. He's still to young for any weight training yet. I plain to when he is full grown around 2 years old or so. I have always used weights, heavy tires and things. With my previous dogs, Pits, American Bulldogs, and a Am. Staff. Remember, diet is just as important if your looking for muscle. Consider a all natural BARF diet.

[Mick Trainer]

I too build up the muscle density of my dogs as they are working dogs and this better helps their bodies deal with the rigors of such work. I use weight pouches and the human wrist weights as well as a lot of swimming (out of all of it I find the swimming to be the best of the lot as it gives an all over work out rather than one area or another). At 3 he is certainly ready for such work. I start swimming much younger but dont start working the dogs out until they are around 18 months on average.

I too agree with Blitz31 on diet and also recommend BARF as the best diet for such work as you can regulate what you want depending on what you are doing.

Mick.

[lblax]

Originally Posted by Blitz31

Weight training is a great way to build up his muscles. Just don't over do the weight. I would recommend a vest with weight pouches. Or even introduce him to weight pulling. Dogs love it as a game. My dog is only 7.5 months now. He's still to young for any weight training yet. I plain to when he is full grown around 2 years old or so. I have always used weights, heavy tires and things. With my previous dogs, Pits, American Bulldogs, and a Am. Staff. Remember, diet is just as important if your looking for muscle. Consider a all natural BARF diet.

i certainly agree with mick on the swimming it builds all muscle and stamina as far as the wieghts go i think if you really dont know what your doing and or have years of experiance like mick i would not attempt itit may actually work against you. and the same goes for the barf diet if done correctly by someone that has spent the time to resurch(and i just dont mean reading an article or 2) or is buying a proven pre made barf diet it can be very good but like all trendy things for the most part people just aimlessly throw meat/veggies/fruits together and think they are doing the best by there dogs when in realitythey arent doing as good as even low cost commercial foods. i think for the average dog owner that train/works/ there dogs and also have jobs that are out of the realm of dogs there are many better alternative than a barf diet. my vet who is very good spends lots of time reasurching diets she is a big fan of diets like wellness/royal canin/canadae/innova and the raw diet but of her clients that feed raw she sees more of them causing problems with there dogs health than helping and its all because they are not balancinig there nutrients correctly