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How many days a week do you feel it takes to have your dogs sharp, conditioned and learning. I have always felt 3 days a min. average.

i had to go with 2 due to the fact alot of time thats the best i can do a week during season. i can sometimes get in 6 days but it can be hard. during kills season i can do three but my average is 2. granted i can see 6 or 7 bears in a tree a month during training season its hard to really get more than 2 due to my job.

Somewhere along the line I read a study on dog conditioning that mentioned if a dog sits for more than 4 days straight it will be goining backwards in conditioning. It takes 6-8 weeks running every other day to approach peak conditioning. It also mentioned that the most dramatic differences were measured in the beginning. So, anything is better than leaving the dogs stagnant. It was a treadmill study, so take that into consideration.

Personally, I have had dogs (actually own one now) that flat don't operate the same when out of shape. Most hard core guys would have sent them on down the line. But as conditioning increased so did their apparent ablities. Year after year. Other dogs operate the same, but can go harder longer as the season progresses. Which is what you would expect.

I just started to leg up my horse for endurance ridng. I ride 2-3 times a week, for 2-4 hours at a walk mostly... and the whole dang pack trails along.I ride mostly out in the badlands and some mountain work as well. I will let you know how the dogs leg up by next lion season. Brad will coon them at least twice a week this summer because of the 2 pups to get going.

I would say that the breed of the dog play's a major factor here,and your hunting style. 4 to 5 days straight & my hounds start to drag butt & need to be layed up for a few. My buddy has a dog (that I would love to have) that makes my dogs look silly endurance wise. If you have the time keep them in the woods. repetition is the key to training. J.W.