Over the river and through the woods

I love running the dogs. Just running them. They love it too. There have been several different blog posts of running the dogs on foot, from bikes, (both good

http://www.willowyndranch.blogspot.com/2010/05/exercising-vizslas-can-be-fun.html

and bad
http://www.willowyndranch.blogspot.com/2010/06/value-of-ppe-personal-protection.html
Since that nasty accident, I still start new dogs roading first in harness on foot, then a few sessions on the bicycle but will transition to the ATV as soon as possible. This is a short segment I taped last fall on some of the area I use and roading four dogs here in Davis, CA. I can road a total of 8 dogs at once.



Conditioning is an important aspect of training in my opinion. If the dog is not in good physical condition, it increases the difficulty for the dog to cover ground to find birds. Additionally, if it is not accustomed to running I believe it also impacts their ability to scent the bird. If the dog is huffing and puffing hard, how can they focus on scenting?

Roading is a great way to maintain the dogs physical condition, keep it happy and improve its ability to find game.