How to build hindquarter muscle

Spudlet

Spudlet

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Keepers Cottage's post on Lottie and Murphys Minders have me wondering - how can you get a dogs back end a bit more muscular? I'd like to build Henry up a bit more to support his hips that bit extra. Is it like with horses - hillwork (could be a tricky job in Norfolk!)? Could swimming help?
 
Looks like just you and Me HaH. My bitch I mentined previously with the awful hips, did loads of hill work and swam regularly, so yes just like horses. I was lucky in that the field behind us had a hill down to a river, built in therapy
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Where I live now there is not really easy access to either, plus Buffy hates swimming, so she just has lots of road work at a fast walk, plus free running. When her back problem flared up and I couldn't really walk her she had quite a few sessions on an aqua treadmill, but was £40 a go and she isn't insured so couldn't keep it up for long.
 
LOL everyone else must still be in bed
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Well I can supply the water and Henry has no problem with swimming, it's just that what Norfolk calls a hill other parts of the world call a bump in the road
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Will have to see what I can do!
 
id be quite interested in this too as beau has a tiny bony butt!
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he has just discovered water is not going to get him, so hopefully will be able to do a bit more of that

Hill work is not really a problem for him, more for me walking with him!
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ahh well will be good for both our butts then
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Sweep has always had a lovely bum
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!!!

But then again he has always done lots of swimming
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- whether I want him to or not - it is nearly every day and that includes when there is ice around!! Other than that he just walks everywhere and anywhere.
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No help at all really......
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Our lab has very muscly hindquarters, and is about twice as fast uphill as the other labs he walks with (who are maybe half a stride slower on the flat). He has good hips (phew) but the muscle is a side effect of exercising an active dog quickly - 10min flat walk for me/OH manages to get fit lab tired enough to stop fidgiting so much! Basically find a nice flat footpash next to a bank/along a hill, and chuck toy up and down hill for dog to chase. We have a few circuits that work - 45 mins round a reservior, 10 mins along/back a path near OH's work, but then dartmoor has lots of hills!
 
i used to breed dogue de bordeauxs in fact one of my pups i bred has qualified for crufts several times and my show bitch was always best bitch and was unstopable. That breed had to appear to have a good amount of muscle and SWIMMING does the trick!
I used to take my dogues down to the lakes throw in their fav toy and let them swim for as long as they can stand before getting to tired.
This is a fantastic way of getting muscle of dogs and improves fitness greatly.
 
Swimming seems to do the trick, but six years of short, sharp bursts of fetch, combined with power walks, has given Stella a tush of steel
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Lots of uphill yomping!

A lot of people at our club take their dogs to a special pool to swim (I think it is actually for horses, but hey!)

The breeder of my dogs keeps a kennel in Germany, his best young male gets walked up skiing mountains in the off-season and comes back down on the ski-lift so that the good work isn't undone
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Sadly, Norfolk is lacking in ski resorts...
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However we do have a small hillock
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Will encourage Henry to swim even more than he already does!
 
HAHA! Oops, forgot your location - treadmill on a hill setting?

I'm taking B swimming next week once his stitches are out, you can see and feel he has lost muscle in just two weeks.
 
Mwahaha it will be like the bit in Rocky when he runs up the steps...

Can you get sweatbands for spaniels?
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