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Cocker Activities => Other Activities => Topic started by: Vicki on July 08, 2014, 06:21:31 PM

Title: Long distance walking with cocker: tips / advice
Post by: Vicki on July 08, 2014, 06:21:31 PM

Hello all

The OH and myself are gearing ourselves up to enter the Walk the Wight next year, a 26 mile walk from one end of the Isle of Wight to the other. It's a dog friendly event - apparently there's event a medal for canines that complete the course!

We'd love to take Sally, our cocker sidekick, along with us!

She is 4 years old and is used to our longer tramps of 8-10 miles. However these only take place every couple of months - her regular walks are more like 2-4 miles.

OH and I will be increasing the length of our weekend walks in preparation - and so Sally's fitness should improve along with ours. However I really don't want to push her little legs further than they can cope with. (She is more of a sofa-type than a worker, if you know what I mean.  :shades: )

If anyone has done a long distance walk with their hound I'd appreciate any advice or words of wisdom.

Title: Re: Long distance walking with cocker: tips / advice
Post by: PennyB on July 08, 2014, 09:41:43 PM

I vaguely remember when a now ex COL member did the wight walk she did a training schedule and at least once a week did a longish walk - think she even did a training blog as well but can't remember its name now

Title: Re: Long distance walking with cocker: tips / advice
Post by: Pearly on July 08, 2014, 10:31:01 PM

Hi Vicki,

There was a thread on here recently about walking in Scotland with some really good advice given.  I would suggest taking something sweet, like a piece of fudge, to help keep Sally's energy levels up plus a bit of food every couple of hours.

You could also consider taking Sally to hydrotherapy sessions as part of her training - Pearls fitness level has improved significantly since she started going  :D
 
Sounds a wonderful event - enjoy!

Jayne

Title: Re: Long distance walking with cocker: tips / advice
Post by: elaine.e on July 09, 2014, 07:50:59 AM

Walshies does a lot of hill walking and long distance walks with Fudge, so you could PM him and see if he has any advice.

Title: Re: Long distance walking with cocker: tips / advice
Post by: Vicki on July 09, 2014, 03:50:58 PM

Thank you for the replies so far!

I have found the old Walk the Wight topic but unfortunately the training blog has been taken off-line which is a shame.

Keeping energy levels up with fudge sounds like a great idea - and one that I'm sure Sally will heartily approve of!