Weighted collars and vests.

I use one. My collar is homemade. I bought a piece of heavy gage chain, 1/2". I measured out 2 pounds worth. I cut the sleeve out of an old sweatshirt and snaked the chain thru. My thought process is even though it spins some it is always equally distributed. I use it on long walks mostly. When the dog lifts his head up and down to sniff as he walks there is work being done.

Stillwater Kennels sells a nice one. It has a Velcro strap and the collar is lead filled. I am not sure of what weights are available.

I would stay low. I use a 2lb. collar on just about all my dogs. I have one that is in low 50's and I use a 3lb. collar for him.

 

I have never used a vest. I understand maximizing your time. I am in the same boat. I'm building a barn, restroring a 69 Chevrolet truck, working a bunch of dogs and still have to fit in a 50 hour work week. So I understand maximizing.

It only works so far. There is still benefit in the 'time'. Loading him up early to shorten the length works but every now and then he needs the load to be lightenend and worked longer. On the days when time is not my friend I use the carpet mill. I can work one in shot order and that cuts my walk time down a lot.

S

 

Mine is a 69 short bed/fleetside 4WD. 6"lift/35's 383ci/350/205. Body off resto/mod. Block came back a couple of weeks ago. Inside and engine bay painted. The rest in primer. Off and on for 6 plus years. Money and time, time and money. LOL

I'm not sure on both of them at the same time. Try it and see. It is really hard to hurt a dog hand walking him. It will be hard to get a base line of what he needs with no weight added. You will have to create a starting point. I would say start with one or the other and walk him til you thinks he needs a break and drop the weight and head home. No weight the next day. The third day go with both. When he tires drop the weight and head home. You will then have general idea of what he needs to get worked with each. Then go from there.

Never worry about a measured distance. Use time. (Just numbers not meaning real times). Today ten minutes may be enough. Tomorrow he may be done at 8 minutes for what ever reason. Bad recovery, not being fed right, just not into it. Don't force the extra time today just because he did it yesterday. Walk/work him til he is tired every time you work him. Every now and then there will be some regression from day to day but over the weeks and months you will see gradual improvements.

If you have the room and the right environment get a harness and pull some weight. I put a length of chain equal to about 20%-25% of the dog's bodyweight on two traces and we walk. I use a bean field. I make a lap with the weight and a lap with out. It takes about 15 minutes or so to make a lap. It just happens to work out to 15 with weight/15 without.

 

I have had a few death traps as well. I had an '81 Z28 once that had been a flood victim. The wiring was a constant nightmare. I was a drinker back then that added to my creativity. I polished up a piece of brushed stainless, cut out a section where the radio and heater controls went, started boring holes and adding toggle switches. When I got thru everything on that car was wired to that panel. It had to be powered up like a jet airplane. Flip them all up to go and all down when I shut it down. All with the same spool of red wire. The next guy played hell going behind me to fix anything. The coolest part was the only thing left stock was the cigarette lighter. If you mashed that the car would crank. It was a fire looking for a good place to start.

S

 

I got my weighted collar from O'Brien's. Some say the rule of thumb to determine the weight of collar you should use is 1% of the dog's body weight. With that said, I have a 5lb collar for my 60lb male and it works great!