Cardio Issues & Weight Pull

Cardio Issues & Weight Pull

A few of you may already know that I recently found out Bransen (my almost 3 year old male) has a heart irregularity that the vet suspects may be an early sign of Heart Disease.

When he was very young (about 12-16 weeks) the vet at the s/n clinic told me while we were in getting him vaccinated that his heart beat sounded slightly "off" and that it was something we would need to keep a close eye on. As time went by, we kept a close eye (well, ear, I suppose) on it and each time we've taken him to see a vet (which has been a lot) we've asked about it, but every vet since then has told us that his heart sounds great. When he was neutered at 6 months, I asked them to pay close attention to his heart and when the procedure was over they said that the equipment didn't show any irregularities.

Flash forward to now, our new vet thought that his heart was healthy when listening to it by ear, but when he went in for surgery she noticed an irregularity with the aid of their equipment. She said that while it is quite significant, medication is not necessary at this point but we will want to keep a close eye on it, as well as read up more (gave me a print out and told me to read whatever good articles/books that I could find) on heart-friendly diet and exercise.

Anyways, one of the things that I forgot to ask her about is Weight Pull.

With this condition, should we call off the WP training?
I sure hope not. I have so much fun doing it and he really seems to love being given a job to do.
He will never be pulling a ton of weight, we aren't doing it competitively or anything like that, it is just for fun and exercise.
If he seems tired, we can (and typically do) always stop and I'd obviously be extra-careful since we've found this out.
I just don't know whether or not we should be doing it now.

Any input or advice would be great, thanks!

 

Re: Cardio Issues & Weight Pull

im not advising you to take the dog to the extreme, but just have fun like you said. its your dog and you should know the dogs limits by now. the dog isnt stupid either if he dont want any more he aint gonna pull. i would personally just walk him myself and play fetch or something of that nature. you can relate weight pulling for dogs to humans doing squats. it puts alot of stress on the body and the heart. it is a cardio workout on its own lol. with that i wouldnt take him heavy at all on the weight pulling if his heart is messed up. the vet will probably tell you to say clear of that in all though lol......its you dog though man do what what it takes for you to be happy with yourself and the dog....

 

Re: Cardio Issues & Weight Pull

IMO if you want him to stay strong he has to get decent exercise, remember the heart is a muscle and if you avoid doing anything strenuous then it will become weak.

 

Re: Cardio Issues & Weight Pull

See, everything I read/everyone I talk to has conflicting opinions.
I am just going to hold off for now and see how things play out with the specialist.

 

Re: Cardio Issues & Weight Pull

I would focus on diet and light exercise, ie. short frequent walks, light swimming etc.

In regards to diet I would add a few suppliments to your dogs diet, ie. Desicated liver powder, egg yolks (no whites) vit e, B12 etc.

Good luck.

NGK

 

Re: Cardio Issues & Weight Pull

WP will be very risky for your dogs saftey but depending on how muc weight, if i was you i wouldnt do it