Conditioning

I do most of Bandit's conditioning on our local mountain bike trails. For the most part, he just follows, usually mere inches from my rear wheel. Sometimes it can be a pain when I don't notice that he's bolted after a rabbit, but for the most part we both have a blast. He can easily hang with me (riding at full speed) for over an hour without even seeming winded.

I take this to mean he's in pretty good shape, but once we're out hunting he seems to fade after about 90 minutes. Maybe it's just that he pushes himself so hard during that time...and I'm certian that it has something to do with the fact that he's so small and is pushing through thick cover.

When I first got him, he was bulging muscles everywhere. He looked like he was on steroids! Now that he's 6 years old and has gone through a bout of Lyme Disease, he doesn't have nearly the same muscle tone he used to. This winter I'm going to try strapping a harness on him and letting him pull my on my XC skis. He used to pull me on my rollerblades all the time, so he should know what to do.

I'll switch to rollerblades in the summer, combined with some long slow runs to enhance his cardiovascular system. By next fall I hope to have him able to hunt hard for 3 hours.