[Discussion] x-post /r/dogtraining Trying to Get Swole (Again) with my Dog for the Deaf
First off apologies if this is in the sidebar. I didn't see anything directly related to muscle training, only obedience training.
Long story short, I live with a Dog for the Deaf. We both used to be ridiculously musclebound. I got into drugs/eating disorder and his owner slowed down (mostly bc of the winter season) with taking him for walks and now we are both skinnyfat.
I know how to feed and train myself to get fit again, but unfortunately there aren't starting programs for dogs, at least that I can find. How do I train the dog (he isn't mine, I'm not the deaf one) to get fit again? I've been taking him with me every other day on a 5k training plan (right now we are doing the 80-90% walking with bursts of sprints or jogs) and he seems to have a blast. Whenever we get back I give him a ton of water and a snack - usually a teeth-cleaning "bone", peanut butter, or some of an unseasoned baked sweet potato.
What am I doing wrong, what am I doing right, what do I need to continue doing, what do I need to stop doing, and what do I need to start doing that I haven't been doing?
I BELIEVE he's a mixed breed but I'm not 100% sure on that. Here's a pic of him post-run (sunglasses for scale) in case his breed/size needs a specific workout routine.
Edit: Milk and eggs are the holy grail for human bodybuilding and powerlifting. Can dogs eat those and if so how much should I be giving him?
Posted Apr 4, 2016, 6:40 PM UTC
The dog doesn't need any special nutrition beside a high quality kibble, he also doesn't need an excess of calories either just enough to maintain his weight. Peanut butter is also incredibly fatty and adding a number of calories to his day that are proably unnessesary, the sweet potato is fine and I'd recomend seeing if you can get your hands on some raw bones (soup bones as they are typically labled in supermarkets) because they are great for teeth and add some protein to the diet (not nessesary with a good quality dog food but I like to think it helps). Eggs are fine for dogs and will help with a healthy coat but, again, be mindful of calories because there's a huge difference between fat and muscled and too many calories will lead to fat not muscle. Milk isn't great for dogs, some tolerate it and some don't but either way it isn't nessessary for them and personally I don't want to find out if my dog is dairy friendly or not.
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There are couch to 5k programs that work for both humans and dogs to build endurance and cardio. Your dog looks like it's got some bully breed in it and one of the things often used for bull breeds is flirt poles. You can build them yourself or buy one, two 10-15 minute sessions a day and you'll start to see some changes (as long as diet is in-check) - it's also an activity that can be done on a long-line if you don't have an off-leash friendly dog or a backyard.
So he shouldn't be eating a lot more like a human has to whenever they build muscle, assuming they dont have a bunch of fat to burn? Like if I'm basically a skeleton and I wanna get ripped I have to eat a TON. Would he be burning fat into muscle instead of using an excess of calories?
Aight I'll replace the peanut butter with soup bones. Does occasional (maybe once a week) red meat like steaks (beef or bison) work as well and if so should it be raw, rare, etc?
Is there some sort of calculator I can use to track his weight and then look at required protein/carb/calorie intake based on weight gain? For example if I wanna build muscle at a rate of a pound a week I typically need to eat 1g/kg protein, 3500ish calories, etc based on my current weight. Does he need something similar?
Yeah he isn't off-leash friendly but on-leash he is very obedient so I will look into these, thanks! Is 2 10-15 minute sessions/day a weight maintenance amount or a muscle building amount? Or should we just start with that and work up from there?
Edit: should he eat eggs raw, fried, scrambled, etc?
Feed based on exercise amount but he doesn't need more than that, there are some calorie counters out there for dogs and I've used them to success (on a phone so it's probably best if you just google for yourself). That said, I know my dog fairly well and I tend to feed based on a feel-test using a body conditioning scale (again, Google) and factor in the amount of exercise we are doing (ex. 35lb Border Collie, 3yrs, gets 1cup of food per day normally but if we do anything more than 5miles of offleash activity then that gets bumped to 1.5cups. If she's getting a raw bone then she gets less kibble and same goes for eggs). There's a science but unless you are planning to do high-level weight pull or conditioning then I'd recomend just looking up a conditioning chart and aiming for healthy weight or slightly leaner.
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With a high quality kibble a dog doesn't need supplements (raw meat, eggs, etc) but I add them for variety. Kibble is completely balanced for a dog and they do not need excess protein to gain muscle just enough calories to maintain their ideal weight. Add mix ins because you want to not because they are needed, I like the variety it gives to my dog and her coat is shiny with a raw egg every couple of days.
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It's long enought to keep them focused but not too long that they lose interest. Dogs are not humans, if it's not fun then they are not going to do it. Watch out for over exertion because dogs don't know when to stop and like humans are more prone to injury when tired.
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I feed eggs raw over the top of my dogs kibble. Raw bones 2-3time a week and raw eggs 1-2 times a week but be on the look out because some dogs can't handle diet changes well.
You can check out this as a source for how many calories he needs. If he's eating kibble, you don't need to worry about protein/carb/fat breakdown unless he isn't doing well on the kibble. but kibble takes all the "guess work" out of dog diets. It's complete.
Eggs - if I give my dogs eggs I do soft boiled. You can feed them raw but I'm not keen on it.
If this dog is going from relatively sedentary to active, 2 10-15 minute high intensity flirt pole sessions a day will be good to help get him into shape. Depending on how out of shape he is, that might be intense to start with.
I would confirm with his owner that the vet gave the go ahead for increased activity and ask what a good weight for him to be at is.