what is the difference?

I was looking through another site for one thing and stumbled across "KEEPS." It was from years ago, so i started to read and it was purity interesting. But it seemed like a really good daily work out. So my Q is " what is the difference between a keep and a good work out? "

 

You put a dog in keep for a period of time before a contest to get all nice and conditioned. A good workout is, well, a good workout.

 

Is that not the purpice of working out to keep your dog nice and conditioned for what ever might lie a head?

 

I would think that a keep is more rigorous than just normal exercise. The point was to bring the dog down as lean as possible without losing muscle tone. Most people don't keep their dogs in that kind of shape all the time.

 

could you keep a dog like this and it be healthy for the dog? also could you do the stuff in a "keep" say once a mounth to keep him tip top shape and it not heart him? or is it to much work for nothing?

 

A full-time keep besides being impractical time-wise, is too stressful on a dog to be healthy.

 

I will translate it into human terms.

Example: Boxer.

A boxer works out daily regardless of contracted match or not. Once a match has been contracted, said boxer will go into a "serious" workout schedule. This will push the boxer's body to its limits. This "serious" workout may even cause injury to the boxer due to pushing its limits.

Why doesn't a boxer stay under this "serious" training at all times? Well, while the boxer is under normal workouts, he will stay above his best weight (10lbs or so) but once a contract is made, he is required to reach his contracted weight by the "show" date (usually not sooner).

Pretty simple in my eyes.

 

What if you keep your dog lean and you are all ready at the contract weight. Just by a good food and work out program give or take a pound or two. what happens then? For ex. "my dog is a lean 40lb. and the contract weight is 39 1/2lb's." Also is it good to keep your dog on the lean side all the time? I now it seems that i am just asking the same Q's but i have read were people would say "he's a little on heavy side or he's a little fat but he's still a puppy." and to me they looked purity lean. Why do people say that if you keep them 10lb's. above contest weight so to speak?

After these Q's are answered and the mood is still going the same way i think we should close this thread and move on. I just thought the read was intresting and i had a few Q's. So thanks for all the good inf.

 

I have been asking for the exact definition of a keep, but all I ever got was figurative examples. I can't say for sure what it is but it must be pretty strenuous. Your best bet is to do many many searches on the subject. It has also been said that defining a keep on this site may be against the forum rules and we don't wanna break those. I found a nice size hill and I throw ball about 50 times a day with my dog for some good runs up and down and within a week she became lean. It may not be a keep, but it worked for me. GOOD LUCK!