Posted by Heart on November 10, 2001, 6:37 am The next thing I found out when working a dog is that they can be put in shape most anyway a person sees fit. Since I was working on a job most of the time, the next thing I started working on was an easy way to work a dog. I had seen everyone elses way of working a dog by now, but I had something else in mind. I wanted to work a dog like a wild dog would work if he had to hunt and kill his food, more so like the big cats do, or like an eagle. They make their kill when they are very thin with no fat whatsoever on them. This is the time when most wild animals kill for food. Their blood count is on a natural high and there is no fat to make them breathe hot. This is when they are their sharpest and make their kill. Their condition at the time of the kill will not return until they are ready for their next kill. In between times the wild will tend to get fat and slow and lazy and they will have miss after miss until they lose all their fat and get sharp, hunting and working their bodies into shape. In my way of thing the cat mill was the machine I was looking for. Frank Fitzwater showed me his, he had a big wagon wheel on a hub with a 2x4 sticking out about 12 feet with a chain on it and another 2x4 in front of it with a box attached. Frank told me that it was a cat mill but nobody he knew would use one because they were afraid they would half kill their dog and that you could never get the dog to the pit in one piece. At this time every dogman I had met worked his dog with a harness on them and myself, being a newcomer, also worked my dogs with a harness on them. Besides it looked good on a dog. A harness has its own place for the dog. And the only place I found to use it is when taking a picture. I liked the catmill I had seen a franks but I could plainly see that it was very out-dated. I then went home and made one with 20 feet from the center of the track. I still nearly killed the first dog I worked on it even at 20 feet. I then dug out my track and put a bank three feet high on the outside of the track. This did the trick and when my dog would run hard on the mill he would run up on the bank. When he slowed down he would walk or trot in the bottom of the track. I also had a drain to keep the water out of the track. This catmill had its down-falls but, for ten years it had every top conditioner in the game asking me how I worked my dogs. The first ones were Leo Kinard and George Saddler, in fact they both asked me the same day. That was the day I won with the first dog I had ever worked on it. The match went 2 hrs. 16 min. with my dog scratching 27 times and never taking a deep breath or never off his feet. This same dog had won his last match when worked by his owner Frank Fitzwater but, was labled a cur, something Heinzl had bred to sale and make a little feed bill money. This dog had been tried when 2 ½ years old and would not fight. Frank bought this dog known as FITZWATER Goldie for 15.00, as they were going to kill the dog. When I won with Goldie he was over 7 years old. Goldie was the sire of the Zeke dog, who was the sire of the Indians Bolio, the dog Pat Patrick stole. I worked dogs on this catmill for 10 years and the trouble I had keeping feet under a dog, you would never believe. So, from then on I started looking for something that would out do the catmill. I went a little to the treadmill until this welder friend of mine called maverick and myself built a catmill 57 feet from one side of the track to the other, with both sides of the mill 28 ½ feet from the center and both sides the same so the weight would be the same. Wit this mill I was able to improve my conditioning but I was still having trouble keeping feet under the dog. After trying many different things, I found the only thing to do would be to put something in the track like hay and let it rot. It made a good soft track. I was still having trouble keeping shoulders under my dogs and with this mill I was knocking out more than before. The mill is free wheeling and when a dog runs on it hard, then slows down the mill will keep on going fast and will go over the dog pulling the shoulders right out of joint thus, crippling them for a few days this is about the time I found out what a harness was good for so I went over to a good wide working collar. This time my dogs started showing up with a much stronger neck and a faster mouth. I was beginning to see more and more of what I was looking for. For a while I would quit using my common senses and I would walk my dog from two to five miles before I would work him. This took a lot of time, so something had to go. This is when I quit walking my dogs from two to five miles and started walking them about one mile with a 100 foot light weight rope and the dogs would walk about the same. I then started walking my dogs less and less until I got to where Im at now. About 25 yards
I found that all the talk I had heard about walk walk walk your dog or he would not be in shape was about to become a thing of the past. With the catmill keep this is true. At this time I had worked three dogs for one show. I then worked five dogs for one show, then six dogs, then six dogs again, with all the dogs showing up in top condition. Out of 20 dogs worked on my catmill only 3 lost. About this time, I started noticing a catmill in almost everyones yard. More and more people coming by and taking notes about the catmill and the keep I was using with it. I learned a lot from other people like George saddler. He told me to work a dog in the same way for 3 days before increasing his work again. By listening and understanding it helped me with my keep. Earl Tudor once told me that the best thing for a tired dog is rest, this too helped my keep. Later you will see how two small bits of advice from the two top conditioners ever in the dog game helped me with my keep, after I had understood what I had learned from them. When you start working a dog for a match, you need 10 weeks of good work to have him ready and fit. You never go to a vet the entire keep you start out by worming your dog for whips and hooks, then 5 days later then worm his for tapes and rounds plus hooks. 5 days after that worm him again for whips and hooks, then 5 days later tapes and round plus hooks, this should have him clean. You will worm him one more time at 2 ½ weeks before the match, each time you worm the dog give him 3 cc. Combiotics and when you worm your dog make it after you have worked him then rest him the next day, giving him dry dogchow with castor oil(one ounce over his feed) and always have fresh water for him to drink.
CATMILL KEEP
When I first got into the dog game and worked my first dog I worked him with roadwork and walk. I showed up with a top conditioned dog and won in 1 hour, and 10 minutes. The next dog I worked was with a treadmill plus roadwork and walk. She too, was in good shape and won in 1hour and 15minutes, if I remember correctly. I lost with one the same day but it was not because of my conditioning.
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