Part and parcel of gym training is to keep muscle mass and be strong enough to lift both Ryo and Choya and carry them for a sustained period of time. Ryo is 17.5kg and Choya is 7.5kg.
I carry the dogs in and out of cars. I don't let them do floors of cars; they go on the seats. The height of our cars' seats and the angles make it tough for the dogs to gauge jumping in and out sometimes. Jumping up repeatedly can scratch the seats too although we have seat covers and mats.
I have no interest in having the dogs leap in and out of our cars often because I do not want to see any accidental CrCL (cranial cruciate ligament) tears or a full rupture. Jumping isn't ideal for dogs with hip and joint issues. Cars and vans with a spacious trunk or low floors are much better suited for the floofs to hop in and out. Ryo's mom happily carries him in and out of the car, and around too. She's so slim but all muscled; super strong.
In addition to squats and everything else done with weights at the gym, bicep curls and overhead presses certainly help. Grinned when I saw dumbbells (or DB for short on gym whiteboards for WOD) at 17.5kg and 7.5kg. Perfect. When I can do dual DB overhead presses easily with both weights, that's when I'm strong enough. Although overhead presses remain at 10kg for now. 17.5kg (a side) is too heavy for me, for now.
It is soooo important to have a dog that you can carry. You need to be comfortable with the weight, and handling. If you have no strength or discipline to control a reactive dog, then maybe you shouldn't be owning it. Consider all the pain of vet visits and such if your dog is injured or immobile. Not to mention explosive diarrhea — the bigger the dog, the larger the fecal volume. As much as I love my big dogs, I'm not having them in a small flat, and not without a helper. Ha!
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