i just thought i would try and have him lose some weight until he gets a little leaner. my dogs put on weight and lose weight pretty quickly, that was about 2 weeks or so of dieting. about 2 years ago i had the a whole month off with nothing to do. and my wife was out of the country for a month. it was pretty awesome.....lol I was able to take my dogs on all day hikes everyday, by the end of the month they had adjusted really good, increased stamina etc. It seems to me dogs adjust much quicker then humans, be it gaining muscle, losing weight, increasing stamina, etc. as far as water goes, im glad to hear that, i thought my dogs were the only ones. they are used to walking off leash on our hikes and we regularly hike the same area but the second i let them off the leash they goes nuts and just run around and wear themselves out quickly. although im sure their bully build and shorter snouts have something to do with it as well. my larger male has much more stamina then my smaller mostly white face male, and the mostly white face male has a much shorter muzzle than my larger one as well so go figure. tiger thanks for sharing the pics, dogs look like they had fun. wish more ppl shared their dog adventurer