Tag Archive for: step overs

Puppy Fitness Conditioning Fun

Fitness is as important for puppies as for adult dogs.

Puppies can benefit from fitness exercise by helping them coordinate their nervous system, have good body awareness, and mentally challenge them.  

There are some cautions with puppies as you work them. 

First be patient and have fun!  Puppies are like kids in learning.  It takes time to allow them to figure things out with repetition and treats. They will learn what you are asking with consistent action and rewarding when they do it correctly. Rewarding is a whole different topic that I will write on later or give some references.  Have FUN!  Puppies are about play. So play with them and bring out your inner child again.   

Second be aware of their joint health. Puppies have growth plates on the end of their bones that allows them to grow tall and strong. Growth plates are soft areas at the end of long bones, like the femur and humerus, with rapidly dividing cells regulated by hormones that slows down at puberty.  If those growth plates are injured while they are growing the dog is more at risk for arthritis later in life.  What can you do?  Allow your puppy to play at their own pace. DO NOT run long distance with your puppy unless you have a cart or sack to carry them when they get tired.  Allow the puppy to run when they play at their pace so they can stop when tired.  DO NOT jump with them.  Allow them to play and jump at their own level so they can rest with fatigue.  Gentle play is best until the growth plates close about 1-2 years depending on the size of the dog.  Puppy culture has a great brochure with guidelines as to what activity to work with your puppy as they grow up.

Exercise fun with your puppy

Fitness exercises like elevated stand and step overs are great basics to start with your puppy.  They begin to work on balance and it mentally challenges them so they are tired for you.  As these exercises become part of their routine they will have a stronger body and foundation for play, work, or competition.

Mentally challenging a puppy is also part of a fitness program to help them work out problems.  Freeze a kong with baby food flavors like chicken, turkey, pumpkin, and squash to give them when you have a project to work on.  They can work on the frozen kong and it is a reward for being good while you work.  As they manipulate the kong with their paws it will stretch out the joints and strengthen them up too.

GO have FUN with your puppy! Let us know what exercises they like best.

Join a puppy parkour class! 

Puppies can have fun with fitness too!
Build a stronger pup and a stronger bond through canine conditioning specifically for your puppy. Have fun learning exercises with safety to prevent injury throughout their life. Watch your puppy’s body confidence grow as they learn how to balance, weight shift, and wake up their nervous system. All while having fun doing back ups, give paw and more! A 6 week class. Once you complete this class you can come to drop in class.  Required: For puppies 4 months- 12  months old

Join a class Here
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Self-stabilization, Proprioception What is it?

 

Self-stabilization, Proprioception, What is it?

Do you remember a time your dog jumped on the bed and missed?  Or you tripped on a crack in the cement?  Your dog or you had a deficient proprioceptive or self-stabilizing system in the moment.

unstable beach terrain

Puppies are sensitive to the environment around them and are able to respond quickly to every little change.  Dogs have evolved to be deeply aware of their surroundings and adjust to changes for survival.  Their bodies are sensitive receivers taking in new information that translates to body movement.  As dogs are becoming more sedentary their body awareness is decreasing causing more injuries on hikes, work, or in competition.

In scientific terms.

Proprioception is the awareness of the body in space through mechanoreceptors and neuro sensing cells in the skin, receptive to the environment around us.  In English, the dog’s feet have neuro sensing cells that send messages of the ground they walk on to the brain.  These cells also monitor joint position and movement during daily activities. 

Another way to say it. 

This is the dynamic system of self-stabilization.   When your dog or you are on an uneven surface like a pebble road or the side of a mountain the nervous system is receiving input to adjust muscles for stabilizing so you both don’t fall down.  Not only muscles, also tendons, ligaments, and joint compression are modifying how they respond to the environment.  A pretty intricate system when you think about it.

Our dog gets hurt when there is less body awareness to compensate for the change in environment.  All day long they are lying on the couch with an occasional squirrel window chase or outside sound arousal.   After we get done with work we take our dog on a hike, work them, or practice for a weekend competition.   They have not had practice using their body on unstable surfaces during the day so there is decreased body awareness as they are walking over rocky terrain or jumping over an agility pole.  Their body is slower to respond to the change in environment which causes muscles, tendons, and ligaments to adjust slower potentially causing a muscle strain.

How do we improve this to limit injury?

A very simple change in routine can save you and your puppy a lot of pain later. Here are a few simple tips you can do at home or on a walk to improve body awareness then preventing injury.

  1. Walk over different terrain on your daily walks after work.  Stepping over rocks, curbs, mulch, sand, recycled rubber at play grounds, sticks, and grass can improve the input to the mechanoreceptors in their feet.  That input improves body awareness.
Different terrain
  1. 2. Placing poles, broom sticks, or sticks in a path they walk daily to encourage knowing where their feet are in space. In a hallway, outside the door, or after the patio steps. You can use expandable curtain rods in the hallway, don’t leave them up at night. Go to the dollar store and buy 2 laundry baskets with holes and stake them in the yard upside down. Then place poles in them. Be creative with your exercises.
step overs

These simple steps can improve your dog’s body awareness to react quicker to an obstacle helping preventing injury.  You can do the same exercises with them to help your proprioception while creating a stronger bond with your dog.

Leave us a comment or photo of your dog’s proprioceptive exercises.
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The Number 1 Exercise All Dogs Should Do

Stronger Dog Stronger Bond!

Canine Fitness Workout to Reduce Injury

Does your dog really need a workout routine?

  I thought this was a crazy idea a few years ago, I mean they are dogs and they know how to take care of themselves.  Right?

Dogs use to live in packs where they would play bow, weave, wrestle, and chase each other.  This was more apparent to me as I watched a friend’s pack of dogs playing in the yard.  Today dogs live in a household of one or maybe two dogs so they do not get the same play that their predecessors did.  As a result they are becoming injured at an increasing rate when jumping off the couch, bed, or out of the car.

What can you do?  If you are a pet parent or owner that truly wants to create a healthier dog then it is very simple steps you can take.  Canine physical fitness is a new field in the animal world.  It consist of people that have anything from a little training to lots of training and it is your job to research those people so your dog does not get injured in the process of helping them become stronger. You can find ‘My Story’ on another page.

You researched and found an canine fitness trainer your dog trust and relates to your needs.  Give them a call to have a quick consult to see if it is a good fit to work together and then get started.

Here are 2 exercises that will help to start improving your dog’s health today. 

  1. The Number 1 Exercise!! Front feet up or elevated stand- ask your dog to step up on a low solid step to shift their weight to the hind legs which will help strengthen their glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, and calf muscles.
  2. Step over sticks- ask your dog to step over sticks on the ground as you are on walks.  This will increase the proprioception in their feet to help them be more agile.   Read more on proprioception on my previous article ‘Proprioception, What is it’
Front feet up or elevated stand

If you want video instruction jump over to our Facebook page for a video pinned at the top of the page on how to do the above exercises and more. These are easy to add to your routine on a daily walk by stepping up on a curb and holding it.  These are simple ways to create a stronger canine and improve your animal human bond.

Leave us a comment on how your exercises are going.

Update: If your dog does sustain an injury they are recovering from, here is a good article on how to make both your lives easier during the healing time.

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