Conditioning Your Canine Athlete

[Dory the Doted One]

Where do you start? Is there science behind it? Or is it just another fad?

Does anyone have any good resources for me to read about it? And personal experiences?

What about things to do post exercise/heavy work?

[The Spotted Devil]

There's not a lot of science unfortunately. I think variety is important so my dogs swim, free run, tug, train on varying terrains (Em mainly) and do tricks for strengthening and flexibility (spins, balancing, perch work). Once I get my bike attachment sorted out I hope to do more of that. Em's training involves a lot of running and swimming anyway and, for jumping/agility I try not to overload on repetitive behaviours such as weaves and contacts. I try to warm up and cool them down before and after runs, whichever sport - might involve tricks, stretches, a gentle jog or sprint, tug, a swim if it's hot and a towel down if it's cold.

ETA: DD reminded me about Bowen treatments. It seems to help Zig especially.

Edited March 9, 2014 by The Spotted Devil

[huski]

We have a few articles on canine fitness on our website (scroll down to find the canine fitness section)

http://k9pro.com.au/services/knowledge-base/

I don't believe keeping your dog fit and healthy could be a fad, it makes performance better and helps to prevent injury.

We do a range of things including utitlizing Fitpaws equipment to build muscle and core strength, treadmills, swimming, walking/jogging etc.

We also use natural performance supplements and do notice a difference in recovery and endurance when using them. we feed Super Fuel in daily meals and give the dogs Go Dog before and after heavy training sessions/work outs.

Edited March 9, 2014 by huski

[Podengo]

I guess the science behind it would be similar to the science behind human athletes or race horses, except as there is very little money in sport dogs there has probably been no money to fund studies!

As for what I do... Nothing out of the ordinary, Elsie is fed a raw diet, we do a lot of tricks every day that hopefully build up muscle strength like sitting pretty/begging and getting her to hold it for longer, balancing on things, stretching and holding the position in a whole bunch of ways (her stretching as a trick, not me stretching her), she runs off lead every day and tears around being a bit nuts, we've started hydrotherapy recently and I do massages a few times a week. I warm her and myself up before agility just doing circle work off lead, and will put her over some lowered jumps going straight, then doing turns... Will get her practicing turns around a tree or something.

Oh and throughout the winter we do bikejouring, twice or three times a week.

After heavy work I always give her a good rest, then that evening will get a hot water bottle on her and do some massage. She loves it! Elsie sees an osteo now and then too.

Edited March 9, 2014 by DiscoDobe

[Dory the Doted One]

Thanks Guys. I started doing a look around for information and felt a bit hammered by it. I don't have a lot of opportunity to get dogs (those that will) into swimming, and we do regular walking not just for them but for me too.

We did some herding on the weekend with Willow and I noticed she was a bit stiff this morning. Fine once she walked it out, but considering herding is not likely to be an activity we can do every few days her stiffness reminded me that a conditioning program might be in order. That's when I fell into a big hole of information overload. :laugh

I know nothing of canine fitness for sport. But I figure just walks aren't going to cut it for the activities we have ahead of us.

[RiverStar-Aura]

I unknowingly started conditioning Zeus from the moment I brought him home at 12 weeks. I took him everywhere with me and he got hours upon hours of free running, swimming, exploring on different terrains too -- everything from beaches, hills, flat grass etc. It wasn't intentional conditioning more of an attempt to tire him out as he was an insanely active young puppy and no amount of exercise seemed to work, hence the huge variety of methods I tried.

Now, he's an amazingly fit and muscly dog with a huge stamina and awesome flexibility and manoeuvrability. I love watching him hon, twist and dodge and work at agility because he's built perfectly for it.

His training, when I got onto mental stimulation included tricks like begging, spinning, rolling over and he loves to run back and forth along our retaining wall so this helps with his balance and feet awareness. I'm now starting working him on standing on things like books and eventually hope to move onto things like upside-down bowls and FitPaws.

[Jumabaar]

We have been running a conditioning class for flyballers- these are all top dogs and can do some really difficult exercises, but fail at some of the most simply ones. We focus on strength and flexibility- there is lots of how to condition your dog to give them cardiovascular fitness but this is not going to protect them from injury and make sure they are able to keep their form.

I think the best way to go about it if you are actually serious is to consult an expert instead of trying to DIY it using articles etc. Lots of times you can be doing a good exercises but the dog is actually cheating and you are strengthening the wrong muscles!! The work you are doing should always look neat and tidy and controlled to get the best results- there are lots of youtube videos of dogs bouncing around on peanuts, balls and discs and they don't have good posture and are bounding around and probably doing more harm than good.

Animal Physiotherapists who use science based practices are awesome (I might be a little biased :p) I work with one who works as a human physio for soccer and football players who is able to use much of this to ensure our furry clients get the same treatment!! I can see if there are any near you, or we do Skype consults if you want to PM me :)

[J...]

We have been running a conditioning class for flyballers- these are all top dogs and can do some really difficult exercises, but fail at some of the most simply ones. We focus on strength and flexibility- there is lots of how to condition your dog to give them cardiovascular fitness but this is not going to protect them from injury and make sure they are able to keep their form.

I think the best way to go about it if you are actually serious is to consult an expert instead of trying to DIY it using articles etc. Lots of times you can be doing a good exercises but the dog is actually cheating and you are strengthening the wrong muscles!! The work you are doing should always look neat and tidy and controlled to get the best results- there are lots of youtube videos of dogs bouncing around on peanuts, balls and discs and they don't have good posture and are bounding around and probably doing more harm than good.

Animal Physiotherapists who use science based practices are awesome (I might be a little biased :p) I work with one who works as a human physio for soccer and football players who is able to use much of this to ensure our furry clients get the same treatment!! I can see if there are any near you, or we do Skype consults if you want to PM me :)

Best thing I've done recently with my dogs is find an awesome sports rehab vet who could identify my dog's strengths and weaknesses and put together a program for each dog.

Ask for some referrals from people and definitely make sure the person is appropriately qualified, I know two dogs who have had serious issues/injuries missed recently

Christine Zink uses a guideline of for every 10 minutes you spend doing agility you should be doing at least 2 to 3 times that of fitness/strength work with your dog. It's a guideline I stick to and would use for any dog sport.

I use a mix of swimming, water walking and beach free running in warm weather plus each dog's strength program, and hill free-running in Winter plus I'll ramp up their strength work.

[Tassie]

AD wrote

Best thing I've done recently with my dogs is find an awesome sports rehab vet who could identify my dog's strengths and weaknesses and put together a program for each dog.

Ask for some referrals from people and definitely make sure the person is appropriately qualified, I know two dogs who have had serious issues/injuries missed recently

Yes - for about 6 years now, my two BCs have been having fairly regular chiro (a highly recommended doggy as well as human one) and now acupuncture and/or massage following examination - with some gentle manipulation if needed. They are also on prophylactic/maintenance doses of supplements - was Joint Guard, now Rose Hip Vital Canine. I also keep them on the lean side. I'm sure this is partly responsible for my feral one still running happily in agility at just past her twelfth birthday. (Her choice, I might add. And both her normal vet and her acupuncture vet are happy for her to keep going while she wants to.)

I do have Fitpaws gear, for core strength and conditioning - but I'm not as systematic as I should be about using it. Good intentions.

[Tassie]

Sorry - double post :)

Edited March 10, 2014 by Tassie

[OSoSwift]

I don't have a program as such but I like my dogs fit.

We have 5 acres around the house. The go absolutely mad chasing balls each other etc everyday until they can't run any more.

They do lead walks, obedience, agility and trick training. I do a fair not of work on teaching them to jump correctly, so not lots of high stuff but lots of grids teaching them to lengthen and shorten and get a good round shape over a jump, angles etc.

They free run at the beach reasonably often as well as chafing balls and swimming out to get balls. We also have a fitball that we play on.

I feed mine a muscle supplement and that has helped my boy after we had done issues with muscle tears etc. I also changed their diet which had helped stamina and strength.

I figure do lots of different things and get lots of different muscle groups working

[Tassie]

Somewhat OT but while I think of it ....

@ RiverStar-Aura ... if you get a chance, have a look at the February edition of Clean Run magazine. Agility Australian Terrier on the front, and a lovely article about training terriers inside. :D

[huski]

I do free running and I do use a Chuckit launcher too but for performance dogs I am always conscious of not letting them get too much drive satisfaction from a self rewarding exercise or outside of a training session. If I want to use drive I would rather expend it in a constructive training session. Not saying I don't do it - but I am conscious of it and limit how much I do. Restricting those types of exercises can definitely impact on performance.

Edited March 10, 2014 by huski

[BC Crazy]

Huski, I use the same,a Chuck it ball launcher everyday at the beach. At the risk of sounding like a dummy LOL should I not be using it that often???? Not quite sure I understand . Does it spoil their work drive or something? My guys love it but they are pets atm. I would like to do Agility or DWD one day though hopefully.

[VizslaMomma]

We have a few articles on canine fitness on our website (scroll down to find the canine fitness section)

http://k9pro.com.au/services/knowledge-base/

I don't believe keeping your dog fit and healthy could be a fad, it makes performance better and helps to prevent injury.

We do a range of things including utitlizing Fitpaws equipment to build muscle and core strength, treadmills, swimming, walking/jogging etc.

We also use natural performance supplements and do notice a difference in recovery and endurance when using them. we feed Super Fuel in daily meals and give the dogs Go Dog before and after heavy training sessions/work outs.

Vizsla puppy that won at Crufts yesterday has been trained like this. I was lucky enough to be sent videos 3 months apart. My untrained eye could see the differences in movement with the dog. Been enjoying your site with all this info.

[huski]

Huski, I use the same,a Chuck it ball launcher everyday at the beach. At the risk of sounding like a dummy LOL should I not be using it that often???? Not quite sure I understand . Does it spoil their work drive or something? My guys love it but they are pets atm. I would like to do Agility or DWD one day though hopefully.

I look at it this way: in training I ask my dog to work hard to earn drive satisfaction with her ball. But if I let her have access to that reward frequently for little to nothing, why would she want to work hard for it the next day?

For some dogs it could make a big difference and for other dogs it may be a marginal difference but in competition and even in training that margin could make a huge difference.

It's not just about how much drive the dog has but developing a good work ethic where the dog tries hard to earn the reward and puts in maximum effort - not thinking it doesn't matter if they try hard because "meh, mum gives me this for free or next to free at the park or beach each day anyway".

[huski]

We have a few articles on canine fitness on our website (scroll down to find the canine fitness section)

http://k9pro.com.au/services/knowledge-base/

I don't believe keeping your dog fit and healthy could be a fad, it makes performance better and helps to prevent injury.

We do a range of things including utitlizing Fitpaws equipment to build muscle and core strength, treadmills, swimming, walking/jogging etc.

We also use natural performance supplements and do notice a difference in recovery and endurance when using them. we feed Super Fuel in daily meals and give the dogs Go Dog before and after heavy training sessions/work outs.

Vizsla puppy that won at Crufts yesterday has been trained like this. I was lucky enough to be sent videos 3 months apart. My untrained eye could see the differences in movement with the dog. Been enjoying your site with all this info.

That's great to hear VM! I noticed a big difference even just using supplements.

Wisdom had a litter recently and has been on Puppy Gold for months, but when I changed her back onto Super Fuel I noticed a difference in her muscle definition within a week. I do believe all of these things make a real difference.

[VizslaMomma]

That's great to hear VM! I noticed a big difference even just using supplements.

Wisdom had a litter recently and has been on Puppy Gold for months, but when I changed her back onto Super Fuel I noticed a difference in her muscle definition within a week. I do believe all of these things make a real difference.

Her litter sparked my interest in 'mobility'. I recall a photo of a puppy with a vest being taught to learn balance etc. That's what is interesting me.

(as well as looking at beautiful Malinois. Puppy is asleep so he does not know I am being unfaithful.)

:laugh:

[huski]

Lol yes that would have been for teaching proprioception to the pups. Lots of fun!

And caught on video for extra cute factor

Edited March 10, 2014 by huski

[OSoSwift]

What about if you can throw a tennis ball for a dog every day, but you use a blue ball as a training reward and they still show a huge amount of drive for that?

Or a dog that is addicted enough it would send it's self into collapse chasing said ball, it would then have anough desire to get the ball to use it for training and recreation?