CONDITIONING AND FITNESS

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Why is Canine Conditioning important?

Conditioning for Dogs is for all ages, body types and abilities. It’s often considered a way to help dogs after an injury, but conditioning is also great to give dogs a strong and healthy structure to help prevent injury and keep them mobile for longer.

It focuses on moving the body to help strengthen muscles, ligaments, tendons etc., which all come together to support the joints, and supported joints are less prone to issues.

Conditioning helps to prepare dogs for more activities in the warmer months. Going from one or two road walks a day to a longer hike on varied terrain can be a lot for a dog and can cause injury, strains, or muscle fatigue. If your dog is involved in a sport there may be more training, competitions, and activities available.

How can we include Conditioning into our Dogs’ lives?

We can start at home, building up your dog’s muscle strength, coordination, balance, and general body awareness - and we don’t need any special equipment either, just things already found around the house.

Conditioning dogs can come in the form of workshops, 1-2-1 sessions as well as online masterclasses, so it’s now easier than ever to support our dogs for their futures.

It’s always important to warm our dogs up before starting exercise or activity.

Slow twists and spins, guiding your dog into a stand from a sitting position. Moving a treat from the end of their nose in a nice slow circle so your dog can follow it and move in a circle. Do some one way then some the other way but remember to ensure the floor isn’t slippery, and that your dog isn’t doing this on their back legs while bouncing as this isn’t appropriate for a warm-up. This one requires no props so it can be used at home and at the start of walks.

Stepping over Rolled Towels: 2-5 hand towels or small blankets will work great; just roll up, place on the floor approximately 30cm apart and slowly walk with your dog so they step over each towel. We are looking for them to step with each foot independently rather than bunny hopping. You can help by placing a small treat on the floor just after each towel, so your dog is looking down. This exercise helps utilise the leg muscles and the joints ready for faster exercise later.

If you have thin poles, a couple of broom handles or even narrow guttering to turn upside down to form bumps can be used instead of towels.

Bring your dog in front of you in a sit or stand. Use a treat on the nose to guide the head left for a second, give a treat, then the same to guide the head to the right for a second and give a treat. Repeat this 5-6 times each side for a little stretch of the neck, shoulders, cervical spine, and weight shifting, with muscle engagement of the front legs, shoulders, spine, pelvis, and hips. This can also be done with your dog in a ‘Peek-A-Boo’ position between your feet which can help keep them in one place to turn their head.

A few examples of main exercises.

Moving into main exercises, be careful to go slowly and build your dog up at their pace as starting to increase activity can lead to muscle fatigue and can affect them for the following few days. By working on preparing our dogs for their epic adventures later this year we can protect them from injury or accidents. Typically, ‘quality over quantity’ is the way forward, so doing 2-3 repetitions well is far more beneficial to dogs than trying 10 repetitions that are done partly or incorrectly.

Here are some foundation exercises that can help start our dogs with some strengthening and general body awareness.

Front Paws Up: take a low item such as a hard backed book or the lid of a storage box for example. Stand opposite your dog with the item between you and use a treat to lure your dog to place a paw on the item, giving them plenty of praise to build their confidence. Slowly move on to placing both front paws on the item.

Once your dog is placing both paws on the low item and is standing, we can hold the treat slightly higher than nose level and ask for a ‘paws up stand’ for a few seconds. Give them a treat and allow them to step off if they want to before repeating. While standing like this all the weight is moved to the rear end which engages the muscles to work without causing impact or stress on the joints. A few repetitions for this will be fine in a session, and if out on a walk, some front paws up on a small tree stump, a narrow secure fallen tree, low sea defences on the beach or some low steps would be a great way to incorporate this regularly as well.

Static Stands: teaching your dog to stand still for a few seconds and building up to 20-30 seconds is a great non-impact way to engage so many muscles, which in turn supports from head to toe. Lure your dog from a sit forward into a stand - with a treat - and reward and praise to get started. Gradually hold the treat for longer in front of your dog’s nose to help them stay still, then reward.

Teaching a stand stay can be harder than it looks as it’s easier for a dog to move a paw slightly and then carry on walking compared to when they sit or lay down and stay. Keep your hand signal and treat, level with your dog’s nose, as looking up can initiate a sit!

Ramps and slopes provide a natural weight shift, so going uphill on a slight incline sends the weight to the rest-end and encourages muscle engagement, whilst walking down a slope sends the weight to the front end.

If you have hills where you currently walk you could also go up and down normally a couple of extra times before continuing with your walk or, if there is a hill on one side of the path, you and your dog could zig zag up and down as you move forwards.

Cooling down is so important as it helps reduce injury or issues from the body cooling too fast, it also helps the body with overall healing and recovery.

Neck and Spine Stretch: Guiding your dog to stand across you (you can stand or kneel for this) use a treat on the nose to lure your dog’s head away from you towards their shoulder/hip direction. By having your dog across your legs, you can help them not keep turning in a circle. Hold the stretch for just a second or two and treat. Don’t force your dog to turn their head and neck - if new to conditioning they may have a smaller range of motion. Do this 2-4 times and repeat in the opposite direction. This is a great stretch for the neck, spine, shoulders, elbows, toes, and even the hips!

The Play bow Stretch is another great one for the back, but is also good for the hips, pelvis, ankles, toes, elbows, and shoulders too. Start with your dog standing alongside you, place your hand under their belly the other holding a treat to nose. Lower the treat hand for your dog to follow and keep the other hand under the belly to prevent a flat lay down. Treat and praise any attempt to lower the front end even if not a full bow yet and gradually your dog will get lower and lower and not need the hand supporting the rear end.

If you’re finishing a walk with your dog then ensure your dog doesn’t finish by running straight into the car for example - instead have a few minutes walking to help your dog’s body cool properly before they go lay in the car etc..

Most of all take this time to bond and have fun, as both you and your pooch will reap the benefits.

We had Canine Fitness Month in April, and our fun training and information is still available in our Facebook group if you’d like to learn more. Join us on Facebook in the group ‘K9 Conditioning with Joe Nutkins’ for challenges, tutorials, lives, and advice for our dogs for puppies, adult dogs and senior dogs.

Joe Nutkins Certified Professional Canine Fitness Trainer and Kennel Club Accredited Dog Trainer. Dog Training for Essex & Suffolk