Monday was the third (of three) session of the conditioning class that Maisy and I have been attending. At this point, if you have been following the program, your dog should be fit, or close to it. If not, don’t worry- all dogs progress at different rates. Keep working on the exercises they struggle with until they’ve built up the necessary strength to do them with ease. Once your dog is fit, you have two options: you can either choose to maintain the level of fitness they’ve obtained, or you can work on further improving their abilities.
Maintenance
Maintenance exercises should be done about twice a week, and the exercises you do should be tailored to your dog’s needs. For example, since Maisy’s major weakness lies in her shoulders, we will do more exercises to work on maintaining and improving the strength in her front end. She also has a long back, so I’ll pay attention to exercises that target the core muscles. However, there are four main exercises that will benefit all dogs, no matter what their specific needs are. They are:
Stairs. If you do nothing else, this would be the exercise to do! It was first introduced during session 1. Since this exercise works both the rear and the front, it is an excellent way to maintain strength and range of motion. Continue to do five round trips on the stairs about twice a week, and definitely no more than three times a week. For the short leggers, you can walk up and down a hill (or secure a wide plank to your stairs) to simulate the same activity.
Side-line Sit-ups. Also introduced in session 1, this exercise will help your dog maintain her core muscles. Do 10 to 15 reps per side, twice a week. You can probably squeak by doing these only once a week if your dog gets a lot of aerobic exercise.
Down to Stand. Introduced in session 2, this exercise works the rear, front and helps your dog maintain her balance, so it’s a great maintenance exercise. Do 10-15 reps per leg, twice a week.
Aerobic Exercise. Your dog should get 20-30 minutes of sustained aerobic exercise at least three times a week. Going to agility class doesn’t count- while aerobic, the exercise is generally in short bursts. We’re looking for sustained activity.
Going Further: Ball Work
If you want to improve your dog’s fitness even more, our instructor recommended doing ball work. Although she doesn’t believe it will get your dog completely fit in and of itself, she does think it’s a great way to keep building on the exercises already introduced.
Our instructor said that if we are interested in ball work, the best thing to do is get the video Get on the Ball by Debbie Gross Saunders. Since working on the ball is very high intensity, she said it’s far better to do the program in the video instead of trying to do it on our own.
We discussed which type of ball would be best for each dog. In general, she prefers the peanut shaped balls because they provide a bit more stability, and have a bit more surface area for the dog to stand on. Size wise, she recommended that we get a size about four inches taller than our dog, although it’s more important that you be able to hold and control the ball. In the early stages, especially, you’ll need to be able to hold the ball still so as to control the level of difficulty for the dog.
She also showed us how shifting the ball slightly caused the dog’s muscles to contract, and cautioned us to keep the sessions very short at first, probably no more than two to three minutes. When the only short-haired dog in the class got up on the ball, you could see every single one of his muscles pop out. I can see how that would leave a dog very sore if you worked on the ball for too long.
All in all, it was a great class. I am very glad I got a chance to learn from someone with so much experience. It really gave me a new appreciation for the stresses we put our dogs’ bodies through, and how important it is to physically prepare them for the demands dog sports require. I know that I will be much more cautious about what I ask Maisy to do in the future, and work hard to condition her so I can prevent injuries.
Showing posts with label conditioning exercises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conditioning exercises. Show all posts
Friday, June 11, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Performance Dog Conditioning Class: Session 2
On Monday, Maisy and I went to the second of three sessions of our performance dog conditioning class. We got a new set of exercises this week. Since some of these exercises build on last session’s exercises, check out those exercises before you try these!
Sideline Sit-Ups. This is the same as we did before- same methodology, and same repetitions.
Stairs. Also the same as before.
Down to Stand. This exercise builds on the muscles we developed in the sit to stand and diagonal leg lifts exercises from last session. It works the rear, shoulders and core, so it’s a great overall exercise! To do it, put your dog in a sphinx down. Then, grasp one of your dog’s front paws and lure the dog forward to a standing position. The dog shouldn’t sit first. Then repeat, holding the other front paw. This exercise should be done daily, 10-15 reps per leg.
Active Shoulder Stretches. Since active stretches (ones your dog does) is always better than passive ones (ones you perform for your dog), this exercise helps teach your dog to stretch his shoulders. It’s useful for strengthening the shoulders, and makes an excellent warm-up exercise. It will specifically improve your dog’s performance with weaving. To do it, put your dog in a sit, and ask your dog to shake. Shape your dog to do a full outward extension of the paw by moving your hand further and further away so she has to reach further in order to touch your hand with her paw. You should do this exercise daily, 15-20 reps per leg.
Spins. Instead of simply having the dog spin in a circle, like we did previously, we’re going to add in more drive and lateral movement. This will help build the core and front end. To do it, put your dog in a sit and toss a treat or toy behind your dog about 6-8 feet. You’ll need to toss the toy so that your dog will turn to the left on one rep, and to right on the next. The dog will chase after the toy, which will extend the shoulder when he turns and pushes off, and since she will be driving off with more force, it will build strength. Do this daily, 10 reps in each direction.
Beg to Stand and Back. There’s actually three exercises here, and you need to progress at the dog’s ability level, since we are building core strength and balance.
The first step is to lure the dog into a begging position where she is rocked back on her haunches, not standing on the hind legs. A dog who goes straight up on the hind legs is using her front end, not her core or hind. The dog should hold the begging position for about 3-5 seconds (basically, however long it takes the dog to become balanced). Do this daily, 8-10 reps of 3-5 seconds each.
The next step builds on the first. Once the dog can get into a begging position, lure the dog from the beg to standing on her back legs. This requires core strength, balance and hind end strength. As such, it increases the intensity, and once you progress to this level, you should do only 6-8 reps, every other day.
Finally, once your dog is doing well with the second step, you’ll lure the dog from the beg, to the standing position, and back down into a sit, all while remaining vertical! This is very difficult for the dog, and you do not want to rush this. Again, it’s an every other day exercise, of 6-8 reps only.
As a side note, Maisy was quite good at going into a begging position and holding it. In fact, the instructor was quite surprised that Maisy could do it at all, since long-backed dogs typically lack the core strength necessary to do it.
Wheelbarrowing. As the name implies, this exercise requires you to lift your dog’s back feet off the ground and then encourage her to “walk” with the front feet only. The easiest way to do this is by setting out a line of treats, approximately one foot apart. Doing this exercise is really good for the shoulders and scapula, and will improve your dog’s ability to do downhill work (like the A-frame, teeter, etc.). However, it is vital you do it correctly, because failure to do so will invert the back and cause injury. Because of this, I think I might pass on doing this exercise; I'm terrified of back injuries! Anyway, you should be grasping under the dog’s body, near the groin, and just barely lift the back feet off the ground- an inch or two at most. You will either need to bend over, or with the shorties, you can use a towel instead. This is a high intensity exercise, and should be done every other day. Do 3-5 reps of 5-6 feet each.
I think her back feet are too far off the ground in this picture, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what the exercise looks like.
We also discussed the use of cavaletti, which is a series of slightly elevated poles. They are not officially a part of the program, but Lin said they are good exercise as they help develop flexion, extension and balance. Even better, you can adjust your dog’s stride length by using them, which can help teach better jumping skills. Cavaletti is a core rehab exercise for injured dogs, so if your dog knows how to do them in advance, rehab will be much easier.
To do cavaletti properly, the dog should walk over the bars, not jump. Eventually you can progress to trotting over them, but that tempts the dog to jump, so start at a walk. You should set them up so that they are approximately half the dog’s body length apart. The closer together they are, the harder they are. They should be about hock-high off the ground; high enough that the dog needs to work a bit, but not so high that the dog is tempted to jump. You should always do a group with a minimum of 6 bars. This exercise should be done 2-3 times a week, with 36-40 bars (so, six reps of six bars) each time.
I’m looking forward to working on all these exercises with Maisy. There’s only one more week left, and at that session we’ll get our maintenance exercises. It does take a bit of time, but a little bit of prevention will hopefully go a long way in preventing injuries!
Sideline Sit-Ups. This is the same as we did before- same methodology, and same repetitions.
Stairs. Also the same as before.
Down to Stand. This exercise builds on the muscles we developed in the sit to stand and diagonal leg lifts exercises from last session. It works the rear, shoulders and core, so it’s a great overall exercise! To do it, put your dog in a sphinx down. Then, grasp one of your dog’s front paws and lure the dog forward to a standing position. The dog shouldn’t sit first. Then repeat, holding the other front paw. This exercise should be done daily, 10-15 reps per leg.
Active Shoulder Stretches. Since active stretches (ones your dog does) is always better than passive ones (ones you perform for your dog), this exercise helps teach your dog to stretch his shoulders. It’s useful for strengthening the shoulders, and makes an excellent warm-up exercise. It will specifically improve your dog’s performance with weaving. To do it, put your dog in a sit, and ask your dog to shake. Shape your dog to do a full outward extension of the paw by moving your hand further and further away so she has to reach further in order to touch your hand with her paw. You should do this exercise daily, 15-20 reps per leg.
Spins. Instead of simply having the dog spin in a circle, like we did previously, we’re going to add in more drive and lateral movement. This will help build the core and front end. To do it, put your dog in a sit and toss a treat or toy behind your dog about 6-8 feet. You’ll need to toss the toy so that your dog will turn to the left on one rep, and to right on the next. The dog will chase after the toy, which will extend the shoulder when he turns and pushes off, and since she will be driving off with more force, it will build strength. Do this daily, 10 reps in each direction.
Beg to Stand and Back. There’s actually three exercises here, and you need to progress at the dog’s ability level, since we are building core strength and balance.
The first step is to lure the dog into a begging position where she is rocked back on her haunches, not standing on the hind legs. A dog who goes straight up on the hind legs is using her front end, not her core or hind. The dog should hold the begging position for about 3-5 seconds (basically, however long it takes the dog to become balanced). Do this daily, 8-10 reps of 3-5 seconds each.
The next step builds on the first. Once the dog can get into a begging position, lure the dog from the beg to standing on her back legs. This requires core strength, balance and hind end strength. As such, it increases the intensity, and once you progress to this level, you should do only 6-8 reps, every other day.
Finally, once your dog is doing well with the second step, you’ll lure the dog from the beg, to the standing position, and back down into a sit, all while remaining vertical! This is very difficult for the dog, and you do not want to rush this. Again, it’s an every other day exercise, of 6-8 reps only.
As a side note, Maisy was quite good at going into a begging position and holding it. In fact, the instructor was quite surprised that Maisy could do it at all, since long-backed dogs typically lack the core strength necessary to do it.
Wheelbarrowing. As the name implies, this exercise requires you to lift your dog’s back feet off the ground and then encourage her to “walk” with the front feet only. The easiest way to do this is by setting out a line of treats, approximately one foot apart. Doing this exercise is really good for the shoulders and scapula, and will improve your dog’s ability to do downhill work (like the A-frame, teeter, etc.). However, it is vital you do it correctly, because failure to do so will invert the back and cause injury. Because of this, I think I might pass on doing this exercise; I'm terrified of back injuries! Anyway, you should be grasping under the dog’s body, near the groin, and just barely lift the back feet off the ground- an inch or two at most. You will either need to bend over, or with the shorties, you can use a towel instead. This is a high intensity exercise, and should be done every other day. Do 3-5 reps of 5-6 feet each.
I think her back feet are too far off the ground in this picture, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what the exercise looks like.
We also discussed the use of cavaletti, which is a series of slightly elevated poles. They are not officially a part of the program, but Lin said they are good exercise as they help develop flexion, extension and balance. Even better, you can adjust your dog’s stride length by using them, which can help teach better jumping skills. Cavaletti is a core rehab exercise for injured dogs, so if your dog knows how to do them in advance, rehab will be much easier.
To do cavaletti properly, the dog should walk over the bars, not jump. Eventually you can progress to trotting over them, but that tempts the dog to jump, so start at a walk. You should set them up so that they are approximately half the dog’s body length apart. The closer together they are, the harder they are. They should be about hock-high off the ground; high enough that the dog needs to work a bit, but not so high that the dog is tempted to jump. You should always do a group with a minimum of 6 bars. This exercise should be done 2-3 times a week, with 36-40 bars (so, six reps of six bars) each time.
I’m looking forward to working on all these exercises with Maisy. There’s only one more week left, and at that session we’ll get our maintenance exercises. It does take a bit of time, but a little bit of prevention will hopefully go a long way in preventing injuries!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Performance Dog Conditioning Class- Session 1
I mentioned that I took Maisy to a performance dog conditioning class the other day, but was so excited by how well she handled a stressful environment, that I neglected to share the details of her structural analysis, as well as the conditioning exercises we were given. And, both of those things were really interesting, so I definitely want to share that information!
First, and most exciting: There is nothing structurally wrong with Maisy, or at least, not wrong enough that doing agility would be bad for her. The instructor, Lin, actually had very little criticism of Maisy’s structure. She apparently has a nice angulation in the rear, which affects her ability to jump, overall balance, and endurance. She also has a fairly flat back, which is good. Maisy is slightly higher in the butt than the front, but that is apparently common in herding breeds. At any rate, it isn’t high enough to impact her movement. Maisy had surprisingly good core strength. People gasped when they saw it- I think that, with her having such a long back in relation to her legs, they expected her to be weaker in the core. Frankly, I did, too.
She does have more trouble in the front, which is unfortunate since more of the dog’s weight is carried in the front than the back (approximately 60%). Thus, the front acts as a shock absorber. I was already somewhat aware of this because of the Suzanne Clothier seminar, especially what she said about the short-leggers having altered structure. Anyway, Lin said that Maisy has pretty good shoulder extension, both forward and back, although Maisy was ouchy on the right shoulder when she did the backwards extension. She had that problem about a year ago, and then it improved, and then after the attack, she had problems with it again. I’m hoping that it heals up nicely. Maisy is also slightly shallow in the chest, which can result in poorly supported elbows.
But, none of it is seriously flawed, and with some good conditioning, she ought to be able to do agility with little risk. Although I’m not sure I will ever compete in agility with Maisy, we’d like to learn more about it. I think Maisy would enjoy it, and I’ve heard great things about it building confidence in fearful dogs.
Anyway, for the next two weeks, we have six exercises to work on, in addition to the regular exercise a dog needs anyway.
Heads up heeling. This forces the dog to be balanced and collected, and it’s even more effective if you do figure 8s, circles, etc. We are supposed to work on both the left and right sides, for a total of 10 minutes a day.
Kickback stands. This is moving from a sit to a stand with no forward motion from the front feet. This helps to build the quads, hamstrings, and hip flexors. We are supposed to do 20 reps twice a day.
Diagonal limb lifts. In this exercise, while the dog is standing still, the handler picks up one rear leg and then the diagonal fore leg, holding by the toes. This helps build core strength. You should do 10 reps for each set of limbs, holding the rep for the count of 10, twice a day.
Spins from a sit. This exercise is to have the dog do a complete spin, starting from a sitting position. Do it twice a day, ten times in each direction.
Sideline sit ups. In this exercise, you have the dog lie flat on her side, and using a treat lure, have the dog lift her head toward the hip. She should be bending up, not curling around. This helps improve core strength, which in turn will reduce the amount of stress on the front and rear. It will also help improve the dog’s ability to weave. This is a high intensity exercise, so we only do 10 reps per side every other day.
Stairs. I haven’t figured out how to do this one with Maisy yet: her legs are too short. What she’s supposed to do is go up and down stairs, using one step per leg. It helps build the quads, stifles, hips, knees, and hamstrings in the back, as well as the shoulders and biceps in the front. Because this is also a high intensity exercise, we’re supposed to do 5 round trips of a normal length stairway every other day. She suggested I find some way to make platforms to do this. I’ll have to see what I can jury rig up.
At our next class, in two weeks, we will keep some of these exercises, build on others, and drop others entirely. I can’t wait to see how it goes!
First, and most exciting: There is nothing structurally wrong with Maisy, or at least, not wrong enough that doing agility would be bad for her. The instructor, Lin, actually had very little criticism of Maisy’s structure. She apparently has a nice angulation in the rear, which affects her ability to jump, overall balance, and endurance. She also has a fairly flat back, which is good. Maisy is slightly higher in the butt than the front, but that is apparently common in herding breeds. At any rate, it isn’t high enough to impact her movement. Maisy had surprisingly good core strength. People gasped when they saw it- I think that, with her having such a long back in relation to her legs, they expected her to be weaker in the core. Frankly, I did, too.
She does have more trouble in the front, which is unfortunate since more of the dog’s weight is carried in the front than the back (approximately 60%). Thus, the front acts as a shock absorber. I was already somewhat aware of this because of the Suzanne Clothier seminar, especially what she said about the short-leggers having altered structure. Anyway, Lin said that Maisy has pretty good shoulder extension, both forward and back, although Maisy was ouchy on the right shoulder when she did the backwards extension. She had that problem about a year ago, and then it improved, and then after the attack, she had problems with it again. I’m hoping that it heals up nicely. Maisy is also slightly shallow in the chest, which can result in poorly supported elbows.
But, none of it is seriously flawed, and with some good conditioning, she ought to be able to do agility with little risk. Although I’m not sure I will ever compete in agility with Maisy, we’d like to learn more about it. I think Maisy would enjoy it, and I’ve heard great things about it building confidence in fearful dogs.
Anyway, for the next two weeks, we have six exercises to work on, in addition to the regular exercise a dog needs anyway.
Heads up heeling. This forces the dog to be balanced and collected, and it’s even more effective if you do figure 8s, circles, etc. We are supposed to work on both the left and right sides, for a total of 10 minutes a day.
Kickback stands. This is moving from a sit to a stand with no forward motion from the front feet. This helps to build the quads, hamstrings, and hip flexors. We are supposed to do 20 reps twice a day.
Diagonal limb lifts. In this exercise, while the dog is standing still, the handler picks up one rear leg and then the diagonal fore leg, holding by the toes. This helps build core strength. You should do 10 reps for each set of limbs, holding the rep for the count of 10, twice a day.
Spins from a sit. This exercise is to have the dog do a complete spin, starting from a sitting position. Do it twice a day, ten times in each direction.
Sideline sit ups. In this exercise, you have the dog lie flat on her side, and using a treat lure, have the dog lift her head toward the hip. She should be bending up, not curling around. This helps improve core strength, which in turn will reduce the amount of stress on the front and rear. It will also help improve the dog’s ability to weave. This is a high intensity exercise, so we only do 10 reps per side every other day.
Stairs. I haven’t figured out how to do this one with Maisy yet: her legs are too short. What she’s supposed to do is go up and down stairs, using one step per leg. It helps build the quads, stifles, hips, knees, and hamstrings in the back, as well as the shoulders and biceps in the front. Because this is also a high intensity exercise, we’re supposed to do 5 round trips of a normal length stairway every other day. She suggested I find some way to make platforms to do this. I’ll have to see what I can jury rig up.
At our next class, in two weeks, we will keep some of these exercises, build on others, and drop others entirely. I can’t wait to see how it goes!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)