02/09/2024
Rabbit’s shockwave vet recommended using an air mattress to work on his stability and core strength. (We have been working on stable surfaces for over a year now.) So, I bought a $14 inflatable twin mattress from Amazon, and placed two solid surface boards on top. This makes it just a little easier for the dog, while still challenging core and stability. (Stable surface on an unstable base, like a slightly more stable Bosu ball that’s turned upside down)
In these pics, Rabbit is just standing still in a square stand, but he’s still working pretty hard to keep from tipping over. You can see the board under his front feet is dipped slightly lower than the one under his rear feet. Dogs should carry about 70% of their weight on the front end, so I can see he’s perfectly distributing his weight here.
As part of this exercise, I also walked around him in each direction. He follows me by turning his head, which shifts his weight in each direction and from front to back as I move around him.
I am so incredibly pleased at his posture, stability, and proprioception. Sometimes, it’s hard to see how far you have come until you have an ‘Ah ha!’ moment like this!
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If there were some way to shrink the air mattress to a more manageable size, then I would include this particular setup and exercise in my next class. 😪