Down to Stand
Teaching a fold-back down to stand is a great exercise to improve flexibility in elbows, shoulders and hips.
Turning on a plank
Not only is this an important body awareness exercise, it’s also an important Active Range of Motion exercise (AROM). Because the dog is using their muscles to bend their own body, the muscles are actively working, contracting concentrically (shortening) on the inside of the curve, and contracting eccentrically (lengthening) on the outside of the curve.
Along with the abdominal muscles working to bend the spine, the hip and shoulder stabilizers are working hard to balance the dog while they navigate this narrow platform.
This is one of the best body awareness exercises to teach large dogs about their rear end! This is a safe turning exercise for growing dogs, and will have a big positive impact for dogs competing in agility, flyball, disc or other sports that require a tight turn or significant mobility.
Strength Training
Strength Training
One of the major benefits of incorporating muscle building and strengthening activities into your dog’s daily exercise is that it helps to prevent injury.
Building muscle supports and gives stability to joints and tendons, and increase bone density.
Rock back sit to stand
Rock back sit, push forward stand.
We’re working towards power ups and increasing hindlimb control.
First time at this height, probably a little too much to be honest and should have stopped after the first two reps as she starts to move her hind feet more. So I’ll reduce the height a little for the moment.
Aiming for her to push off from behind soon and bring both front feet up together.
Advanced Side Stepping
Improves strength in the shoulder abductors (lateral shoulder) and adductors (medial shoulder).
🦴Unlike humans, dogs do not have a collarbone to aid in shoulder stability and distributing lateral forces applied to the thoracic limb... So strengthening the shoulder complex against lateral forces is especially important. 🤯🤯
⚠️ IMPORTANT ⚠️
1. Rear feet stay still and provide stability via strong core engagement, targeting the iliopsoas.
2. Beginner Level: Start by rewarding a single side step to the left. And then a single side step to the right.
3. Intermediate Level: Slowly increase width over time with the maximum width being ¾ withers height.
4. Front foot targets MUST be stable even at the Expert Level.
Through using proprioceptive training we can teach our dogs to be more bodily aware which will:
🐾 improve their balance
🐾 increase flexibility
🐾 build their strength
🐾 boost motor skills
🐾 improve speed and accuracy in sports
🐾 enhance free movement in the ring
This is important for ALL dogs, older dogs, youngsters, pet dogs, competition and working dogs, they will all benefit from improved proprioception.
Day 19 - Double Clip Game
Today we are sharing a game which will be really transformational for your walks. We often find that the sound of the lead being unclipped can be the trigger for your dog to run off, as well as signifying for your dog that their walk is ending and the fun is over.
Make this event super unpredictable and you’ll never have to chase your dog down again when it’s the end of a fun a walk. This is a great tool to have in your toolbox and a game we play all the time.
Day 18 - Go Sniff
Dogs often get distracted by scents on walks. Have you had this struggle? For today’s game we dive into how to harness the power of scent in your training to teach your dog that getting to do what they love to do (sniffing) can be a reward for working with you!
This is really powerful because when you harness what your dog really loves to do, you have a whole new level of reward.
Day 17 - Side
In today’s game we are again working on proximity, teaching our dogs to come into position at our side, which we reinforce with a lot of value.
This is a great alternative for larger dogs (or smaller owners) where Middle is a bit of a challenge.
LEAP into the fun with this simple, and incredibly effective, game that encourages your dog to be close, close, close! After all, how can they be tugging on lead, chasing that squirrel, or chasing those joggers if they are magnetised to YOU?
