Kangaroo K9 Conditioning

23/01/2024

Some work in progress - behind the scenes.

Getting ready for in person workshops. No chance of doing without 🦘supervision.

First one in 3 weeks, really looking forward to it.

22/01/2024

Adducted stand progression with the 🦘

In my previous post about fatigue Spryte was finding the raised front end set up really quite hard.

Since then we’ve continued to work on this exercise and we now have a different setup, which is probably harder although his front end is a little lower.

I added instability to the front end and reduced the height a little.

His tail position indicates how much more comfortable he is with this set up, although we still get a little hind foot movement.

I like this set up for him, we’ll spend some time here and gradually increase the time and repetitions before I see if we can increase the height very gradually

14/01/2024

When your friend Jacob comes to visit for some help with conditioning exercises.
My two don’t really fit on the Cato board at the same time so V’Ariel found a different spot to wait and watch when she wasn’t working.newson8

13/01/2024

Fatigue - I’ve mentioned it before, it’s important though.

Injury History

Knowing Individual Dogs

Spryte has a history of a chronic bilateral iliopsoas strain and stifle CMP ( inflammation in the cartilage on the back of his patellars) that took us over 18 months to get a real grip on. He’s the reason I became a CPCFT.

We are now 4 years since his full diagnosis and he’s essentially a normal dog now.

I’ve been progressing his adducted stand by increasing the height of his front end. This increases weight on the hind end.

Spryte’s tail is a great indicator of how hard he’s working.

It’s often between his legs when he’s working as you can see here, as he works harder it curls under further. I know how far I can push him before he fatigues from the position.

Any further than the most curled up you see here and he’d quit himself, indicated by a sharp, sudden sit.

When his front end is lower he can spend well over a minute and do 10 head turns each way. I know he can’t do that with this setup currently so I’m not asking for so much.

He’s also moving his hind feet a little and steps off briefly, another indicator of fatigue.

He manages to hold a smooth topline without roaching so I’m really pleased with this, and we will build on this.

It’s really important to learn what fatigue looks like in individual dogs.

V’Ariel is different. She gets really wonky and bendy at the moment. We shall see as she gets stronger if that stays the same or if fatigue shows in different ways.

This is why I video so many of our sessions, I can watch the screen and see what’s going on from the side, as I can’t actually see his tail where I’m standing.

07/01/2024

I’ve been trying to work out how to increase my reach.

Thank you to Positive Pawformance Veterinary Physiotherapy & Hydrotherapy for their post regarding a new feature on Facebook. I think it will help lots of small businesses.

05/01/2024

🦘In person workshops coming soon.

🦘Amersham, Bucks, HP7

🦘Message or comment for more information

03/01/2024

When you have mini break through, and over do the praise😂😂

01/01/2024

Rock back sit - Push forward stand
🦘Up until now the push forward part has been more of a ‘step and pull from front end’.

🦘V’Ariel had a check with her new physio team 10 days ago as she was a bit silly at agility training (🧜‍♀️ thought she could fly) and although she seemed fine I wanted to check.
🦘They felt she was ok from that but was a little tight in her right hamstring.
🦘Why, we’re not sure but nothing else found so we’ve added some heat packing and massage. I’m also walking her without Spryte and focusing on sensible walking to get her to relax rather than walk like a hunchback.
Today we had this:
🦘Lifting front feet together and starting to push from behind.
🦘Co-incidence? I don’t know, I’d been using raised stands with dynamic weight shifting to build her expaxials and gluteals for a few weeks so maybe it’s a combination, however it’s a huge improvement in her mechanics.
🦘The push forward part will lengthen the hamstring and the rock back part will shorten it so a great exercise to gently work those hamstrings.

26/12/2023

🦘Finally finished my first set of notes to accompany the warm up and cool down workshop I did a few weeks ago.

🦘I’m sure they’ll develop in the future but pleased with this first edition.

🦘This was aimed at agility but I can adapt to other sports as well.

16/12/2023

When the 🦘 joins in with conditioning from his platform. He really does have such a need to work.

A raised hand is his signal to lift a paw, for V’Ariel it’s accidentally become a stillness cue hence why I was using it this evening .
Love him.
It was cold in my conservatory this evening and we’d just been for a warm up walk😂.

14/12/2023

Rock back sit - Push forward stand

V’Ariel continues to make progress and can do more reps on the propel air. As you can see in the video her form improves during these reps, with less hind foot movement until the last which is her showing fatigue so we take a break.
Next step is to get her pushing from behind into the stand better, and bringing both front feet up more together instead.
I think she needs to build a bit more strength in her hind quarters particularly her gluteals for this so using a few other exercises to focus on these

05/12/2023

Do you want to get the best out of your dog?
Build strength and fitness for improved performance.
Fine tune exercise mechanics to strengthen particular areas

I’m now offering customised conditioning plans.

Contact me for more information.

https://form.jotform.com/232681432296358

03/12/2023

Adducted Stands with The 🦘

I posted Spryte doing adducted stands a few months ago, but felt this deserves a revisit.

I was so pleased with his posture in this rep. It takes him a moment to get his hind feet positioned
Initially he’s not quite straight and slightly on the front of the pods. He readjusts very calmly for him into a beautiful position, with a lovely smooth topline, vertical forelimbs and hindlimbs below the hock. Feet remain level and only one slight readjust. Just need the head turns a little straighter as he twists his head a little.

Note this is the THIRD rep of this exercise, each time holding a little stillness and then 10 head turns each side.

He looks strong and comfortable in his hindlimbs, when a few months ago this was quite hard work.

Time for some progression, so we’ll increase the height a little, to increase weight on the hindlimb.

He really does try so hard.

Excuse the dog towel I forgot to move before filming, luckily it doesn’t block the 🦘🦘🦘

01/12/2023

First canine fitness workshop booked with a local club, details to appear in a few weeks. Really looking forward to it.

If you are interested in something similar please let me know, classes can be adjusted for all ages/ experiences from puppies to seniors. Sports dogs to pet dogs.

Dogs just need to be generally fit and well.

29/11/2023

🦘🦘Work In Progress🦘🦘

29/11/2023

I held my first practical workshop just over a week ago.

We had a small group, which meant I could work closely with the dogs and their owners and hopefully answer their questions.

I’m now creating some supporting notes to go with it.

26/11/2023

And next a little planking with V’Ariel.

We’re mostly working on technique, learning how far she can stretch without moving her hind feet, which we’ve not quite mastered between us yet. She’s a little less frantic than the 🦘😂.

#

25/11/2023

Plank work for the Kangaroo.

Spryte works at quite a high intensity level, I spend a lot of time rewarding him, as he’ll start offer and guess. This wasn’t his best session, but I wanted to post because you can see his muscle engagement so well.

So please excuse Mr slightly frantic😂🦘😂.
Planking works the core muscles including the iliopsoas. It also requires significant engagement of the proximal hindlimb muscles. In this video you can see that activity, in particular the biceps femoris, and the quadriceps femoris.

06/11/2023

A little comparison of my two doing some bows.
Spryte is overall an older, stronger and more experienced dog.
V’Ariel is a very slight and bendy little thing.
In the bows 🧜‍♀️ has a much greater ROM in her shoulders compared to the 🦘 though, he tends to show more flexion in his elbow and therefore less shoulder extension.
His hindquarters are straighter and 🧜‍♀️ has a little more stifle flexion than I’d like.
We’ll work on these and see who progresses most.

05/11/2023

Bit more on bows.
I’ve just started to introduce these to V’Ariel.
She doesn’t always get it first time and can’t do many reps yet, she is progressing and I think they’ll be much better than the 🦘’s in a few weeks.

03/11/2023

I’ve been going back to basics with Spryte recently as we’re back on a consistent routine of 3 sessions per week. Bow is something he’s never found easy so it will take time for him to get a little deeper and be able to complete more repetitions. He tries so hard and is making progress. This is from a week or so ago.
The movement of his front foot is an indicator of fatigue, along with slight stifle flexion creeping in occasionally. So that was enough for that exercise in one session.

28/10/2023

🦘 In person workshop

🦘 Working Spots £25

🦘 Spectator Spots £10

https://forms.gle/CtyEhReBy3kUDSEg9


I’m a Registered Vet Nurse and Canine Fitness trainer, aiming to help support owners and create dogs fit for sports.

27/10/2023

Fabulous post and explanation from the Canine Conditioning Coach and Susan Garrett explaining why fitness and conditioning are required prior to agility and not because you dog does agility.

‼️What do Dog Agility, Chainsaw Juggling, Cliff Diving, and Rattlesnake Catching have in common??‼️

⏰They are all hobbies that have big consequences if things go sideways. And with high risk the question is not "IF", but "WHEN".⏰

And along with stressing the emotional well-being component, I would even further emphasize how physically taxing, agility is even for highly trained, and exceptionally well conditioned dogs. Dogs participating in agility "just-for-fun" are at an even higher risk of physical consequences because they are oftentimes lack the underlying training to execute the skills necessary to independently navigate agility obstacles, or a full agility course.

➡️CAUSE: Because many of these dogs are so handler dependent (attached by a leash, following a cookie lure, following a toy lure), the mechanics being used to jump, navigate contact zones, implement weave poles, etc end up being compromised.

➡️EFFECT: When the dog looking at the handler *while executing obstacles* the body is rotated with respect to the direction of motion. As a result, small muscles in the shoulder, and the medial / lateral hip often end up taking more stress than is appropriate for the size of the muscle (local stabilizers versus global movers). And this increases the risk of injury.

Lastly, running an agility course should NOT be used as a means of creating conditioning in the overweight or deconditioned dog. It should only be used as a final test of skills in a strong, flexible, focused, TRAINED dog.

⭐Susan Garrett (Facebook is being dumb and not allowing me to tag) put out a 🤩BRILLIANT 🤩 blog post on this topic. Here are the highlights (link to the full blog post in the comments).

1️⃣ Dog Agility and Chainsaw Juggling
"Consider for a moment everything a dog has to do in agility. Without care, many things in dog agility put this hobby out of the “just-for-fun” group and up into the “will have consequences” group of pastimes. But the risk in dog agility is often hidden and not perceivable if you don’t have experience. We can all easily imagine the consequence of juggling chainsaws.

And it is hard if you are just starting as there are facilities out there encouraging you to join up and do agility with your dog “just-for-fun”. These facilities might not have the dog training background or know the risk either! You want to avoid going anywhere where dogs are being dragged, pushed, pulled or lured over equipment with food or toys and where getting the dogs to do the obstacles is the main aim."

2️⃣ It’s Not About the Performance First
"Agility training with a focus on performance over consistency is a risk. Sure, it would be cool to see your dog run over the Dog Walk in his first session, but that is risky for the dog. You may as well turn on the chainsaws and start juggling.

The performance needs to be broken down into layers. Every component can be shaped so there is joy and confidence for the dog. Then the layers can start to come together, and you will end up with an amazing performance that is mutual fun. Anything less than this risks physical or psychological damage to our dogs.

When there is only focus on performance, many dogs become scared of equipment and when this happens, the fear they have is always going to override anything that is used to lure them to perform. Always, always monitor your dogs T.E.M.P …. for more on the state you want your dog to be in, visit my vlog on the “Circle of Fun“.

A worried dog is not going to “get used to it” or “get over it” unless he is in a tiny percentage, no matter what you are told. And remember that our dogs can stress high or low … meaning they can either get more and more over the top or more and more shut down. If this is your dog, you might be told not do agility because “your dog does not ‘like agility'”.

3️⃣ Grow Your Dog’s Confidence
"Our goal should be to always grow and protect our dog’s confidence in agility (and everything we do). The significant danger of “just-for-fun” agility is that the dog’s psychological safety is not considered and the “mutual fun” is overlooked.

Changing the phrase “just-for-fun” to “I want to have fun with the dog I love” leads you to bring out the best in your dog and grow his confidence. Having fun with the dog you love will see your dog LOVE agility and LOVE showing his skills off to you.

Let your motivation be to have mutual fun with the dog you love!"

20/10/2023

🦘A different set up for Rock back sit/ Push forward stand.

🦘V’Ariel’s not done much with inflatables yet.

🦘Really pleased with this, I think we’ll switch between the stable and unstable set ups for a bit until she can get the timing between full tibiotarsal flexion and front foot timing, as discussed by recently with our first set up.
🦘love the propel air platform by

12/10/2023

Warm Up and Cool Down Workshop.
Friday 17th November 23
6.30pm for 6.45pm start (approximately 2hours long)
Indoor Venue Old Amersham HP7
Working Spots £25
Spectator Spots £10
https://forms.gle/CtyEhReBy3kUDSEg9

08/10/2023

Rock back sit, push forward/ up stand progression.
Trying a new set up and seeing how she does. Ideally I’d like her hindquarters on the floor a little sooner, however it’s not far off.

26/09/2023

🦘Looking for a winter strength and conditioning fitness plan?
🦘Need an age appropriate plan for a puppy or young dog to create body awareness and good movement mechanics
🦘Kangaroo k9 Conditioning has a few spaces for customised plans available starting in October.
🦘Contact me here to find our more https://form.jotform.com/232681432296358 .
🦘 Also available soon:
🦘 Warm up cool down workshops to help you design a routine for your dog with correct exercise mechanics, register on the link above if you are interested.
🦘Based in Buckinghamshire can offer in person or virtual assessments (UK only)

23/09/2023

Rock back sit, push forward stand.
We’re working towards power ups and increasing hindlimb control including eccentric and concentric loading.
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.