Building A Fitness Routine for Your Dog
Here’s how to keep your dog happy and healthy.
How much exercise does your dog get? While some dogs, especially breeds like border collies, are known for needing a lot of exercise, all dogs regardless of age, size or breed/breed mix need regular exercise. Making sure that dogs get enough physical exercise is critical for their overall health and well-being. Exercise helps dogs to reach and maintain a healthy weight, improves their overall cardiovascular health, strengthens muscles, helps dogs age more gracefully and lowers the risk of diseases. Daily exercise also helps a dog’s emotional health and can decrease symptoms of reactivity, and anxiety. As an American Kennel Club FIT DOG Instructor here are some of my favorite ways to create fitness plan for your dog.
Before Increasing Exercise:
Before starting to increase the amount of exercise your dog regularly gets you want to make sure that they are healthy, and that doing so won’t cause injuries to your dog. Scheule a full physical for your dog which will give the opportunity for your dog’s veterinarian to let you know if your dog has any preexisting medical conditions like arthritis which could be aggravated by a sudden increase in exercise. Knowing if there are any health conditions to watch for can help you prevent over-exercising your dog which can also be detrimental to your dog’s health and result in injuries. Increase your dog’s level of physical activity slowly. Just like you wouldn’t wake up one morning and decide to run a marathon after a lifetime of playing video games, we want to not overwhelm our dogs with too much exercise when their bodies aren’t ready.
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Get Out and Walk:
Regular walks are an easy way to add structured exercise into your dog's regular routine. Regular walks help to keep dogs physically conditioned and burn excess calories to help keep dogs at a healthy weight. Walking also helps keep your dog's joints Walking is a relatively low impact way of increasing your dog's exercise and helps keep your dog from being sedentary. If you’re looking to do more fitness focused walking with your dog here are a few tips to get you started:
Start Slow - especially if your dog doesn’t regularly get out for walks, we want to build up their endurance by starting with short walks, of about ten minutes.
Build Up Endurance – Build your dog’s endurance by gradually increasing the distance you walk until your dog is comfortable with 30-minute walks
Add in a warm-up- When walking with fitness in mind it’s good for our dogs to walk at a brisk pace, but just like we need to warm up before exercise so do our dogs. Start your walk with ten minutes of a slower pace walk to help your dog’s body warm-up and get ready to exercise.
Cool Down - Save time for a ten-minute slower pace walks at the end of your time out before heading home to help your dog’s muscles cool-down after the strenuous exercise. Incorporating a slower cool down component of our walk, allows for your dog's heart rate to return to normal, and can reduce muscle stiffness after exercise.
Stretching and Conditioning Exercises:
Just like it’s helpful for humans to stretch or do some yoga to increase our flexibility the same is true for our dogs. The easiest way to get your dog stretching is to teach them stretching-based trick skills. Here are some simple stretching exercises that we can add into our dog’s daily routine to help them increase range of motion, improve flexibility and mobility. Stretching can also help reduce the risk of injury for your dog as their levels of physical activity increase.
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1. Cookie Stretches
For this stretch your dog will follow a cookie to stretch their body. Cookie stretches are a simple way to help your dog stretch their spine and increase range of motion and their overall flexibility. Start practicing cookie stretches in a quiet area without a lot of distractions. Get your dog's attention with a treat on their nose and let them lick or gently nibble at it. Then, slowly lure their nose toward one hip, hold it for a few seconds while they lick at the cookie then bring their head back to a neutral position, and repeat with the other hip. While your dog is following the treat you can gently hold their rear end in place to encourage them to bend for the treat. These stretches should be done slowly to encourage a gentle stretching movement. ff This gentle stretch can help to loosen up your dog’s muscles while increasing their overall range of motion.
2. Play Bow
Many dogs naturally offer a play bow behavior as they engage in play with other dogs or people. Not only does this signal through canine body language a relaxed dog wanting to engage in play, but it’s also an excellent stretch. Start with a dog standing and then get their attention with a treat on their nose. Slowly lure your dog's head down toward the ground, and then gently back towards their chest. As your dog's nose follows’, the treat their body will follow. Your dog will drop their front end. As your dog's elbows touch the ground mark either with a clicker or a verbal marker like "yes" and treat your dog. When your dog is consistently following the treat lure into the bow position, you can start to introduce a verbal cue like “bow,” “pretty” or “curtsy.” After several practice sessions you can stop luring your dog and just cue your dog to bow and reward when they do.
3. Paws Up
Teaching your dogs to put their two front paws up on cue is a simple trick, but a very effective stretch for helping your dog improve their balance. To start teaching paws you need to find an object first that will be stable enough to be stable for your dog to put their front feet on. A chair, an ottoman, sturdy box, step stool, or coffee table can all work well for this. Once you have selected the object you want your dog to put their paws onto to get their attention with a treat. Then, take the treat and slowly lift it up your dog’s head. Your dog’s body will follow the treat and lift their front legs up onto the object. When your dog does this praise and gives them the treat. After a few repetitions of luring you can start to introduce a verbal cue like “up” or “paws.” After several practice sessions you can phase out the treat lure and verbally cue your dog to put their paws up. When your dog puts their paws up, they are giving their rear legs as well as their neck and back a nice stretch.
4. Spin
Spin is a fun trick to teach, and it’s also a great way for your dog to stretch their spine. To teach your dog to spin, get their attention with a treat on their nose then slowly move your arm in a large circle right above your dog's head. Your dog will follow the treat and spin in a circle. When your dog completes the circle, praise your dog and give them the treat. Be sure to practice both directions so your dog is spinning both ways for optimal stretching. Repeat several times and when your dog is consistently following the treat and spinning in a circle you can introduce a cue of choice like "spin," "circle" or "left" and "right." The more you practice you’ll be able to phase out the treat lure and just give your dog the cue to spin and then reward with a treat after they spin.
5. High Five
Not only is high five a cute trick for your dog to learn, but it also is an effective way to stretch your dog's. upper body, especially their shoulder muscles. The easiest way to teach your dog to offer the high-five behavior is to ask your dog to sit and then have a treat in your hand. Hold your closed fist with the treat inside out to your dog and wait as your dog starts to investigate. Ignore any sniffing or nuzzling at your hand and wait for your dog to paw at your hand. When your dog paws at your hand, praise your dog right away and open your hand to give them the treat. The more you practice, and your dog is consistently pawing at your outreached fist, you can introduce a verbal cue like "high five" or "paw." Next, try holding out your hand without a treat inside and ask your dog to give you a high five. When they do give lots of praise and give your dog a treat.
