Training Adventure Dogs

The easiest way to prevent injuries and to ensure your dog has maximum fun… get into the habit of implementing a warm up before any type of intentional physical activity.

Regardless of your dog’s age or physical fitness level, no dog is immune to physical injuries; and guess what? The most common injuries are a result of lack of flexibility. So, committing to spending the first 5-10 minutes of your dog’s exercise stretching them out is a simple and straightforward way to increase your dog’s flexibility and prevent injury. Stretching has tremendous benefits for our pets! It will:

1. improve flexibility
2. helps maintain a proper range of motion
3. increases blood flow to the muscles and in turn, helps the muscles work more efficiently
4. it helps reduce the risk of injury
5. reduces post exercise soreness
6. helps with your dog’s overall performance!

Most dogs are sedentary prior to exercise. Think about what your dog is doing before you provide physical activity – they are typically sleeping in the house, in their crate, in the car… whenever you workout, whether you are lifting weights, running, swimming, etc. you also stretch and warm up first.

What is a warm up?

A warm up is CONTROLLED and continuous movement between 5-15 minutes. There are 4 main factors in determining the duration of your dog’s warm-up.

1. The type of exercise matters. Is your dog about to do aerobic cardio meaning steady and constant motion like taking a hike, a walk, treadmilling or swimming? If so, a quick 5 minute warm up is usually sufficient. If your dog is about to do an anerobic workout meaning explosive movements with sudden starts and stops such as fetch, agility or bite work then you want a longer warm up .
2. The temperature outside is a large contributing factor in how your dog performs physically. If your dog is about to workout in any extreme weather such as high humidity and/or heat, or freezing temperatures, I would always do a longer warm up with your dog.
3. Your dog’s age is important when it comes to physical activity and warm ups. If you have a puppy or young dog under 18-20 months of age, then your dog has open and vulnerable growth plates – longer warm ups and controlled physical activity is the best way to keep them safe. The same applies to senior dogs who often have arthritis or stiffer joints.
4. Your dog’s current weight and health condition is a crucial factor. If your dog is overweight, utilizing longer workouts and aerobic cardio is safest. If your dog has any health conditions that require daily medication or limit your dog’s physical endurance or activity then I would also utilize longer warm ups and controlled exercise to keep your dog safe.

How do you warm up your dog?

1. Brisk On-leash walk: Walking in a figure 8 pattern and changing the speed of your pace is an easy way to loosen up your dog before letting them off leash
2. If your dog loves to tug, then make it beneficial. If you are using tug play as a warm up, make sure you keep all 4 paws on the ground – and do your best to move the dog side to side and forward and backwards to help stretch out those major muscle groups.
3. Weaving, if you and your dog love tricks or more of a challenging exercise – utilize weaving. It is a great stretch for the legs, core and spine!
4. Long line recall drills, the point of using a long line is to keep your dog’s movements controlled and calm as they organically loosen up and stretch out.
5. Get creative! You can use obedience and tricks to warm up your dog as well as a host of other exercises. As long as it is controlled and continuous movement, then it is an effective warm up!

Interested in learning more about stretching? Stay tuned! Our next blog post for K9 Fitness will be about beginning stretches!

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