My Four Dogs is a fun and informative blog. Read stories about her four dogs, along with reviews and other things youll find helpful such as; How To Get Rid of Fleas.
I really enjoyed their latest post about her German Shepherd Lizzie on their canoe trip.
Definitely a blog worth checking out, so dont miss out!
*Maya, if you would like a picture of one of your dogs on here instead of a random pic, please email me one along with who to credit for it.
Of course I’m not asking that question about my dogs; they are perfect. (Ha!). There is a certain dog I’m acquainted with, however, that doesn’t seem to be progressing as quickly as other dogs in a training class we, um, somebody I know is in. This person tells me that her dog is not motivated by treats or affection and is all but impossible to train.
So I went to my most reliable sources – my animal-crazed friends – for feedback about how their dogs stacked up on the intelligence meter.
Heather said her family tried and tried to get their dog, Toby, to roll over on command, but he would just roll over onto his back. She says it was frustrating trying to get him to roll completely over. Finally, thinking he just wasnt going to “get it,” they started rubbing his belly every time he “rolled over” onto his back.
According to Unleash Magazine, Heather’s dog isn’t dumb; her anecdote is an example of “profitable misbehavior.” Dogs do what works for them. For instance, if jumping on you makes you speak to, touch, or even look at your dog, he’s getting a payoff. Jumping on you is getting him the attention he wants. In cases like this, even if you are scolding your dog or pushing him off of you, he’s still getting what he wants: attention. This response can make dogs seem unwilling or unable to learn, but the issue is with the human who is unwittingly reinforcing undesired behavior.
Another reason people may think their dog is dumb is because he does not respond to them, perhaps due to lack of early human interaction. If I was to take a guess, I would say this is the core issue with our dog er, my friend’s dog because the dog spent his first year and a half in the shelter system and likely did not get enough time with humans. If a dog doesn’t experience enough human interaction during his formative years, he hasn’t learned that humans are relevant and that our words and actions should matter to him.
Cherise told me that for the longest time they thought their pooch was dumb. He never came when they called him or stopped what he was doing when they said “no.” They came to believe that he just wasnt eager to please them. I don’t know her dog’s background but maybe his disinterest is due to lack of early human interaction.
Unfulfilled needs may cause people to think their dog is dumb. Dogs have an innate need to play, exercise, bark, chew, and interact with other dogs. If these needs are not met in constructive ways, dogs will find unconstructive ways to fulfill these needs. They may bark inappropriately, chew your shoes or table legs, dig holes in your back yard and behave wildly indoors. Since standard corrections won’t solve the problem, your dog may seem dumb.
It’s also easier to train a dog to do something that is in accordance with his breed tendencies. In other words, it’s easier to train a golden retriever to retrieve than to protect. It’s easier to train a German shepherd to protect than to retrieve. Teaching a retriever to protect is possible but it will take him longer to catch on, and you may start to believe you’re working with a dumb dog.
If you think your dog is dumb, think about his background, age, breed and anything else that can clue you in on the best ways to communicate with him. Once you figure that out, load up on CANIDAE dog treats and commence training. You may be surprised at how smart your dog really is.
I received some other answers to my “dumb dog” question that I think are worth sharing, just for fun.
Kim: My Australian Shepherd ran headfirst into the fence at a full clip. Knocked himself dizzy. Seems he forgot to apply his brakes before trying to “herd” the nearby joggers.
Karen: We have a great watchdog, and I know when he barks it is a big deal. One day I noticed he was barking at the ground. Since he found a snake recently, I went to investigate. This time he found a cricket and was barking like the cricket was going to eat him.
Laurie: Not so much “dumb” as perhaps blind. Our 80lb. Rotti/lab mix was enjoying a lovely morning walk at the park when her hackles went up, deep growling ensued followed by ferocious barking. My husband and I quickly realized she was protecting us from a tree stump! What a good dog!
Mary Mac: During Hurricane Hugo, I had two dogs that slept through the storm, but when there was no power the next night they stayed up all night barking at dry leaves blowing across the driveway.
Jaipi: Our dog barks at blowing leaves. Then she runs away from them. Then she comes and gets me to show them to me. Im not sure what she expects me to do about it, but clearly, she wants those leaves gone.
Beaucee: We were staying at a vacation house that had sliding glass patio doors, something we didnt have at our house. We had the screen portion pulled shut, and sure enough, Tundra walked right into it, thinking she could walk out onto the deck. We snickered softly, not wanting to embarrass her. Of course her “daddy” did the same thing the next day.
Crystal: My dog seems a little dumb at times. Okay... he seems a lot dumb! Ive offered treats, and he has tried to eat them with a toy in his mouth. He will sniff the treat on the floor, and it’s obvious he’s trying to figure out how he is going to eat it. Finally, he puts the toy down to eat the treat.
Gayle: Our dog lives to play fetch. One day he was really into it. I threw. He returned as fast as he could to drop it in my lap. He returned faster with every throw. Finally I threw it high and long. The dog caught it and came back with lightning speed. He came flying up, touched his nose to my lap and darted off to catch it again. When he realized that the ball was still in his mouth, he tip-toed back and very gingerly dropped it in my lap.
What “dumb thing” does your dog do?
Top photo by Joe Dyer Bottom photo by Lulu Hoeller
For the past two years I have been writing to you as you play out life in Australia -- “in the future” as I like to say. Others might call it a different time zone. To each their own. Now we’re sitting across from one another in my apartment working on our respective laptops as we prepare for #SPARCS2014.
Your arrival to #NYC has been such a breath of fresh air! Not only do we get to talk about our beloved topics of dog welfare, behavior, cognition, learning, training and everything-under-the sun-dog, but we get to do it while preparing to host an international TED-style canine science conference that anyone in the world can watch from their home!
One of the the things I enjoy so much about dog behavior research in general -- and Do You Believe in Dog? specifically -- is the feeling of community. There is a general perspective that researchers wear white lab coats and hole up in university laboratories muttering to themselves as they putter around with experiments until all hours of the night. While we might mutter to ourselves and putter around, the field of canine science very much has collaborative and collective elements. Researchers regularly meet to discuss methods, approaches and findings, and in recent years, scientists also share their findings with an increasingly interested audience. Science communication has become paramount in the field of canine research, and it would be pretty weird if dog science were all kept hush hush in academic research papers given its application. For anyone who has ever wondered, “Why Does My Dog Do THAT (fill in the blank with whatever your version of ‘that’ is)," #SPARCS2014, a Free, Live Streaming canine science conference June 20-22, 2014 is for you.
Since the inception of this blog, just under 2 years ago, we’ve had over 151,000 visitors. We look forward to seeing many of you virtually at #SPARCS2014!
To learn more about the SPARCS conference: http://caninescience.info/
Link to the Free Conference Live Stream: http://caninescience.info/live-stream/
Read about what will be covered: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/dog-spies/2014/05/19/youre-invited-to-a-canine-science-conference-with-ticket-giveaway/
See who will be speaking: http://caninescience.info/speakers/
As we countdown to #SPARCS2014, here’s a sample of our preparations (with a side of playing with papier mâché dogs and greeting dogs).
For those of you that insist your dogs are your children, I challenge you to treat your kids like your dog for one week and see if you still think your dog deserves the lowly status of "Child".
For those of you who have no human children or whose children have grown dont fret, just borrow a kid of a friend or relative or bring over the grandkids for a week. Theyll love you for this! What? You cant find any kids to hang around for a week. Thats ok, ask your spouse or a friend or, heck, go grab that homeless guy off the street corner and tell him you want to treat him like your dog for a week. Hell think hes won the lottey!
Heck, anyone will jump for a chance when they find out that youre going to:
Let them lay around in your bed all day. Pick at their dinner and snub it so youll feed them whats on your plate. Constantly lavish them with affection. Spend hundreds of $ on them at specialty stores for things they really dont need. Let them in and out of the house everytime they look at the door. Look the other way when they jump on the sofa between you and your special person growling and demanding attention. Laugh and joke while you hump their 80 year Nannas leg.
Well, ok, maybe you dont treat your dog this good. But if you really treated your dog like your "child" your dog would go to school to become a good citizen, greet people politely, eat what is put in front of them, and never be aggressive to anyone.
The other day my cattle dog Bill ate a cupcake off of the counter. He licked the icing off another one. My husband found the crumbs of the first cupcake and the frosting missing off of the other and said, "Oh man, someone ate a cupcake off the counter. Hey, they licked the frosting off of this one!" There are only two dogs big enough to do this but I was pretty sure which dog it was. I didnt say anything but looked for Bill and found him lying down behind the couch looking very "guilty". He looked the exact same way he looks when my husband raises his voice because his football team is losing, when something he is working on around the house isnt going his way and when he is losing at his video game. Do you see where this is going? Bill didnt feel "guilty" because he ate a cupcake, in fact, he didnt realize Rick was vocalizing about cupcakes, he responds that way anytime Rick is upset about anything. Bill is very close and attached to Rick and freakishly in tune with Ricks emotions. He is so sensitive to Ricks tone of voice in fact, that every time Rick raises his voice he slinks away regardless of what Rick is talking about or who Rick is talking to. In fact, Rick has taken to saying, "Its okay Bill, its not you" nearly every time he raises his voice to stop Bill from worrying.
People are always saying that their dogs feel "guilty". They say this because this is how they perceive their dogs body language, usually just after they have found something that the dog has done that they dont like. What they dont understand is that the dog is not responding this way because he feels "guilt" or "remorse" over something he has done, in fact, the dog usually has not clue that he did something "wrong". The dog is simply responding to the owners tone of voice and body language. If a person comes home from work, finds poop in the house, then has an anger meltdown because they have to clean it up, the dog will begin to look worried and afraid when the owner comes home. It isnt because of what he did, it is because of his past experiences of his owner coming home and then getting angry. By the way, a dog can find our reactions punishing regardless of how benign they may seem. To some very sensitive dogs, something has subtle as a heavy sigh or look of disgust can be punishing to the dog. It is so interesting to me how people are can be completely resistant to the fact that dogs have emotions (which they do) or they believe that they have emotions and because they do, they must be exactly like human emotions (which they arent).
Dogs repeat behaviors that are reinforcing. They also live in the moment. I had a very hard time resisting those cupcakes, even though I had already eaten one! Bill saw them on the counter and wanted one, so he took one. I believe he saw it, wanted it, took it, ate it and then it was over. He probably forgot about the cupcake the moment he was finished eating it (even though there was still frosting on his lip when I found him behind the couch!). When Rick started to complain that a cupcake was eaten, Bill heard his tone and got worried like he always does. There was no cupcake-guilt about it. By the way, we didnt care too much that he ate a cupcake and Bill didnt get in "trouble" for it, we just felt stupid for leaving the cupcake container open on the edge of the counter. STUPID!
There has been a video circulating on the internet of a "guilty dog". The owner comes to the dog with a ripped bag of cat treats and says to the dog "Did you do this? Did you rip open these cat treats?". The dogs starts to do a series of appeasement behaviors including pinning his ears back, yawning, lip licking, squinting his eyes, and finally offering a full, submissive grin with all of his teeth showing. People watch it and laugh and say that the dog is guilty, but the dog is not feeling "guilty" the dog is simply responding to the owners tone of voice. Its sad to watch actually if you know what is going on. If you tested it (which I dont recommend you do since its stressful to your dog) you would see that your dog will respond the same way if your tone and body language worries him.
The take away message here is "please dont assume your dog is feeling guilty", he is likely just responding to you. Oh, and remember to put the lid back on the cupcake container before leaving it on the counter!
Dog training aids are necessary if you are planning to go on a dog training program. Remember the dog-training aids that are out in the market are actually benefits for dog owners. Dog training aids are there to help you in succeeding in teaching and training your dog. These aids could help the owner in training your dog in obedience, agility and etc.
You will find many types of aids, but only a certain few will work well for you, so choose wisely.
However, I find that the reward method of training aids is the best. Giving small amount of food for a well-completed task will work wonders. This method may not be effective if your dog is not really interested in treats. This method is a really a cheap method of training aids.
For dog agility training aids that are available are e.g. anti bark collars. Many dogs have a problem when they do dog agility. They start barking constantly basically because of the hype involved. Anti bark collars do one of two things or sometimes both, they give a small electric charge when your dog barks and spray some water up into their face. People may think this is cruel but it is completely harmless. It just lets your dog know that barking is not acceptable. These collars are available at pet shops and on the Internet and are not too expensive.
Clicker is another interesting aid. Surprising, this aid is one of the aid many dog owners prefer to use. The dog is taught to associate a clicking sound with a reward, like a treat. The trainer clicks the clicker when the dog does something good, followed immediately by a treat. Eventually, the dog learns to respond to the clicker alone.
The leash or collar training aid is the main form of controlling and communicating with the dog in leash and collar training. This aids is the most popular method of dog training and have been around for a very long time and have proven to be a favored among dog trainers Whatever aids you choose, you as a owner or trainer is in a better position to determine the best aid that will go well and give good result.
For Infor Check it out at:
”Train your dog the same fast, effective, fun way a professional dog trainer uses to train pet stars in film, television, and commercials.”
Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out: Training the Crazy Dog from Over the Top to Under Control
Are you wondering How To Calm Your Hyper Dog? I believe I can help! First, ask yourself why do I have a Hyper Dog? The answer to this is usually, too much pent up energy. With our busy lives, dogs are usually left home for most of the day with nothing to do. They get bored. By the time you get home, they are ready to GO!
This is when they are super excited, jumping all over you, bolting out the door, and most people see this as a Hyper Dog. Wouldnt you be excited and ready to go after a boring day at home with nothing to do? No TV, no Computer, No books to read, nobody to talk to, nothing to play. It would be like sitting in a prison cell all day.
Here are some tips for you to calm your hyper dog.
How To Calm My Hyper Dog : Mental Stimulation
What is Mental Stimulation, and how will this help you calm your hyper dog?
Mental Stimulation is getting your dog to think and work. You can do this through games, Interactive Toys, or Puzzle Toys.
Games can be things like; Hide and Seek or Find It. If youre wondering how to play these games with your dog, ask in the comment section and Ill be happy to teach you.
Interactive toys are toys that you put food or treats in to let your dog work at them to get their food out. Read more about Interactive toys in my article Interactive Dog Toys: Where To Get Them, Good Ways To Use Them
Puzzle Toys are puzzles made specifically for dogs. They come in all different shapes, sizes, and difficulty. You put treats or food in them, then let your dog figure out how to get the treat out. Usually, these toys need you to be supervising while your dog works at them. Dogs may need help getting started with these till they get the hang of it.
All of these will be mentally stimulating and will help tire your dog out. Work their brain and its a whole different kind of tired. Its the difference between us reading a book or working at a puzzle, or going out and running for 30 minutes. Consider these as giving your dog TV, Books, and computer time.
How To Calm My Hyper Dog : Physical Exercise
How will Physical Exercise help you to calm your hyper dog?
Providing a place for your dogs energy to go is a must. Just like you or your kids, your dog needs to have an outlet for their pent up energy. If you dont provide it, then you get what youve got, a hyper dog.
Here are some ideas to get you going; Walking, Running, Biking, Rollerblading, Fetch, Frisbee, & Swimming.
Anything that gets your dog moving and getting that energy out is going to help you to calm your hyper dog! If you have a place to let them run off leash, this is going to be the best for them. This does NOT include your yard. Your yard is just an extension of your house. Its like being in prison and them letting you out into their yard. Would you feel free? Would you feel satisfied after exercising out there?
How To Calm My Hyper Dog : Training
Training can provide both Mental Stimulation, and Physical Exercise for your hyper dog. If you add in play time such as a tug on a rope, or a quick toss of the ball as a reward, then this would be physical.
Obedience, and tricks will help with the mental stimulation. If you train for Agility, Flyball, or even Bird Dog Hunting, these will all help with physical exercise as well as mental stimulation.
Youll find training and working with your dog to be a huge help in calming your hyper dog! Not only will it help you calm your dog, but it will also help you bond with them too.
So, what have you learned today? Lets recap. Provide your dog with Mental Stimulation, Physical Exercise, and Training. Your Hyper Dog will soon be your Calm Dog!
Enjoy! If you found this blog post helpful, please comment below and share it with your friends.
If you need further help than this post this Book will be beneficial for you and your dog.
Ever spot a pair of demonically glowing green or red eyes in the dark, only to realize they belong to your cute and cuddly dog? What really gets to me is when I’m the one outside and I see the floating bright orbs peering out my window. You know, it’s that split second where you’re torn between wanting to turn and run or bust in to save your pets from...whatever “It” is.
But of course, “It” is your dog’s (or even cat’s) eyes glowing in the dark. It turns out there is even a very scientific – and reassuring – reason their eyes shine so eerily in the darkness.
Tapetum Lucidum
No, that’s not the starting phrase of an exorcism, although it is Latin. It means “bright tapestry.” The words are also the scientific term for the light-reflecting surface between a dog’s optic nerve and retina.
The tapetum lucidum is what makes dog’s eyes react to light exposure differently than human eyes, essentially reflecting the light back through their eyes like a mirror. The rods and cones make use of the multiplied light to see better in the dark. Dogs and other animals with the structure, like cats and deer, can use very low levels of light to see.
Different Colors
In addition to superior night vision, this reflected light is also what produces eyeshine in dogs…that surreal colored glow that comes out in their eyes at night. What I find fascinating is that not every dog’s eyeshine is the same color.
My chocolate lab, Wuppy, has brown eyes that have a predominant phosphorus green eyeshine. One of our mixed breed dogs, Cody, has one blue eye and one brown eye. His eyes glow a dark red when hit with light in the dark, although the blue eye is more intense. The colors of a dog’s eyeshine aren’t limited to red and green, either. They can be all shades of blue, orange, yellow, turquoise or even violet. The specific color reflected depends on the amount of zinc or riboflavin in the eye cells.
Red glowing eyes at night are the result of blood vessels reflecting light. This is common with white dogs who have blue eyes.
Some dog breeds are known for certain eyeshine color, although the tendency isn’t a guarantee that’s the color they’ll have. Yellow labs tend to have a light yellow shine, and black labs a deep yellow or green. Miniature Schnauzers are known for turquoise glow.
Outside Influences on Color
The eyeshine color can also depend on other factors, such as the kind of light being shined in a dog’s eyes. Headlights, halogen lights, flashlights and lights with colored filters may all produce a different glow in the eyes of the same dog. The intensity of the light is also a factor, as is the distance between the light source and the dog, and where you are standing in relation to the dog’s location.
I have photos of Wuppy where his eyes glow green. But in other photos, all taken during the same nighttime romp, the colors range from red and orange, to yellow.
You can often tell eyeshine color by taking a photo of your dog with the flash on, with them looking up at you. Just try not to get them right in the eye with the flash. If your dog is younger than 16 weeks, their tapetum will probably be blue or violet. The color of their glow may change as they get older.
We got an email from a parent, with concerns about her newly crawling baby and her two dogs.
Dear Doggone Safe: We have two dogs: one is a certified therapy dog and one is a rescue coon hound. We had a baby this summer and she is 8 months old now and starting to crawl. We have researched information before she was born about dogs and babies. And we have set up gated areas and dog safety protocols in our house. Always supervision etc. But I have a question that I cant find an answer or help with..... My daughter likes to crawl now - everywhere- and even when the dogs are sleeping on their dog beds she tends to crawl right to them and wants to touch them -their tails, faces, ears etc. I am a first time mom - so I redirect her to something else... say no.... when we are holding her we allow her to pet our therapy dog on her side/ back etc., to try to show her the correct way... although she is very young still to understand. I am just not sure how to teach her at this age how to give the dogs space and respect. Is what I am doing correct? Should I be doing more? Is it just a matter of constant redirection of her to something else when she crawls to the dogs? Even our therapy dog gets annoyed after awhile of course. I dont want to have to ban the dogs from the living room completely I just need some advice or reassurance of what we are doing so we establish good behaviors from both our daughter and our dogs. Thanks for any help you can give me!
We passed this question on to our dog and baby expert, dog behavior consultant Jennifer Shryock. Jen will of course offer one on one consulting to make sure and get all the details so that she can offer help, but there are probably many others who have the same issues.
If you have a newly crawling baby, you know that your life has become much more complicated! No longer does the baby stay where she is put, contentedly watching from the safety of a play pen or other piece of baby apparatus. Now the baby is mobile and she wants to explore and interact with everything, including the dogs. Now you find yourself following the baby around and finding out that even though you thought you had thoroughly baby-proofed, there are sill hazards that the baby will undoubtedly uncover.
There is no such thing as a 100% baby-proofed dog. No matter how sweet and gentle your dog is, there comes a point where he will not tolerate any more from the baby. Hopefully at this point he just relocates to a safe area that you have provided for him, but he may decide that he has no choice but to growl or bite if the baby persists.
Jennifer Shryock gives this advice to parents of crawling babies:
At this stage moving babies look quite different from other humans and most dogs are uncomfortable. This period is a time of intense management and setting up parent guided interactions. I use the phrase "invites decrease frights and bites" as crawling babies approaching a dog makes dogs uncomfortable and is a leading cause for injury at this age.
Here are two prerecorded webinars produced by Jen that will help answer many of the questions that parents of crawling babies often ask:
Webinar presented to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers
My Dog Growled at My Baby... Help!:
For more information or to arrange a consultation please visit Family Paws Parent Education
Thank you so much for all the wonderful, kind, and supportive comments on our new addition! Rule, as she has been christened, says thank you.
Today Im participating in the Positive Pet Training Blog Hop, hosted by Rubicon Days, Tenacious Little Terrier, and Cascadian Nomads. Januarys theme is "National Train You Dog Month", and as always, any positive-based training posts are accepted.
I debated on doing a sort of "Plans for 2016" training post, but quickly dropped the idea in favor of something Ive been really enjoying lately, and something that I feel is invaluable to those of us with active dogs, or any dogs, really!
Whats that, you ask? Fitness, and how to keep your dogs body strong and healthy!
2015 was my year of getting fit and healthy. I quit sugar in late December of 2014, and aside from yogurt, peanut butter, and natural sugars like fruit and honey, havent had any since then. Ive kept up with yoga 4-7 days a week. I started running and walking, and have been consistently doing 5 to 10 miles a day. I quit gluten, Im careful with getting enough sleep, and eat incredibly healthy.
I had one small cold in October, but was otherwise 100% healthy. In the years before, Id be sick 5+ times a year. My moods are stable, my skin is clear for the first time in my life, I feel amazing, and I am so happy. I cant imagine its much different for our dogs!
Having a fit and healthy dog has always been a top priority of mine. The vast majority of dachshund owners do not exercise their dogs, leading to overweight dogs and more back problems than you can shake a stick at. I refuse to have that for my Doxie girls, or Pike or Rule. Aside from a good diet, exercise is one of the best tools for a healthy dog. These are some simple, fun training activities you can do with your dog to help increase strength, balance, flexibility, and overall stamina.
Disclaimer: Know thy dog. These exercises are preformed by young, healthy dogs with no medical problems. Be careful!
Parkour
Something Ive become a little obsessed with lately is Parkour for dogs, or "Barkour", as it is sometimes called. Parkour training is a way of using your environment as an obstacle course, involving climbing, jumping, running, vaulting, ect. Its the same thing for dogs!
I like it because you dont need any fancy equipment (Im cheap!), and anywhere you go can offer different challenges for you and your dog. Everything from trees to fences to picnic tables to playgrounds can be used! You can even earn titles in the sport from The International Dog Parkour Training Association. I may try both Nola and Rule for these soon.
I only started the girls on this about a week and a half ago, but already theyre picking it up and loving it. Its Nolas favorite time of day!
Some cues used in the below photos:
Paws Up! (front feet on object)
Up! (jump onto object)
Pretty (sit pretty/beg)
Stand (stand on hind legs)
Climb (self explanatory)
Up on here (walk along an elevated surface)
Working on climbing on cue! #positivedogtraining #dogtraining #smartdog #climb #dailydog #dachshunds #dachshundnola #dachshundsofinstagram #dogstagram #dogsofinstagram #trainyourdog
A video posted by @dachshund_nola on
Climbing over an obstacle
Were working on going under, too!
Climbing up
Climbing down
Up on a bucket
Up on a cinderblock
Increasing difficulty by having her back feet on the bucket, and her front on my leg.
Climbing
Standing up on a cinderblock. Bonus core and rear workout!
Shes such a happy dog!
Balancing on a narrow board
Paws up
Jumping off
Using a tree to show off "paws up!"
Now the other side!
Rear end awareness on a hunk of lumber.
Paws up
Balancing on a narrow walkway
Tandem paws up!
And again!
Stretching
Any athlete, human or canine, needs to have warm ups, cool downs, and stretches. Warming up literally warms and ready the muscles and sinews for activity. Cool downs allow the body to work out lactic acid, prevents stiffness and soreness, and lets the heart and respiratory rate to return to normal. Stretching helps to maintain flexibility and fluidity, allows blood to better circulate, and greatly reduces the risk of injury.
I do all three of these with the girls before a Parkour session, before a run or long walk, before an intense play session (especially tug), and before working on physically demanding tricks.
For cool warm ups and cool downs, Ill have them do a few sit/down/stand/repeat drills, a quick brisk walk and/or backing up or other rear end awareness exercises. It only takes a few minutes, and helps to get the girls into a training mood.
For stretching, I follow the things listed here. Theyre easy to put on cue!
Conditioning: Poses and Equipment
There are a few great poses your dog can learn to help build muscles. Sit pretty (or beg) is fantastic for building core strength. I do this one a lot with Nola; having a strong back and core reduces the risk of back issues. Standing on the hind legs builds both the rear muscles as well as balance. Holding positioning, or changing position, on some kind of balancing equipment not only builds balance, but also overall strength.
Two great resources on Facebook are Canine Conditioning and Body Awareness, and Structure in Motion - Too!
Im a sucker for dog gear of all kinds, and fitness and conditioning gear is no exception. Currently we only have a FitPaws donut, but this month Im planning on ordering several others, including:
Paw Pods
Balance Disc
Peanut
Wobble Board
Since Im cheap, Ill be buying the human version of these (and perhaps having my dad make a wobble board). Half the price and just as sturdy!
Nola and Rule also do 3-5 miles of walking and about a mile of running a day with me, in addition to play, with both me and all the dogs together. Those two are both high energy dogs, while Pike and Olivia lean more towards moderate and low, respectively.
Keeping your dogs in good body conditioning also greatly reduces the risk of injuries. Nola and Rule score as 4s on the Purina body condition chart, where Pike is a 5 and Olivia a 4. Its hard to see on Pike and Liv due to their coats, but you can see it well on the smoothies.
, or Puzzle Toys
. 
