CC420: Helping Dogs Thrive: Fitness in Five

Benefits of Fitness Exercises (Lecture excerpt from Week 2)

Now that we have started to train some foundation behaviors, let’s consider what exercise can do for your dog. There are so many benefits to fitness exercises.  I will list them here and we can discuss these in the forum.

 Exercise does all of the following:

• Strengthens muscles, including core muscles
• Builds better joint support through stronger muscles
• Improves flexibility
• Improves alignment and posture
• Improves balance and stability
• Helps prevent injury and disease
• Allows dogs to age without weak hind-ends and loss of proprioception
• Helps with weight reduction (lean dogs live an average of two years longer)
• Improves confidence and behavior
• Encourages thinking and problem solving
• Improves endurance
• Improves body awareness & focus
• Improves gait and movement
• Improves performance in sports

There is a set of foundation exercises that benefit all dogs. Fluency in these foundation behaviors sets our dogs up for success. The fitness exercises come more naturally with a strong foundation to build on. In addition, we are more likely to see good alignment as we advance in any fitness exercises if we start with a good foundation. My view is that our dogs always benefit from working on the foundation behaviors. I continue to work on them with my own dog and my client’s dogs even as they advance in the fitness exercises. We are always building on a strong foundation.

I’ll discuss these benefits in more detail throughout the course.

The Planes of Movement and Anatomical Terminology

Movement happens in three anatomic planes for quadrupeds. The three anatomic planes are Sagittal/Median, Transverse, and Frontal.

• The Sagittal (or Median) plane passes through the body front to back, so dividing it into left and right. Movements in this plane are the up and down movements of flexion and extension, e.g. elbow flexion.
• The Dorsal (or Frontal) plane divides the body into front and back. Movements in this plane are sideways movements, called abduction and adduction plus lateral flexion, eversion and inversion.
• The Transverse (or Horizontal) plane divides the body into top and bottom. Movements in this plane are rotational in nature, such as internal and external rotation and rotation to the left or right, e.g. rotating the spine.

Most joints allow for movement in more than one plane. Dogs have limited movement in both the transverse and dorsal planes. Healthy dogs and active dogs can move in all three planes. Movement can occur in any or a combination of the three planes. 

Movements in all of the planes require joints in the body to move rotate, glide, or hinge (open or close).  A subset of simple movement of the joints can be described as:

• Flexion closes the angle of the two bones involved. The two bones on either side of the joint are moving closer together.
• Extension increases or widens the angle of the two bones surrounding the joint. The bones are moving further apart.
• Abduction happens when the distal part of the limb is moving further away from the midline of the body.
• Adduction is when the distal part of the limb is moving closer to the midline of the body.
• Rotation is where the cranial aspect of the limb is rotating towards the midline of the body, i.e. internal rotation, or away from the midline of the body, i.e. external rotation.

More anatomical terminology I am likely to use are:

• Cranial is towards the head
• Caudal is towards the tail
• Lateral is away from the midline of the body
• Medial is toward the midline of the body
• Distal is away from the center of the body or attachment point
• Proximal is closer to the center of the body or attachment point
• Dorsal is relating to the upper side or back of the body
• Ventral is referring to the lower or underside of the body 

Planks (A fitness exercise from Week 3)

Introduction

Planks are great isometric exercises that build core and stabilization muscles. The focus is stabilization of the trunk. The legs remain stationary. A plank is a closed chain exercise. Closed chain exercises are exercises or movements where the paws (at least two front or two back paws) are fixed to an object that is stationary, i.e. the ground or a piece of equipment. Open chain exercises are exercises or movements where the distal aspect of the limbs, in this case the paws, are free to move in space. So cavaletti work is an open chain exercise, as is walking.

The Setup

Provide:

• A non-slip surface for your dog to work on.
• A treat bag or big pockets containing plenty of soft and small treats.
• A clicker if you are using one.
• A low distraction environment for your dog to learn in.
• Two pieces of equipment, initially stable, e.g. two platforms. Later you will change this to: one piece of stable equipment and one piece unstable, e.g. a platform and a small balance disc; or two pieces of unstable equipment, e.g. two FitBones or two balance discs.
• The two pieces of equipment should be close to the same height. 

Instructions

There are many variations of plank exercises that progress in difficulty.

Start plank exercises by using two pieces of stable equipment, e.g., two platforms. Place the platforms just far enough apart that the dog can be in an aligned standing position, i.e. the dog’s feet are under the shoulders and hips. With two platforms set up, I prompt the dog to put front feet on one platform and back feet on the other.

Mark when all four feet are on the two platforms. Reinforce off the platforms so you can move the platforms a bit further apart. Continue this until the dog is in a nice elongated plank position (see photo below).

Progressing for more of a challenge. Once your dog is comfortable you can start using unstable equipment. Now you will use either one stable (platform) piece of equipment and one unstable piece (FitBone) or two unstable pieces, e.g., two FitBones.

I start with the FitBones relatively close together and ask the dog to put front paws on one FitBone and back paws on the other. After some number of seconds, I reinforce off the FitBones in order to move them further apart. You can also use two discs or two peanuts. Whatever equipment you are using for your planks, you need to make sure that it is stable enough that the dog won’t get hurt. The items should not be on a slippery floor or able to slide out from under the dog. The dog needs to be strong enough to stand for some number of seconds with two paws on each piece of equipment. The two pieces of equipment do not have to be the exact same height but you wouldn’t want a big disparity, such as with a small balance disc and a peanut. A FitBone and Paw Pods or a small balance disc would be fine though. 

Alignment  

Look for the hind legs to be further back than directly under the hips. The back and neck should be neutral.

Repetitions and Sets

Planks are an exercise where I look for duration and add small challenges over time. I will often do three sets of planks on unstable surfaces. Start with 15 seconds and work up to 30-second holds. Once your dog has mastered 30 seconds, you can start asking for nose-to-hand targeting to each side, while in plank, to shift weight and add difficulty.

Video and Photos

Photo courtesy of Sandra Tung (Photo by Leslie Eide)

Photo courtesy of Sandra Tung

Cassie

Photo of Koji and courtesy of Sandra Tung

Video of Cassie doing an advanced plank exercise: