CC230: Construct a Winning Conditioning Plan for Your Sport Dog

It’s best to train one behavior at a time. For example: If your dog doesn’t have a front foot target or a rear foot target understanding…Focus on teaching one then moving onto teaching the other.

• Very important! Perfection is not an expectation! All dogs are uniquely wonderful and learn with individual flavor. You will need to work at your dog’s pace. Please don’t compare your dog’s level with anyone else.
• Be sure to end each session with a marker word “all done” letting your dog know work is complete and then play with your dog. Conditioning work is often not super exciting as it’s enforcing controlled movements. For a lot of high drive sport dogs, this can be a challenge. If I end each session with a fun game of tug or static toy retrieves etc., my high drive dogs quickly associate conditioning work with their favorite games ;)

 What sport is your dog involved with?

• Different sports require different musculature demand and workload from our dogs.
  • What are the demands of your chosen sport?
    • I’m going to help you navigate this! But I want you to give this some thought. It will help you understand which exercises to select for your dog when we build their plan.
  • Rate your dog’s current performance?
    • If your dog isn’t competing, then rate where you think they would fall based on training sessions. i.e. speed is at a sauntering rate, speed fades after one short session, speed is unmatched, but turns are to wide or no power when lead changes are required.
      • If you are reading this thinking, “Ashley, I have no idea what any of that means or how to see it!” I want you to watch a recent training video or competition video of your dog working. I want you to identify any area (it doesn’t matter how small or large of a movement) and identify where tighter lines could happen, where more power into speed could happen, where a balanced stand could have happened… YES! We are even looking at the way our dogs stand and sit while working!

 Basic Terminology

• Abduction – movement away from midline of the body.
• Adduction – movement towards midline of the body.
• Extension – limb is straight therefore angle of joint increases.
• Flexion – limb bends therefore angle of joint decreases.
• Proprioception – the sense of self-movement & body position, including the perception of the body’s position in a space.
• Front end – shoulders and everything forward. We will include the neck for this class specifically.
• Rear end – hip region and everything from there.
  • Iliopsoas – muscle & tendon combo that connects the pelvis to femur (large bone in hind leg between hip & knee)
• Core – includes abdominal area, trunk and spinal muscles.

 This is Sealah. Australian Shepherd. She is balanced in her build shaped (square).

A dog that is naturally balanced will need a balanced conditioning program.

What does a balanced conditioning program include?

• Front end
• Rear end
• Core
• Flexibility
• Balance
• Cardiovascular