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Tips For Starting Your Dog’s Fitness Journey

Are you intrigued about starting fitness with your dog and need some tips on how best to start? There are many reasons to start a fitness program for your dog. These may include weight loss, improved health, getting fitter or better sports…
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5 biggest training mistakes you can avoid doing with your dog

    Training and exercising your dog is without question, its own reward! But it is not risk-free. There are common training mistakes made regularly. Looking at agility dogs, about one in three dogs doing sport suffer…
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Painful Joints do’s and don’ts

If you have painful joints and arthritis, you know the symptoms all too well. Your pet with arthritis has the same experience. They slow down, have difficulty getting up, or appear to limp (especially after exercise and at night). Your first…
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6 ways to add quality years to your senior dog

We all want long comfortable lives for our senior dogs! Heck, we want that unrealistic ideal of having our dogs live forever. That eternal search for the fountain of youth eludes even our pet world. But that doesn’t that we can’t help…
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3 Things that block your progress

  What are the main reasons people don't progress in canine conditioning and fitness?  Or their program is just not giving them results they need in their sport? I have seen people on various dog sport/training groups talk about…
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K9 Fitness – is it the latest fad or a vital necessity?

  I have noticed that there are quite a few people, from sport and working dog owners through to pet owners that feel that canine fitness training is really just a fad. I actually know some handlers who actually laugh at some of…
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Your dog’s structure matters

Your dog's structure matters! You may not realise it, but it actually matters a lot! It is a very important consideration to look at when doing sport or when designing your fitness program to complement or enhance your dog's sport or improve…
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Better Sport Performance and Canine Athletes

A dog that is properly conditioned and has performance fitness for the sport that he partakes in or for the job that he has to do, performs better and is less likely to get injured. When an injury occurs, they are generally less serious or…
Retriever agility jump
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Injury prevention and the canine athlete

This article I found very informative and certainly provides handlers of canine athletes with information on how we can assist our dogs to remain injury-free. by Amie Lamoreaux Hesbach, PT, DPT, CCRP, CCRT Empower Physio PeT, Maynard, MA The…
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Dogs: Thinkers, not Machines

Sport dog rearing programmes and philosophies - yes there are many of them out there.   Many programmes centre on the concept of controlled resource allocation.  Heavy crate time, restrictive devices are generally called for, placing…
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Injuries need not be the end of the world

Injuries happen, but they don't need to be the end of the world! Dogs, like humans, get injured. Whether by accident, through sport, training or fun, injuries happen. There is much that we as handlers and caregivers of dogs can do…
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Is your dog in pain?

Most dogs are so brave that they don’t even show signs of pain. Well, signs of pain that may not be obvious to us humans. To follow are, however, some clues that you can pick up on which may help you see whether your dog is in pain or not. This…
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Keeping Older dogs Agile

Your older dog may have difficulty in moving or be less agile.  This will affect his ability to perform some activities. However, it is still important to keep them as agile and active as possible. Help ensure that they still have a…
DogSolutions2
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Exercise Ideas for Older Dogs

There are still plenty of exercises you can do with your older dog! The only thing to remember is to observe your dog and go at his pace. Stop if he looks tired or maybe struggling somewhat.   Here are some exercise ideas that…
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Tips on keeping your older dog moving

Senior or older dogs are more prone to health conditions or factors that limit their movement to do general exercise. Our older dogs will generally slow down a little and rest more, but just like older humans, it is still important for them…
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Exercise for growing puppy – how much?

During the first 10 – 14 days of a puppy’s life, his movements comprises mostly of drinking and sleeping. Therefore, a puppy's movements are limited to searching for warmth and milk, that is to say, his mom. Likewise, even while sleeping,…
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Weekend Warrior Worry

The first question I hear you ask: What is a Weekend Warrior? Generally, this expression is used to describe people who do very little exercise or physical activity during the week and then go out on an occasional weekend and play sports…
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3 Variables to Consider when Increasing Workload

Dogs need exercise. This is something everyone agrees upon. But how does your dog's workload make your dogs become better, fitter, stronger, faster with exercise?   Like humans, their exercise program requires a progressive increase…
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How to recognise inflammation pain

There is great value in recognising inflammation-causing symptoms sooner rather than later. The later you recognise them the poorer the long-term outcomes may be for your fur buddy! Sometimes recognising these symptoms may even be…
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7 Habits for a Successful Fitness Program

Ever wonder why some people can stick with an exercise program and others find it difficult or cannot maintain momentum and stop after 2 or 3 sessions?   Let's set you up for getting into the habit of successfully executing your…
pochi-aframe
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5 Ways Warm-Ups Help Your Competition Dog

Just as human athletes benefit from warm-ups before workouts, practice drills and competitions, so do our canine athletes benefit in much the same way. Proper warm-ups increase several physical functions as well as all those processes…
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Can Arthritis Be Reversed?

Why does a joint develop arthritis? There may be a number of reasons for this. But let's look at the ones at the top of the list:   Mechanical Damage This happens when the mechanics or the normal workings of a joint is not correct.…
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Bulletproofing K9 hind leg muscles in 6 easy steps

Hind leg and in particular, hamstring strains are a very common injury in sport dogs. Hind leg muscles are very important for all K9 sports: fighting helpers in IGP and PSA, fast, explosive jumps, pull aways (acceleration) in dumbbell…
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Stand for 10 seconds

Can he stand still for just 10 seconds? Ask this question whether your dog is a young puppy or is a seasoned veteran. Determining if your dog can or can’t stand for 10 seconds, may provide loads of information.   What does…
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“Off-Season” vs Training Season in Dog Sports?

Do Canine Athletes have an off-season while training for their sport? Have you considered: What we are putting our dogs through to get to the 'big' events? Are dog sports unique? Should we push our dogs to go and go and go? What…
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Green Lipped Mussel from New Zealand. So?

We have all heard about Green Lipped Mussel for joints.  But what is the big idea about them and is any mussel okay? New Zealand Green Lipped Mussel or Perna Canaliculus is an edible green-lipped mussel sourced from the waters of New Zealand.…
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Starting Out – Your Canine Athletes

Athletes - person(s) trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; participants in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.   From school sports to professional sportsmen…