Athletes and cross-training

Before people understand what canine fitness is all about, I often hear people explaining away their dog’s need for it. But whether your super-active pooch is in dog sports, jogs with you every day or is your constant companion on hikes - canine fitness and conditioning is absolutely pivotal in making sure that they can keep participating in the activities they love for years to come!

In the human world, we understand that being an ‘athlete’ does not come from simply practicing your sport day in and day out - successful athletes work on developing strength, balance and flexibility to maximize their performance when its time to perform. Your canine athlete is no different - they need to develop muscles in their quads in order to produce as much power as possible to jump; they need to work on their balance in safe situations so that they can find it when their hiking on a precarious ledge; and, most importantly, their body needs to know how to react appropriate during an unexpected misstep or fall.

Canine fitness builds muscles around joints and improves proprioception (basically, a dogs ability to ‘right’ itself) in order to protect overextension - the primary reason for most canine injuries - whether soft tissue or skeletal.