With the change in the weather and lovely bright, fresh days
it is perfect dog walking weather. We
head off with our dogs, who through the winter have maybe lost a little muscle
tone and body condition, who have become more used to a quick blast than a long
ramble but we are convinced that because they keep heading forward and hurtling
about that they are fit enough to do so without causing themselves an injury.
Our dogs may be athletic and full of energy but that doesn’t
make them athletes unless they are trained and conditioned for it.
Personally after the soggy winter I begin to increase my
dogs exercise gradually as the weather begins to change. We all want to be out a bit more when the sun
shines and you are not freezing cold. I slowly increase the amount of time that they
race after a tennis ball, the overall length of their walks and as I also run
with my dogs (well, they run and I sort of trail behind) but we start off
slowly and do a run-walk-run set up to help them and me. I add more road walks during the summer than
I do in the winter and walking, especially on concrete works different muscles
in the dogs body and more concussion through the joints. I swim the dogs year round at Completely K9
to try and stop their cardiovascular fitness and muscle condition from dropping
off too much.
All walks should start with a warm up and end with a cool
down, so before I let my hounds off their leads they do a bit of walking on the
lead, then they go off the lead and then they get their ball. At the end of our walk I stop throwing the
ball and let them move at their own pace and then they go back on the lead to
relax down some more.
When I run with my dogs I try and start with some on lead
walking and then some basic moves through sit and down and through some twists
to help them warm up their muscles as well as contain their excitement (they
love canicross).
So don’t be a weekend warrior and suddenly decide that the
weather is nice and we are going to trek off for a 5 mile walk instead of the
usual say, 2 mile walk with our dogs free running and chasing the ball or
playing with their buddies for hours.
They can easily over-do it and put themselves at risk of injuries such
as sprains and strains and even more serious problems with joints and
ligaments.
Jo Crosby-Deakin
MIACE ACFBA (MT)GoDT RCH
