We start with a visit to the vet
Before you start learning fitness, you need to be sure that your dog does not have any health problems that may limit the performance of certain exercises. So we start with a visit to the veterinarian, and after receiving the veterinarian’s approval, we begin the fitness journey. If your dog has problems with the musculoskeletal system, this does not mean that he will not be able to do exercises. It means that your pet needs an individual program created by a canine physiotherapist or rehabilitation specialist.
General programmes are designed for healthy dogs.
Safe
Purpose
Consistent
Positive
This means that we must only do exercises that are safe for our pet. That we must work with the right equipment on the right surface.
TWe must try to perform the exercise as accurately as possible. The essence of fitness is in accuracy, not in the amount of exercises performed. Only an exercise performed accurately will not injure the dog and will allow you to achieve the desired result.
All exercises are divided into different levels, and if you don’t master one level, you don’t move on to the next. Training must be regular, otherwise you won’t improve.
No coercion or violence is used. We always set tasks for the dog that he will be able to complete. Training must always be successful!
The most important thing is to do no harm!
So let’s discuss the basic principles in more detail.
To make the exercise safe, you need to start with introductory exercises and gradually move on to the next levels.
Each exercise will be difficult for the dog at a certain stage of physical training. In order for the dog to be able to perform a certain exercise without straining his muscles or otherwise injuring himself, he must be physically prepared for it. Most often, the dog, no matter how difficult it is for him, will try to do what you ask of him. But fitness will be safe only when the movement is performed in a certain form – i.e. exactly this way, and not otherwise. Maybe the dog will not fall, will not break a leg, will not scream in pain, but this does not mean that small damage has not occurred in the muscles and ligaments, the effects of which will accumulate over time and develop into a serious problem.
Proper equipment is equally important for safety.
Does this mean that you have to buy some special expensive equipment to exercise? No, not really. You can buy a lot of things quite cheaply and adapt them to your needs.
However, the main platforms for sitting, standing, and lying down may need to be made individually, as their width, height, and length must match the size of your dog. Platforms have a significant impact on the form of the exercise. For example, if we need to teach a dog to sit correctly, and the dog spreads its hind legs to the sides, we will not be able to do this if we use a platform that is too wide for this exercise – the dog will continue to successfully sit spread out.
Platforms placed on the floor should not move from the slightest movement, so they must be heavier, with a wide non-slip base. Read more about the equipment Fitness equipment
We do all exercises on a non-slip surface. This can be a thicker rug, yoga mats, or other rubber flooring, short-cut dry grass, well-packed sand, or similar. Dogs with higher energy levels especially jump and run suddenly, and pushing off from a slippery or unstable surface can easily lead to injury. Repeated micro-traumas lead to serious problems.
Jeigu naudojame balansinę įrangą, ji taip pat turi būti tinkamo dydžio – ant jos šuo turi galėti pastatyti kojas teisingame plotyje. Jeigu šuo turi užlipti visomis keturiomis kojomis ant balansinės įrangos, tuomet turi tilpti atsistoti taisyklingai, nesusikūprinęs.
The essence of fitness is in precision, not in the amount of exercises performed.
Only a precisely performed exercise will not harm the dog and will allow you to achieve the desired result.
What does this mean? For example, if we do the “Stand” exercise and the dog stands incorrectly (hunched over or vice versa – in a trapezoid, with its legs spread or too close together), we will develop exactly this kind of muscle memory, putting even more strain on the wrong muscles.
Another example is the exercise “Sit Back-Stand Forward”: if a dog has a stronger hind leg, it will use that leg more to push off when standing. The dog will shift its weaker leg more often when standing. If we do not see all this and do not correct it, but only increase the number of exercises, we will further strengthen the extensor muscles of the stronger leg, while the weaker leg will continue to be idle and weak.
The position of the dog’s head during the exercises is also very important. Here is a very clear analogy with human exercises – no trainer will allow you to do squats while hunched over, with your head lowered forward. The same with dogs. With the exception of certain specific exercises, all others are performed so that the nose line is horizontal. We have to adjust this using the nose target command or the position of the hand with the treat. You can find more about this in the Most Important Tips for Beginners to Fitness
Your dog’s nose line must not only be horizontal but also aligned on the midline—that is, the dog must be looking straight ahead. In this regard, your position relative to the dog has a huge influence on the dog’s position—you need to stand directly in front of the dog, not off to one side. It even matters which side of your waist the treat pouch is clipped to, which hand you use to deliver the treat, how you deliver it… Even though it may seem that when you’re standing on the dog’s right side and the dog’s nose is pointed straight forward at your hand with the treat, that’s not the case—the dog will instinctively shift more weight onto the left side, and over time we’ll end up with an asymmetrical dog.
It should be emphasized that any asymmetry indicates muscle imbalance, i.e. indicates that one side or one group of muscles is loaded more than the other. This is how compensatory mechanisms begin to develop, micro-traumas appear, and if a stronger, more sudden load is experienced during active movement, the dog will receive a serious injury – a sprain or even a rupture of ligaments or muscles. This is the most important mechanism by which we can injure a dog by doing fitness exercises incorrectly.
The principle of “Consistent” includes two aspects.
First, exercises are made harder gradually—from understanding basic positions, we move step by step to movement, to foundational exercises, and progressively more difficult, complex movements.
If the dog cannot hold the correct position for the required time, if it cannot correctly perform an adequate number of repetitions of a given foundational exercise, that means it is not yet ready to move to a harder level.
How quickly you learn an exercise and can move from one level to the next will depend on many factors. For example—how many times you did this exercise, how often, how long ago… Of course it will also depend on the dog’s physical and emotional readiness. A motivated dog learns much more easily and quickly. But an overly excited or unmotivated dog learns much more slowly.
How well things go will also depend heavily on the handler’s abilities. You must clearly and precisely show what you want from the dog, say the marker at the right time, and reward at the right time. You need to see the dog and understand what you’re seeing: you need to see the dog’s mood, fatigue, effort, and respond appropriately.
It will also depend on the dog’s age: young puppies, like young people, learn much faster than seniors. But that’s no reason to give up on fitness for adults or seniors.
Another aspect of the consistency principle is regular training. Ideally, you can do training sessions 2-3 times per week. If you train 1-2 times per month, you’ll only get the psychological benefit of the sessions—you won’t improve physical health.
A training journal helps you work productively
Always keep a training journal. Work according to a planned exercise program—exercise and number of repetitions. Write down not only how many exercises you did and what kind, but also how it went, what was hard, what was easy, what got in the way, and what helped. Based on that assessment, you’ll create the next training session plan with exercises and repetition counts that the dog will be able to complete, will have to work at, but will succeed. And that means you’ll both finish the training session in a good mood.
Training should bring joy to both the dog and the handler
Fitness training, like any other activity, should bring joy to the dog, but… But first and foremost, it should bring joy to you. You need to understand the essence and purpose, what you’re doing and why, and believe in the benefit it provides.
And the benefit is not only physical—it’s not just improving muscles, balance, or coordination. An even greater benefit is building mutual connection, understanding, reading each other. It’s quality, meaningful, fun time spent together.
For that to happen, you need to set realistically achievable, attainable goals for each training session. But you also need some challenge.
A training session will be successful physically and emotionally if the dog leaves tired but not overtired. You need to recognize and watch for signs of fatigue, end the training session on time, and note all of this in your training journal. All of this is needed so you can properly plan the next training session—that is, a session with challenge but achievable.
We make exercises harder gradually so that each step is clear and achievable. If a new step is too complex or unclear for the dog, the dog may become frustrated, nervous, may offer other performance variations, or conversely—start ignoring you. Too much stress or tension significantly complicates the learning process. Then we make the exercise easier by breaking it into stages, lowering the requirements or criteria.
It’s not the dog’s fault but our fault if the dog doesn’t understand what we want from it.
Every exercise must be designed to be achievable and the dog—rewarded.
- We check the dog's health. If there are problems, an individualized program is needed
- We familiarize ourselves with the basic fitness principles
- We start with foundational skills
- We keep a journal and progress consistently
