Core conditioning training exercises

[wildo]

I meant to reply to this thread a while ago, and for whatever reason have just stayed out of it...

Recently, I took a Daisy Peel class taught by Bobbie Lyons- owner of pawsitive-performance, and well known instructor for K9 Fitness. The class was awesome, and there was a lot of stuff in there for building core strength. I highly recommend the class. It wouldn't be fair to give you the class ciriculum since it is copyrighted material, but I can probably give a few pointers:

• Like most things, start easy and build up difficulty. Remember, this is K9 FITNESS! No different than you going out and trying to run a marathon when you haven't gotten off the couch in a year. Go easy on your dog and build up strength. Everything you have seen done on a ball/egg/peanut should have first been done on the flat over a period of a week or more.
• Stretching is just as important as conditioning. Be sure to create a warmup and cool down routine and use it when working your dog.
• Lure your dog into positions! Yep- I said it. This is not trick training where you want fast results. The slower your dog moves into position, the more those muscles are engaged and working. If you've ever weight lifted, this is akin to "negatives." There are very few moves in K9 Fitness that you want fast and snappy. Slow and steady is what builds muscles and endurance.
• Bobbie told me that for most GSDs, she would not recommend anything smaller than the largest FitPaws Peanut- which is the red one, 80cm. The dog needs to be able to stand square with a flat back- super important. Agreed, not all GSDs are the same size, but most will need the 80cm peanut.
• Personally, I found it incredibly useful to do these sorts of maneuvers in front of a mirror. Often you are in the wrong position, or simply to close to the dog to see the overall picture of what is happening. I found the mirrors in my training room to be incredibly useful. In fact, I installed the lower mirrors for this very reason.

As far as the class goes, Bobbie would give us a lengthy homework assignment to read and to understand the particular moves she wanted us to accomplish. We'd record video, upload to youtube, and she would thoroughly review the video and provide feedback. I'm not talking about a couple sentences for the video- I'm talking about a couple sentences for each and every move performed. If we had video of 10 different attempts at a "move" then she would have 10 different critiques- one for each attempt. It was amazingly detailed and her eye toward imperfections was spectacular.

I'll share one of my videos from class- this happened to be my absolute favorite group of exercises. Tons of secondary muscles working- very fatiguing. And LOTS of fun!! The class was a 9 week class, but I was behind and didn't think I'd get the 9th video done- so there's a closing at the end of this week 8 video.

I will not share her critique of the video... You'll need to pay for the class to see that kind of info.

K9 Fitness Week 8 - YouTube

K9 Fitness Week 8 - YouTube

[lesslis]

Thanks Willy,
Very informative. Loved the video.

[onyx'girl]

Thanks for sharing Willy!
I'm bummed....I ordered the 70cm peanut last night and it's already in shipment. Oh, well, it'll have to do. Karlo fit on it pretty good, and he's long in body. He'll just have to work harder!

[Gharrissc]

I'm assuming these peanuts are for dogs who don't have joint issues? Saba would catch on pretty quickly,but I would be worried about the fact that she has some mobility issues as well.

[onyx'girl]

They can be used for PT, but should be with a trained therapist that knows what part of the body to work according to the individual dogs issues.

[DJEtzel]

I really want to purchase a fitpaws for the dogs. And a yoga ball.

[wildo]

Originally Posted by onyx'girl

Thanks for sharing Willy!
I'm bummed....I ordered the 70cm peanut last night and it's already in shipment. Oh, well, it'll have to do. Karlo fit on it pretty good, and he's long in body. He'll just have to work harder!

I agree- I looked close in your pictures and it sure looked like he fit on it just fine... I'm sure you'll be fine with the 70cm peanut. Like I said, the most important thing is that they can stand square with a straight back (no roaching!).

[susanwrites]

Wildo, thanks so much for posting about the class and sharing you video. I'm signing up to be notified of the next session.

[wildo]

I should note that another option, of course, is the "Get On the Ball" series:
Clean Run: Get on the Ball Two 3-DVD Set

They are good DVDs, but without question I learned more with being able to get Bobbie's first hand responses of MY dog. I really wanted to sign up for the advanced class, but even with how conditioned I thought Pimg was, some of the "beginner" class stuff was quite hard for her. I put off the advanced class for one session so I could continue to work the beginner stuff and build up strength. I plan on signing up for the advanced class once it opens again in a month or two.

[onyx'girl]

Karlo doing some upsits: