# Caring for the High Performance Dog



## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

I saw this article on Facebook and found it to be very timely for me. Lars is recovering from his own shoulder injury right now (we're doing underwater treadmill, physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, and laser treatments.)

For those of you guys who have dogs you do dog sports with...and that means all of them including "just obedience" should really read this. Because of this article and currently going through an injury rehab with a dog who I truly thought was indestructible...I'm going to be changing a lot of stuff that I'm doing with Ocean in regards to how I treat him as an athlete. I'm going to be much more diligent about warm ups, cool downs, stretching him after exercise and work, doing cross-training to keep him well conditioned, and he's going to have regular visits with the rehab/injury vet to make sure he doesn't have any asymptomatic injuries brewing like Lars had. 

http://www.obsidianbelgians.com/?name=1075


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## kadylady (Sep 23, 2010)

Really interesting article, thank you for sharing. This is an area that I am just starting to really learn about and implement things with my dogs. I had a huge in my face realization this week at our trial, watching Zoey jump on Saturday then get adjusted by the chiropractor and then seeing her jump on Sunday. Saturday as I was watching the video of our run I immediately noticed that she was jumping "off" and totally not the way she usually jumps. She got adjusted, was very sore in her pelvis area. Sunday, she was jumping beautifully. It was a big wow moment for me, the difference in her jumping style in 24 hours.

Zoey sees a chiropractor every 2-3 months, Luke is currently seeing a vet massage/chiropractor once a month as we are addressing some issues. It was shocking for me to see just how sore Luke was on his first visit, and he's my less active dog. So now we are definitely working on implementing more stretching and conditioning into our activities. And I know there is so much more to learn and do.

I'd be interested in hearing some of the things that you do with your boys in this area if you are willing to share.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

I'm also interested in learning techniques. I wouldn't call Watson high performance, but I would like to take agility more seriously in the future and conditioning/health is important. Right now I have him jumping a couple times a week for short periods, but that it is.

I'm strongly considering some FitPaws stuff - specifically the peanut. Any experiences with it? I think Sass uses it and loves it. I am also interested in the wobble board, but that's probably something I can make myself.

He is not a stoic dog so I'm usually able to tell if he's having an issue, but he's had enough lameness at a young age (short periods of limping with his front paws, maybe or maybe not related to Lyme) that I am cautious.


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

I have the big blue fitpaws egg for the guys and they love it. It is an incredible workout to maintain their balance while working on it. All of Ocean's muscles are tensing and flexing when he's on top of it...you can really see how ripped he is then. I am going to use it tonight for O in fact since the weather here is stormy outside. 

Here's a pic of Ocean hanging out on his egg:










Going back to the article where the author didn't see small things like their dog grabbing the handler from one side only...the big blue egg probably was something that should have clued me in to there was something up with Lars before he was lame. He wouldn't stay on the egg...he would jump up and be on it for a minute and then fling himself off. That was very unusual...Ocean would jump up and stay up. Lars never did that before this winter....he loved doing ball work in the past. I kept saying to MrBoats how weird it was that Lars didn't want to stay on the egg. Well...now I think I know, it either hurt, was uncomfortable, or didn't feel safe/stable enough for Lars' tastes with what was up with his shoulder. 

In place of eggs right now, I'm using two small inflatable discs for Lars to stand on in front and in back so he can start to rebuild his core strength and some muscle in that shoulder. There's a noticeable amount of muscle loss in that injured shoulder and forearm with Lars. He's not sure about it right now...because there's no purpose for him standing on them (in his mind...this is dumb! Where are my scent articles!!!!  ) Ocean thinks that stand on the discs game is great!! LOL


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## kadylady (Sep 23, 2010)

I've been borrowing my friends FitPaws peanut, she has pretty much every single thing they make, but hope to invest in my own soon. Probably something that will end up on the Christmas list lol Not sure what pieces you are thinking about Elrohwen but Clean Run has a special combo deal right now for the bone and donut. I'm himming and hawing that one...trying to decide if I want to hold out for the peanut.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

kadylady said:


> I've been borrowing my friends FitPaws peanut, she has pretty much every single thing they make, but hope to invest in my own soon. Probably something that will end up on the Christmas list lol Not sure what pieces you are thinking about Elrohwen but Clean Run has a special combo deal right now for the bone and donut. I'm himming and hawing that one...trying to decide if I want to hold out for the peanut.


Yeah, I saw the deal in my email, but it seems to be sold out now. I was kind of eyeing the peanut anyway. The egg claims to be a more advanced challenge, so the peanut would probably be better. Watson is not a big fan of unstable surfaces, so something like the peanut would be enough of a challenge to get him on top of.

His birthday is in about 2 weeks, so I can justify buying expensive dog things, right?


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

If you haven't joined this FB group on Canine Conditioning and Body Awareness...do it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/523304061117142/ They have great ideas for conditioning dogs.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

MrsBoats said:


> If you haven't joined this FB group on Canine Conditioning and Body Awareness...do it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/523304061117142/ They have great ideas for conditioning dogs.


Thanks!

And I know that little BC in the top picture from the interwebz. lol


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Any thoughts on sizing for the peanut? Last time I measured, Watson was 22" from point of shoulder to the end of his back. He's probably about 20" tall, so definitely a fairly long dog for his overall size. The red peanut is up to 24" long while the blue is up to 30". The blue seems maybe a bit large (I've seen people use it with much bigger dogs), but I don't want to go too small for him either since the up to 24" size is cutting it close.

I'm thinking I should just get the larger size. Any thoughts or experience? I guess I can justify it by saying that I might get a bigger dog some day (like Aussie size) so buying bigger now is better. The downside is really price and have to store the larger peanut.

And a similar question, what size do people recommend for a wobble board? The FitPaws ones are expensive, so I'm planning to make my own. Again, the downside to bigger is having to store the thing.


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

My friend with the agility pittie (Ocean's girlfriend) has the yellow peanut and I think Tillie is about 18" tall. She stores it up on one end in the corner of a room. 

Check out Bosu Balls for a wobble board alternative. I saw someone on that FB group doing something stuff with one and it looks like it a decent size. I may end up getting one for the guys at some point. Thank god I have a basement to store all of my dog crap. LOL

I wonder if we should start a thread like the obedience classes and agility classes threads just about conditioning for our sport dogs.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Ack, the yellow is even bigger. Haha.

I do have a basement to store all of my crap, but as the dog stuff expands I'm trying to stay somewhat reasonable. 

I want to make a wobble board as much for training reasons as conditioning. Watson is really not comfortable with the teeter, so I need to focus on things that move. If it provides conditioning that's even better, but my primary purpose is the movement and noise part of it. Making a mini-teeter with a pipe as the fulcrum is easy enough, but my wood working friend is excited to make a round wobble board for me too.


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## kadylady (Sep 23, 2010)

The one I'm borrowing is the 70cm yellow peanut. Zoey is pretty close to Watson size (maybe a couple inches longer) and here's what she looks like laying on it. She has plenty of standing room. 



If I were in between I would definitely go with the larger size, especially if you see a larger dog in your future. I would hate to buy one now and then want a bigger one later. Luke is bigger than Zoey so this one is as small as I will go, may go one step up for him not 100% sure yet.

ETA: A conditioning thread is a great idea MrsBoats!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

That picture is very helpful! I'm definitely going to get the yellow one now after seeing Zoey on it. Watson is definitely a long dog, not square, which makes me even more inclined to go bigger.

Now I'm trying to decide whether to get the peanut alone from Clean Run, or the package from FitPaws. FitPaws includes a training dvd, but it's not the nice 3 disc set (it doesn't say exactly what it is). I might be better of getting the peanut alone and the 3 disc set separately. The cost keeps adding up


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## kadylady (Sep 23, 2010)

I heard that the DVD that comes with it isn't that special. No personal experience, just what I heard.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

kadylady said:


> I heard that the DVD that comes with it isn't that special. No personal experience, just what I heard.


Yeah, that's my worry. Though I found out I can rent the 3-disc dvd set from BowWowFlix, so I might save myself the money and just do that.

ETA: Apparently CleanRun is much cheaper than FitPaws for the same package. Just had to read the fine print!


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

Oh, I have the DVD for ball work by Debbie Gross from Wizard of Paws. http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2122

I love her when she gives seminars...she's fun, personable, and a great lecturer. But...on DVD, she's boring as hell. I couldn't make it through the first Get on the Ball DVD it was that boring. :/ I also have a stretching DVD that is boring as hell and from her too...I did make it through that one. I will force myself to get through all 3 dvds now that I'm getting much more hard core on conditioning.

I'll start an official conditioning thread in a couple of minutes....


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

MrsBoats said:


> Oh, I have the DVD for ball work by Debbie Gross from Wizard of Paws. http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2122
> 
> I love her when she gives seminars...she's fun, personable, and a great lecturer. But...on DVD, she's boring as hell. I couldn't make it through the first Get on the Ball DVD it was that boring. :/ I also have a stretching DVD that is boring as hell and from her too...I did make it through that one. I will force myself to get through all 3 dvds now that I'm getting much more hard core on conditioning.
> 
> I'll start an official conditioning thread in a couple of minutes....



Haha, good to know! I will definitely not be paying $40 for the set, but I will try renting it and see how it goes. I could maybe faster forward to the exercises, take some notes, and skip the rest.

ETA: Ugh, I'm buying the peanut from Clean Run, which means I have to find other things to add to my cart just because "I'm already paying for shipping and the peanut was such a good deal". lol


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## kadylady (Sep 23, 2010)

elrohwen said:


> ETA: Ugh, I'm buying the peanut from Clean Run, which means I have to find other things to add to my cart just because "I'm already paying for shipping and the peanut was such a good deal". lol


^I feel your "pain"


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