There’s one exercise that has come up and over and over again in my ongoing agility learning this year. It was featured heavily in multiple presentations in the 2021 Lemonade Conference, and I’ve seen it pop up elsewhere too. It’s not something I’ve ever put much effort into training before, but I guess that’s about to change.
It apparently improves your dog’s balance, his strength, his movement and his endurance. It’s low-impact and you can do it anywhere, even in your living room during a Level 4 lockdown.
I’ll reveal what that exercise is soon, but first it’s story time. I took Able for a walk last week, and we were accosted by a stray dog. I am used to this being a stressful situation, as my older dog gets very wound up about other dogs in her personal space. However, Able was absolutely delighted to make a new friend, and soon they were happily play-bowing at each other while I tried to move Able along. It soon became clear that his new friend was going to follow us, so we went home for the dogs to have a play-date in the back yard.
Well … I brought home a bitch in season for my intact male ten-month-old puppy to play with. They had a delightful time playing chasie around the back yard before I realised – and fortunately the penny never dropped for Able. I guess he isn’t quite all grown up yet, but it’s a very important lesson for me in the perils of owning an intact male dog. I was worried about whether I would be able to fence him in securely – not about bitches throwing themselves on him as we walk down the street!
Now, back to that magical exercise that will turn your dog into a super athlete. What could it possibly be?
It’s standing.
Proper Standing Form
Yes, it’s standing. As in “four feet on the ground and not moving”. But you need to focus on how your puppy stands.
In a well-balanced stand, the front legs are perpendicular to the ground, as are the bottoms of the back legs (from the hock downward). The paws are underneath the shoulders and underneath or behind the hips, and the weight is distributed evenly through all four legs. The dog should be able to comfortably maintain this position for a minute or more.
This is not how puppies stand. Puppies do not have enough core strength to stand comfortably like this. They prefer to have their hind legs further underneath them, which reduces the effort for their core, but also means that their weight isn’t centred over their paws well.
You should see your puppy’s standing form change between six and twelve months of age, as that core strength develops and his back legs shift further out under him. Able is ten months at the moment – I’ve noticed a change over the last two months, but there is still some room for improvement.
Stretching Out the Stand
Several months ago I taught Able to stand on two platforms. At that age the platforms were really close together, and the goal of the exercise was just for the puppy to learn how to coordinate all four of his legs to get onto the equipment.
Now that he is older, I’m doing the same exercise with a different aim. I am gradually growing the distance between the two platforms, until his lower back legs are perpendicular to the ground. I can only move the rear platform a small amount at a time. If I push for too much at once, Able tends to lean back with his front paws ahead of his shoulders, which is not good posture.
Once I get a good-looking stand, the next challenge will be to increase the duration to one minute. I’ll build up to this slowly, and use ping-ponging to mix in longer stands with a few shorter ones at first. I don’t want to put Able off his training by pushing him to the point of pain.