Canine Resistance Training

 Just like people, canines can benefit from resistance training! In general when it comes to canine resistance training we want to focus on the same things as people, and we have the same end goal. The end goal is to be able to do the things we like to do in life better and longer, whether that is a job, sport, or just l-i-v-i-n-g!

In order to make that happen we want to focus on developing the agility, coordination, power, speed, and most of all, the strength of our furry companions. Strength is king, and people are learning it with humans, and people will learn it with canines. Exercise is awesome, but the same thing that leads to decline in elderly people leads to decline in elderly dogs, and it is not a lack of agility! It is that muscle mass and strength decline, and you cannot get around or you fall.

When it comes to training your dog, you want to think of training these characteristics as a type of order of operations, except you do not abandon one when you move onto the other. First you build strength, strength endurance and aerobic conditioning simutaneously. Build the chassis and engine before you bore out the pistons and throw on a crazy suspension, right?

Once you have built a solid base by improving general strength and the ability to produce force, as well as the ability to produce force for awhile, and the ability to walk around or even run for awhile, you can begin to add in agility and power movements.

For strength developement you can utilize band resitance, manual resistance and other methods which are discussed in other articles in detail. These include band and manually resisted walks, tire flips and tug of war for neck strength, and you can get creative and just play with your dog for this as well. If your dog likes to wrestle that is great for them. For strength endurance, otherwise known as the ability to produce force for a long time, you can walk with low resistance for a long duration, greater than 30 seconds continuously.

When it comes to agility, this can be going up and down off of things laterally, playing catch or other games where they try to grab something from you. I take Zeus up and down off the curb for 2-3 sets of 5-8 ups and downs per side as well as chasing him around with his tire and just jogging with him in a field and changing directions and making sure he is following my lead.

For power, I encourage him to jog in with me and then guide him to the stairs with encouragement and get him to jump/ go up them quickly, as well as wrestling and playing in ways that make him jump. A lot of this really comes down to mindfully playing with your dog and tricking them into doing these things through play. You will both benefit the most from it and be the most into it, and be the most likely to do it consistently if you make it fun, so have fun, and play with your pooch in these general ways to keep that pup a puppin’.

Josh