How can Canine rehab make my agility dog better?

Canine Rehab

How can Canine rehab make my agility dog better? When I speak to groups of dog people about the benefits of canine rehabilitation, there is always one person who asks this question. Canine rehab is not just for injury, there are components aimed at making dogs more athletic. Are we talking rehabilitation or conditioning here? Maybe a little bit of both, how much of each depends on the individual. A thorough orthopedic evaluation often identifies at least one area of soreness, reduced joint motion, or muscular tightness.

Agility dogs, more than most canine athletes, must have excellent balance and core strength to handle tight corners and obstacles at high speeds. Balance involves the body’s ability to know where it is in relation to the world around it, and to respond appropriately to maintain normal orientation. The brain receives input from the eyes and vestibular system to assist with balance also, but as rehab professionals, we are concerned with the input from the musculoskeletal system. The brain accumulates all this data, and if body position is unsafe/unstable, the brain sends signals to the muscles to fine tune the precarious position into something more safe. There are specific tests to determine the degree of balance a dog has. Many dogs could use exercises to improve poor balance. I’ve seen handlers in the audience roll their eyes when I say this, but it’s true! As an example of a fit body with poor balance, I offer my own experience. I consider myself relatively fit. Most of my work time I’m a large animal veterinarian, most of my play time I’m involved with my German Shepherds. I joined a pilates class last summer and quickly discovered my balance is very poor. I supplied a lot of laughs for the rest of the class! I tend to walk quickly, I multitask most of the time, and have no trouble walking or running across a pasture… go figure. Two months later, I had improved quite a bit and was able to do all the exercises. If a person, why not a dog? About 50% of the dogs we test have less than ideal balance, but there are a number of exercises we can show you that will effect improvement.

Core strength is hugely important to athletic dogs. Again, we test them to see where they are and that helps us decide on exercises that will improve this area. The core is the postural stabilizing muscles, shorter muscles that wrap around the trunk and contain many signaling fibers to alert the brain to body position, i.e. balance. Improving muscle tone and strength in the core, improved the signal quality as well as the speed and quality of the response to the brain’s orders. Excellent core strength of the spinal and abdominal muscles helps resist back injury and increases the coordination and power of limb motion.

I think you can appreciate that if we can increase balance and core strength in an agility dog, it will be quicker and safer in the work.