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Fitness Condition Assessment Guide

The old adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" can be true when speaking of our dog's physical condition. Have you noticed something being off with your dog, but not sure how to assess if your dog is in pain? Would you be able to determine if your dog had muscle tightness? Have you noticed slight behavior changes in your dog, or noticed changes with your sport dog's performance? 

For the new year, we are providing for a short time, a free canine condition assessment ebook. All dog owners should be able to generally assess your dog's physical condition, understand if your dog is overweight or underweight, know the signs of pain and how to palpate your dog to determine subtle signs of discomfort, how to perform a range of motion evaluation, how to perform a gait baseline video, how to evaluate posture and establish a posture baseline, and be able to perform a general strength test to detect any significant weakness.  It's good practice to have a...

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Does a Puppy Need Inflatable Equipment To Learn Balance?

Uncategorized Feb 28, 2022
 
There seems to be no shortage of inflatable equipment options for canines these days which is terrific.  But are they right for puppies?
 
A great deal of the research we have for canine fitness is extrapolated from human fitness studies. There is limited research or studies on the effects of instability or inflatable equipment in puppies and human children under the age of 7. If you look at the life of a puppy in their first year, it is similar in age span to a human’s first 15 years for a medium size dog. A 6 month old medium size dog would be approximately in age to a 7 year old child. Small children under 6 or 7 years learn motor skills and fine motor skills like holding a spoon or tying their shoes. They can learn balance skills by walking across a balance beam, holding one foot up, holding one foot up with eyes closed, etc. Both motor and balance skills are important in a child's development. 
 
What is balance? Balance is the ability...
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Psst....Wanna know secrets to canine fitness?

Are you interested in canine fitness but find yourself overwhelmed of where to start? It looks like so much fun, right?  All those social media pictures and videos of people and their canine partners doing fitness exercises on bright colored inflatable bones, discs and peanuts looks like a lot of fun to do with your dog.  But what equipment do you buy? Which piece of equipment is right for your dog? How do you teach THAT fancy exercise to your dog? Where do you begin?  It can be overwhelming for someone new to canine fitness and they can tend to focus on elements of fitness rather than seeing the overall big picture.

Can we share a secret to canine fitness that may help you focus on what is the most important factor to improving the fitness and health of your dog? You do not need hundreds of dollars in inflatable equipment or expert dog training skills.  To have meaningful fitness results for your dog, you need a commitment to a consistent and balanced program. A...

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A Love of Canine Sports Since 2005

 
 

We have launched our PlayFit Sports Mini-Course specific for sport dogs! I, Coach L, have had a love for canine sports since 2005 when I started herding with my little sheltie, Maggie Mae.  While fitness is important for all dogs, it’s absolutely essential for sport dogs. Why? Well, I will tell you a story that sadly many other owners and sport dogs have experienced. Whether you are doing agility, dock diving, herding, obedience, disc, or barn hunt, sports can be demanding on the dog’s body. I didn't understand fully how demanding until 7 years ago, my border collie had an iliopsoas strain. We did agility, herding, obedience, rally together and he was about 5 when the injury occurred.

It was hard to watch your very active young dog hurting and not only did our fun sporting activities cease but normal life changed drastically as well while he was leash walked, forbidden from jumping on the couch, and swimming wasn't allowed either. I cried many days wondering...

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Why Coach4Paws? Because of Maggie Mae

 

Maggie was my first sheltie. She was one of 10 puppies, and when I met her at 8 weeks, she was full of spunk and sass which I loved about her. We played fetch in the yard which she loved, I took her for walks, but none of that seemed to satisfy or tire her out. It seemed she could play fetch for hours and never want to stop the game. When I came home from work, she would be bouncing off the walls. She literally would eat the drywall and chew the baseboards. She also had a bad habit of eating other things she shouldn’t, chewing up toys and once ate the stuffing of a toy and had to be hospitalized. Apart from immediately buying a crate, making sure toys were bulletproof and watching her like a hawk, I had to find a way to curb her destructive behavior as well as incessant barking.

At my wit’s end, I joined a puppy obedience class when she was eight months old to see if they could help me. She loved learning new behaviors. The teacher I met later became one of my good...

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