Conditioning

Conditioning:

Conditioning your Entlebucher:

Articles by Chris Zink:

Exercises you can do with your Entlebucher:

Warm Up:

You can start out by warming up your dog before any activity. This is especially important if you are just playing a game of fetch or do any competitive sport.

Warming up your dog before any strenuous activity is so important if you want to avoid injury. For the Entlebucher, it's even more important because we all know they give it 110% in everything they do!

Warm ups should be 5 to 10 minutes. This can consist of stretching your dogs muscles and getting their cardio worked up gradually.

Here are some suggestions:
1. Teach you dog tricks. This can be used for stretching exercises. Teach them how to take a bow (curtsy), roll, sit up, and crawl. All of these are excellent at building core muscle strength.
2. See if your dog can stretch it's nose to it's tail. Hold your dog's rear end (between your legs or using one hand to brace) and put a treat at their nose. Guide the nose with the treat towards their rear end. Do this slowly on each side. It's okay if your dog won't be able to stretch all the way to it's tail at first. Gradually work up to that point. You may notice your dog stretches more easily on one side than the other. After doing this over a period of time, you will see that your dog will be more and more limber and will stretch further each time. My dogs love this exercise!
3. Briskly walk or jog with your dog for a few minutes. This will get their muscles and cardio warmed up before they go do an all out run.

Our friend Brad with his two Entle girls, Georgie and Sami. Who is getting the better workout here?

Cool Down:

Cool down can be 5 to 10 minutes as well. Don't just stop abruptly after a hard exercise.

It's good practice to walk your dog and do some stretching exercises after any workout. This can also include a massage. This not only helps loosen tight muscles, but it also gives you an idea of any changes your dog has on it's body.

Some Exercise Tips to be Aware of:

If you are planning to do any performance activities, I highly recommend you talk to your vet and get a clearance before you get your dog into any jumping or other active program. Get you dog's hips and elbows xrayed so you know if there are any joint issues.
Be careful of any fetching exercises that causes your dog to land constantly on their hind legs. This could potentially cause back or rear end problems in the future.
Make sure your dog is not overweight before doing any strenous exercises. Gradually work off the weight. Brisk walking is excellent way to shed pounds and improve muscle tone. Be especially careful not to have an overweight puppy. This can compound the problems later down the road in your dog's life.
In regards to puppies, do not do any long distance running, jumping, or twisting until their growth plates have closed. This could mean up to 14 to 18 months old.
There are plenty of other activities you can teach your pup before you get into an activity that requires more stress. I will give lots of examples below on this page.
Be careful about exercising your dog on any hard surface. This can cause very serious muscle injuries and can slice paw pads very easily.
The BEST exercises for dogs are swimming and walking. This keeps them fit without a lot of strain on the joints. If you plan on swimming, make sure there is not any strong currents or waves that will cause your dog to panic. Make sure they always have a controlled exit or a platform they can rest on. Jumping on and off a high ledge into a pool can cause undue strain if they are not in top condition. Make sure the water temperature is not too cold or too warm. Adjust the time they are in the water if you can't control the temperature. Too cold is not good for the joints and too warm will overheat them.

Activities to Train Your Puppy and Adolecent Dog:

Manners. This includes obedience commands like come, sit, down, etc. Not only in the house, but work up to the point where the puppy can do these commands anywhere with your back turned away! Dog's don't generalize, so don't expect them to know a command in a new location. You need to practice in as many different locations and distractions as possible.
Attention. Teach them a command to look at you "watch me."
Emergency commands like stay, come, and a fast down.
Hide & Seek with their favorite toy or person hidden.
Tricks! Roll, Shake, Go "get the toy", Speak, Backup.
Teach your pup how to take and give a toy from it's mouth.
Walking over differnet surfaces. Put down some ground poles or see if they can manuever their feet in between the rungs of a ladder, walking on a tarp, walking over a low wobbly board.
Don't forget to let your puppy be a puppy and play.

STAY TUNED....MORE TO COME AS I THINK OF THINGS TO ADD!