Effective Why Up is Important
The last article was about why a WARM UP is so important for your sporting dog, what happens during the warm up, and what parts it should consist of. A targeted warm-up will prevent joint disease and injury, and your dog will perform better. Because proper warm-up prepares the dog physically and mentally for performance. He concentrates and it motivates him.
Therefore, in this article I present you some exercises for the general warm up. Apply it before exercising with your dog.
The active warm up – general exercises
Always start the active warm up by warming up and loosening up the large muscle groups of the back, front and hind legs. This includes, for example, even preparation of the entire body with warm-up running, stretching, and incline runs. You should take about 10 minutes to do this.
This is what your warm up can look like:
Warm up:
- Lead your dog at a walk, then switch to a trot. You perform these speed changes several times. In the walk your dog makes conscious and concentrated movements. He must have good body tension and body awareness. Because this is essential and indispensable in sports. For many dogs it is very difficult to walk consciously because the gait is very strenuous. Trotting warms up all of your dog’s muscles. In addition, ligaments and tendons are also warmed up. The joints are lubricated by the movement.
Then comes the next step – everyday exercises:
These exercises warm up the muscles and get the joints moving:
- Move your dog from stand to sit. Then from sit to down and then let him go from down to stand again. You repeat that several times.
Now follows the stretching:
Stretching warms up muscles even more. They become more elastic and mobility is increased. Your dog should always be able to loosen up briefly between exercises. You can let him trot a few meters for this.
For stretching there are several exercises:
Stretching the spine:
- Let your dog run around you in a circle. Make sure it goes both left-handed and right-handed.
- The twist: during the rotations around its own axis, the spine is bent even more and the muscles become elastic.
- Slalom through the legs: Let your dog run figure eights through your legs. Remember to run it both ways.
Stretching the cervical spine to specifically warm up the neck and neck muscles:
- You stand in front of your dog and pass a treat up, down, and also left and right in front of his nose. Hold the position for a few seconds. Your dog should stay in the same spot.
Stretching the hip:
- Have your dog stand and brace against you or a wall and have him hold the position for a few seconds.
Stretch the front legs:
- To do this, let them give you the paw at different heights, up to a high five.
Then there is some more speed:
- Performs several wide turns followed by a few short canter sequences.
- Then moves on to short sprints and tight turns.
Specific warm up
During the specific warm up, you train the muscle groups that are used intensively for the exercises of the respective sport even more intensively. Align them according to what performance the body should provide and which parts of the body are particularly required.
In any sport, all the muscles of the dog’s body are needed, but the muscle groups are used to different degrees. Warming up these muscle groups can not only reduce the risk of injury during exercise, it also reduces the risk of late damage to the active or passive musculoskeletal system. You should take about 5 minutes to do this.
Depending on the sport, this may include low jumps, slalom, short stops and braking maneuvers.
Make sure your dog does not get tired during the warm up.
Now it can really start! I wish you and your dog a lot of fun with the sport!
And after the sport you should take some time for a cool down. I’ll show you what that can look like in my next post!
Do you have questions about the post or a topic request? Then feel free to write me a comment or a message!
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