Dog Stretching

The game of tug stretches the front end muscles, adductors, pectorals and core muscles. Additional, when your dog digs backwards it warms up the hamstrings and glutes. Lastly, it raises your dog’s heart rate. Raising your dog’s heart rate brings blood and oxygen to your dog’s muscles. You never want a dog to run while their muscles are cold. This is why tug is a great exercise to do before playing fetch, going to the dog park, or participating in dog sports (agility, flyball, herding, etc.). If your dog already knows how to tug follow these instructions:

1. Choose your dogs favorite toy and engage in tug
2. You can move left to right but never up and down
3. Avoid jerking your dogs head when going left to right
4. Keep their head low (avoid their neck from going backwards)
5. Let them “dig” backward and provide some resistance

The Game Of Tug: ‘Drop it’, ‘Get it’, and ‘Dig’.

To teach drop it, get it and dig it using the “Tug Method” you need to understand why traditional methods fail. One method for teaching drop it includes offering a cookie or another toy in exchange for the item the dog has. This method creates a ‘value dilemma’. The value dilemma is the idea that your dog must make a choice between what he has and what you have. He must value what you have over what he has. Imagine you have a 100 dollar bill. I have a 1 dollar bill. What would you choose? This is the value dilemma. So to avoid the value dilemma I recommend using the Tug Method which involves only one toy.  To teach tug:

1. Get your dogs favorite toy.
2. Present the toy by holding it at both ends
3. Say the cue word “Get It” or “Take It”
4. If your dog is not interested, you can wave it on the floor to look like prey.
5. Once your dog grabs it, play tug left to right.
6. Say “Good Dig” when your dog pulls backwards. Provide some resistance but not too much.
7. If your dog does not dig, do not worry. It will come with confidence.
8. Once your dog has had some fun, hold the toy completely still. Do not wave it. Do not let them dig backwards. Become the most boring thing in the world. Say “Drop it”
9. Your dog will try to continue tugging. This will confuse him. He might even get bored. This causes him to start to release the toy. Even the slightest loosening of his grip is GREAT.
10. Say “Get it” when he loosens his grip and continue to play with him.
11. Repeat steps 3-6
12. Over time he will understand that releasing it what is causing the game to continue.
13. He will start to release bigger and bigger until the item is fully dropped.

The tug method is great for teaching drop it. It eliminates the value dilemma because there is only one item to value, the game of tug.  

Play bow is also known as puppy bow or downward dog. It stretches the triceps, mid back, hips and hamstrings. This stretch mimics the play bow stretch.

To teach it:

1. Place your back hand under their back legs
2. This is to prevent their back legs from collapsing and going into a down position.
3. Take a treat and lure your dogs nose down toward the floor.
4. Press the treat towards their body and towards your self. This is to push their butt back.
5. If your dog tries to go into a down, push up with the hand under their legs.
6. Hold the stretch for 5 seconds and release slowly

Tip: Many dogs will go into a play bow after coming out of the crate or after they lay down. Take advantage of that and say good bow, and reward. Rewarding natural behaviors is called capturing. This is a form of capturing.

The aim is to have your dog’s feet stationary and lean forward to stretch the hip and back muscles. This movement mimics the couch crawl described above.

1. Use a platform (chair, stool, couch)
2. If your don’t have access to a platform you can use your body instead of a platform
3. Have your dog put their front paws on the item
4. Stand in front of the platform
5. Place the cookie towards your body
6. Your dog should lean towards the cookie
7. If they move their feet, do not reward
8. If they keep moving their feet they are either: Inflexible or The stool is too high. Adjust according to their capabilities.

This stretch focuses on the front limbs. If your dog knows paw skip below. If they do not follow one of these three methods to train it.

Method 1: Place a treat in your palm and close your hand. If they paw at your hand say yes, open it, and reward

Method 2: Place tape on your dogs eyebrow. When they paw at it, say yes and reward

Method 3: If your dog already knows paw, say paw and hold your hand above their head.

If Your Dog Knows Paw:

1. Have your dog sit
2. Ask for paw
3. When they reach out, say yes and reward
4. Practice on both sides
5. Do 5 reps per paw
6. Make sure the other paw stays stationary on the floor

Circles increases the neck, spine and tail flexibility. Have your dog spin 360 degrees to the left and right. You can do this by luring them with a cookie in a circle. Make sure to lure them slowly and low enough so that they do not jump up towards the cookie. If they are jumping up, lower the cookie. Make sure to do both sides five times each.

This exercise stretches the neck, spine and tail.

1. Stand with one leg forward. Make sure you spread your legs far far enough to allow the dog to pass. This stretch is difficult for big dogs and short pet parents 
2. Take a cookie and lure your dog between your legs
3. As they exit your legs, reward and step forward.
4. Switch cookie hands
5. Lure them through the new hole created when you stepped forward.
6. Reward your dog based on well they are performing the action. You might only get one reward per step or you might be able to take one or two steps before rewarding.  
7. Do 3 sets of 10

This exercise warms up the muscles responsible for lateral movement (side stepping). Muscles responsible for lateral movement are are called abductors and adductors.

1. Have your dog stand perpendicular to you with their ribcage touching your legs
2. Using your body pressure, walk towards you dog in the direction you want them to go
3. Make sure to keep them perpendicular to you by keeping their nose on a food lure
4. Say yes when your dog steps to the side
5. Keep their treat at their natural head level
6. Work both sides
7. Repeat 5x in each direction.

Tip: Your dog will cross their front feet and or rear feet, this is the desired behavior.

This exercise also warms up abductor and adductors. I find this easier to teach but it only isolates the back feet.

1. Use a non-slip platform (chair, stool, or book).
2. Have your dog put their front paws on the item.
3. Stand to the side of your dog
4. Walk into your dog.
5. Your dogs front paws are to remain on the platform.
6. They should take a side step, reward it (even if its slight)
7. Say the cue “step” every time they take a step.
8. Do 5 steps in each direction

Tips:

• Use an aerobic bench
• The platform anchors them.
• The platform does not need to be high. It could be a book.
• Most dogs have poor abductor and adductor muscles. Their step might be tiny. They will get stronger and make bigger steps over time.
• Notice any differences in how big their steps are. There might be a difference between their left and right feet.
• Keep the back flat no roaching

Many times our dog has no idea what’s behind them. They have front feet and a head, everything else comes with the gig. Teaching a dog to back up teaches two things. First it teaches rear awareness. Secondly it teaches them how to distribute their weight to each rear foot evening. This exercise warms up hamstrings and glutes. There are two methods to teach back up. 

Method 1:

1. Place a matt/blanket/yoga mat on the floor.
2. Sit on the floor or a low stool and toss treats between their front legs
3. As your dog backs up to retrieve the cookies, say “yes” and repeat

Method 2:

1. Place a matt/blanket/yoga matt on the floor
2. Stand up in front of them
3. Walk towards your dog and invade their space
4. One they step back wards, say yes and reward

Tips

• Hard treats are ideal for method 1 because the dog can hear them hit the floor
• Once your dog is offering back up, you can name the commend and request him to back up
• Make sure your dog does not hop. They need to step back wards with each foot.
• Goal: For your dog to travel 6-8 feet to get to the matt

This exercise warms up your dog’s core muscles groups. This includes the hips, shoulders, knees, elbows and wrist. Have your dog in the stand position and request a down. There are two ways a dog will go into a down only one of them is correct for this stretch.

Sphinx Position

Requires the dogs feet to be stationary. They are to shift their weight back and fold down. Request that your dog does a down using a cookie if necessary.

Most Dogs Do This Method Which Is Not Ideal

Most dogs will move their front feet out wards and slide into a down. This will not stretch the dog correctly. If your dog is use to doing a down in this fashion, take a small oven pan and place it front of their front feet. This will prevent them from moving their paws forward. If you are still struggling. Have your dog stand on am aerobic bench. This will prevent them from turning their body. The platform prevents them from trying to move away from the blocker (oven pan).

Trotting gets the blood flowing which brings oxygen to the muscles. Its like the warm up jog that we do before any exercise. In this exercise you are looking for your dog to walk in a two beat gait. A two beat gait is where front and back paws hit the floor at the same time. This is because it prevents shifting of weight.

1. Have your dog on a leash and trot back and forth for about 50-100 feet or 20-30 meters.
2. Work your dog on both sides of you
3. Your dog should be looking ahead and not at you
4. Try to look forward your self . This will minimize your dogs tendency to look at you
5. Repeat for 2 minutes

NO SPACE?

If you do not have the space. Place jump bars or broom/mop sticks on the floor. Have them walk back and forth stepping over the obstacles (not jumping). Have them do it 15-20 minutes. To make sure they are not looking at you, place a target, food bowl, or treat dispenser at the end of the sticks.

This exercise engages your dogs hips, and increases their range of motion of their hind end.

There are two types of sits our dogs can do 1) Tuck Sit & 2) Rock Back Sit. Tuck sits is where the front feet remain stationary and the back feet tuck under the dog into a sit. Rock back sits are when the back feet remain stationary and their front feet rock backwards. You want to train a Tuck Sit not a Rock Back. Every dog has a preference to which one they do. So you might get lucky and your dog prefers the tuck sit.

To Train A Tuck Sit:

1. Have your dog place their front feet on a low platform (i.e aerobic bench)
2. Stand in front of the platform.
3. Ask for a sit.
4. Keep the cookie at your body. They might rock back but then they will not get the cookie.
5. Once they tuck their back feet in, reward.
6. Ask for a stand. They should kick their feet backwards with out moving their front feet.

Tip: You can hold your dogs collar to make help them stay stationary.

Pop ups focus on the core and rear end muscles. To teach ‘pop up’ we use the ‘touch’ command. To teach touch:

1. Place an open hand out towards your dog (without a cookie).
2. If your dog sniffs it, reward with other hand.
3. Repeat
4. Once your dog is offering the the touch behavior consistently move your hand to different positions. This could include to the left, right, up, down, behind your hips and so on. 
5. Once your dog can do touch on command in any position you are ready to do ‘Pop Ups’.
6. Place your hand slightly above their head and say touch. They should jump up or pop up to touch your hand.
7. Repeat 5x

This exercise stretches rear legs and hip flexors. It is pretty simple exercise but the key is to not throw the ball too high. Otherwise the dog will have to jump. You want the dog to be in control of their motion. Some dogs are unable to do this exercise correctly. This is because the visual of the ball is too stimulating so they are unable to control themselves.