Agility dogs and planning the year

How many of you look at the agility shows over the year, and plan which you do with a strategic plan in mind?

How many agility dogs do back to back competitions for weeks and weeks in a row?

Athletes need time for muscle recovery, time to recover small micro muscle tears or injuries, tight muscles, and also the psychological effort required for competition.

I have an insanely busy year this year, pretty much my busiest yet! With several online courses, a wedding overseas, presenting at a national conference, my US trip required for the fitness training certification, NZDAC, and also a working spot in a seminar. Not only is that a lot for me, that's a lot for my dogs.

As well as ensuring that I  don't do more than two or three competitions in a month, I also block out a substantial 'agility holiday' each year. I try to be very strategic when I do this - I want at least 6 weeks off all agility, including both competition and training. This 'holiday' needs to be timed so that it gives me sufficient time to build back up full 'agility fitness', and needs to have enough shows to make sure my dogs are back in top form for NZDAC. I've also made sure to time it with my US trip which is my longest trip away from the dogs, and at a time (winter) where the weather and ground conditions are typically the worst.

This holiday will consist of continuing fitness and conditioning training, but stopping all agility training and competition. Because I'll have more time with less agility training, I'm planning on adding in more stress relief or decompression type activities like fun novel trick shaping, and long walks.

When coming back from the agility holiday I'm not going to go back into full sequence based agility training, but start slowly with single jump and jump grid training exercises, and slowly build back up their 'agility' fitness.

The slackers guide to preventing injury in your competition dog

Serious question.... what do you do OTHER than agility training to benefit your dog's sports performance and health? 

If you are one of those competitors who does some walks, ball throwing, and agility training.... you know what? If you are serious about your dog's health, and sports performance that is just not enough! Many of our dogs are naturally athletically gifted. That does not mean that fitness work is not important, or relevant to you and your dog. 

I know personally I am competitive. Not only do I want to achieve my goals, but I want to win, get ribbons, and gain awards for my dogs in the agility ring. However more importantly I want my dogs to be happy, healthy, injury free members of my family. 

I'll be writing some posts later on with more details about canine cross conditioning and fitness, but here are some things that you can do right now to help prevent injury in your competition dog. 

• Not jump or over work young dog's who's growth plates have not closed. The only conclusive way to tell this is with x-ray, however a health professional such as a sports vet, physio, or chiropractor can give you an indication of if their growth plates may have closed through examination. This can occur around 10 months in small breeds, 12-14 months in medium dogs, and up to 18 months in large breeds. 

• Keep excess weight off your dog. It's common sense. Extra weight puts extra stress on bones, joints and internal organs. Be aware that weighing a dog is not sufficient, as a dog putting on muscle will weigh more than a dog with no muscle. Go by feel - I try to keep my dogs as lean as possible with the least possible amount of fat while maintaining muscle mass. A performance dog will often look 'underweight' to a member of the public or a vet who is not used to performance dogs. 

• Keep nails very short. Nails are often a dreaded task of dog owners. However I see it as a very simple way to reduce injury. Toe injuries are one of the most common injuries in sporting dogs and are very difficult to rehabilitate. I use the alternative cut line when using clippers, and dremel my dogs nails at least once a week. My small guy Deo often gets his nails done twice a week due to the speed of his nail growth. The rule of thumb is that if the nails are short enough when your dog walks you should not hear any clicking on wooden floors. For more information on nails read Susan Garrett's blog post. 

Image from: https://www.midwestigrescue.com/ig-training-help/igs-and-toe-nail-length/

• Lift dogs out of vehicles. It's a little thing, but there are a number of dogs (in New Zealand) that have obtained serious injuries such as cruciate injuries from slipping or catching a leg jumping from a vehicle. I use a large non-slip rubber mat that folds out onto my ute tray that the dogs jump from their crates onto, and then I assist them from the ute tray to the ground. 

• Be aware of slippery surfaces, and jumping onto hard surfaces in the home environment. Concussive injuries can occur when dogs jump down onto hard surfaces. For a small dog most everyday objects (like a human bed) are relatively very high off the ground. Slipping in motion is one way that iliopsoas injuries can occur, which is another common sporting injury that like toe injuries, are difficult to rehabilitate. 

• Have your canine athlete regularly checked with an appropriate professional like a physio. Not only will this allow you to identify injuries, but muscles that are tight so you can prevent an injury occurring, and also areas of muscle weakness that could benefit from strength training. How many high-level athletes like Dan Carter or Steven Adams would not regularly see a sports therapist, masseuse, physio or similar professional? 

• Being aware of the walking equipment that you use with your dog, and if this is impeding your dogs motion. This can lead to injury. If you use a harness, does it allow a free and natural range of motion? Particularly avoid harnesses that cut across the chest and upper arm. 

• Warm up and cool down. And I don't mean putting your dog over some jumps before an agility run! An efficient warm up can increase an athlete's performance by increasing blood flow, stretching muscles, increasing nerve effectiveness, decrease the chance of injury, and increase performance output. A simple agility warm up could consist of walking, 5 minutes of trotting, some circle work, tricks like sit to stand, down to stand, spins, leg weaves, backing up, beg. Sit, wait, recall to tug. Active stretches like cookie neck and back stretches, stretching the rear, and saying prayers to stretch the neck and shoulders. Note that current research suggests that static stretches (where you stand the dog, or lie them on their side and you stretch legs out, holding a position for a period of time) are not an appropriate warm up activity and may have potential to cause injury. 

Chace warming up at an agility show with spins. 

Research shows that the chance of injury may be reduced by 25% by owners taking appropriate preventative actions. I don't know about you.... but I would rather spend my time doing some fitness work along with my other training, then time and money on rehabilitation from injury! 

Has this got you thinking about other things that you could do to improve your dogs sports performance, and decrease the chance of injury? Here are some other's posts and reading relating to canine cross training: 

• http://www.vosm.com/includes/storage/brio/files/212/prevent-inj.pdf  
• http://classroom.daisypeel.com/k9-conditioning-blog/thoughts-on-canine-cross-training/
• http://totofit.com/why-core-fitness-is-important-to-every-dog/
• http://www.pawsitive-performance.com/blog/round-out-your-workout
• http://martialarfs.com/blog/the-need-for-canine-conditioning/