The Canine Athlete

What can I say about the Liz McGuire seminar besides fantastic? My brain was completely full by the time we left on Saturday afternoon following roughly eight hours packed with great information. Big thanks goes out to Sheila, a Pals and Paws Club member who graciously offered the use of her home and yard to accommodate the ten working dogs and handful of auditors. I know we left a lot of hair on the floor to be vacuumed!

I was originally hesitant to sign Xander up for a working spot, as he tends to get weird in tight spaces with strange dogs and people. However, he was a SUPERSTAR. He was not fazed by anyone or anything, was happy to work, and friendly toward everyone! I was extremely proud of him, in spite of his obnoxious, repetitive protest barking during the times he was stuck in the crate (sorry fellow seminar attendees!) It was fortunately a very cool, overcast day (for Florida that is), so I was able to leave him crated in the car with the vent lock for the first 2.5 hrs of the seminar which was lecture. That only left another 5 hours or so….

Anyway, we arrived at Sheila’s home in Fleming Island at 9am and met Liz McGuire, who specializes in human strength and conditioning and physical therapy, but is bringing her knowledge to the dog world as well. She presented an incredible amount of very relevant information during the lecture, and I really appreciated her straightforward, direct, logical style and mentality. She made it obvious that she is more concerned with the health and longevity of our dogs, rather than making money, so she doesn’t sell or endorse any particular products that she uses in her seminars. This immediately increased her credibility in my mind. Her slide show included a few pictures swiped from Facebook, including two of Xander! Unfortunately, both were demonstrating something less than ideal. In one, he was doing the teeter in Vero Beach for the first time, which was VERY light, so he slid all the way to the end before it sort of crashed down under him. He made the contact, but it wasn’t pretty. She did say that he was demonstrating excellent body awareness in the shot, as he was able to react to the unpredictable obstacle and maintain criteria. Poor guy, he is just so good! Sometimes it would be better if he would bail off…..The other picture was him taking a jump so tight to the upright that he has that closest eye shut. No damage done, but he could have jumped into the upright itself. Fortunately, these were plastic, but that is not always the case. Liz showed us video of her dog that was impaled on a metal jump cup. After being impaled, the heavy metal jump pulled through his body, requiring 22 external stitches and 18 internal. We all cringed and could not believe that the dog took another jump after the injury! The biggest lesson here was that just because the WILL, does NOT mean they should. Our dogs give us so much effort, heart, and sometimes work through what must be excruciating pain to play our game. We owe it to them to recognize when they are hurt, to be proactive in preventing injury by avoiding dangerous activities, and for conditioning and resting them appropriately in order to give them the best chance at staying healthy.

After the lecture, we were taught to manually examine our dogs to determine their current state of balance and to look for any sore, troubled spots. I knew from my experiences with Kaylee’s bad back that the back muscles will twitch when sore, so it was some familiar information. Xander currently is very well balanced with no apparent issues. She did tell me that he has a very long loin, which given that I am no structural expert, I was already fairly aware of. She compared him to a 7ft athlete. Although he is very athletic, he does have weaknesses, including that long loin. I have always wondered why he has trouble with tight turns, and will sometimes face-plant after making one, so it was great when she explained it to me. He has tons of power in his rear end, and knows speed, but not control. She told me that if I work to strengthen his front and his core, that it will greatly improve his control and prevent injury. I am very excited to have something to work on!

Liz introduced us to a number of different ways to strengthen our dogs. The first way involves a large, inflatable “peanut” which is used in human conditioning. Similar to the large balance ball most people are familiar with, the peanut is larger, and a good shape for introducing dogs to the concept of balancing. Xander was first in line to give it a try, and gamely hopped right on! (salmon treats help) He immediately dropped into a down position for stability, which most of the other dogs did as well, but soon was coaxed into standing. Liz asked me if he was fast, and several of my fellow attendees chimed in “yes” which made me chuckle. She again demonstrated that although he is obviously athletic, she was able to push him off balance with a slight push to one hip, and he quivered with the effort to maintain balance. She said it will only take a short session initially to give him a full body work out, and tire him out mentally and physically. And it can be done indoors in the A/C! I ordered one the very next day.

After the other dogs had a turn on the ‘nut, we headed outside for some other activities. Some of which had our dogs wondering what on earth we were thinking, particularly the “wheelbarrow.” However, they were all good sports and gave so much effort. There were some weaves, and some cavallettis, which were trickier than they looked, and even a miniature aframe. There were balance disks, a bosu ball, and the peanut.

The afternoon included a break for lunch and a little walk around the neighborhood for Xander, followed by some muscle measurements and more outdoor activities. Xander was chosen to demo a sequence of collection/extension exercises in which he really had to think and focus on his body position. The sequence began with cavalettis, followed by the balance disk in 2on2off position, followed by the aframe, then another balance disk, and a pair of jumps in the 270 degree set up, finished with a balance disk. After ten minutes or so, he was done and trying to hide behind Anna Marie! Liz again emphasized that these exercises push them mentally and physically, and don’t need to be long!

Overall, the seminar was extremely informative, fun, and left me with a lot to do for homework. I have ordered some equipment to work on Xander’s core strength, as well as learning to run him down hill to strengthen his front. Liz warned me that I better be in good shape if I hope to keep up with him in the future, so we are excited. And most importantly, I want to protect him from injury. We plan to apply the warm up and stretching routine that she showed us, as well as the rest, active rest, and strength and conditioning calendar she helped us form. I would recommend that anyone who has not yet attended one of Liz’s seminars should do so as soon as possible! The sport has changed, and we need to keep the health and longevity of our dogs the number one priority. They are athletes, and we need to treat them as such!