Tag Archives: dog training

Online Canine Conditioning, Health & Behavior Courses

Hi everyone. We are extremely excited to present an array of online courses for your canine athlete, working dog, or pet. Over the next few months we will be building our course library with self guided, instructor based, and/or custom programs to improve your competitive dog’s performance, your pet dog’s behavior, your senior dog’s vitality, or help get your previously injured dog back to top form.

Currently we have three classes beginning in January, and two more slated for February and March. We are offering discounts on early enrollment for the classes that are starting in January as well as pre-registration for notification about early enrollment saving for future classes.  Here is what’s available now: Continue reading Online Canine Conditioning, Health & Behavior Courses

Improve Obedience And Stay Fit

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Behavior, Balance, Fitness Focus. Working on balance discs , donuts or other set ups while learning & practicing a variety of commands like sit, down, stay, come, create a whole new fun and challenging way for you to improve your dog’s behavior, focus, health!

Dynamic Hind Limb Awareness And Strengthening

In today’s blog post we’d like to show a great dynamic hindlimb strengthening and awareness exercise that utilizes a donut vertical against the wall.  To minimize the risk of injury we most start off with the simplest version of this exercise and use a controlled exercise progression. We want our dogs to develop enough strength and awareness so at the most advanced level, if the donut rolls, they will not be susceptible to injury.  As well, by request, at the end of this written post, we have an instructional video featuring the exercise progression.
Continue reading Dynamic Hind Limb Awareness And Strengthening

Conditioning Tighter Turns For Agility Dogs

Have you ever noticed your dog leaning when they are taking a tight turn. (If not, just look at the above photo.)  Interestingly, if they’re turning right, they lean on their right side. If they are turning left, they lean on their left side. This isn’t just true for your dog, if you’ve ever seen a person turn on a motorcycle, they lean so much it’s hard to understand how they don’t fall. Runners do it too. Sprinters in the 200 meter are taught to “lean in” to the turn as they come around the track. Continue reading Conditioning Tighter Turns For Agility Dogs

The Need For Canine Conditioning

Proper conditioning  doesn’t just make your dog stronger, it makes your dog more sensitive to the amount of muscle contraction necessary to move most efficiently. Without conditioning, your dog will only be able to perform as well as they’ve learned to while participating in their sport or life activity. Continue reading The Need For Canine Conditioning

Puppy Socialization Before Full Vaccination

The most common advice given at a new puppy owner’s first appointment is to keep the puppy away from all other dogs as well as not walk the pup on the street until their series of 5 in 1 vaccines are finished and they have received their Rabies vaccine at least 16 or even 20 weeks of age. It is during this time that antibodies that the puppy has from the mother are diminishing and before the vaccines have taken full effect leaving a window of vulnerability. This was the protocol that I and many other veterinarians were taught in Vet school. However, this is bad advice for the social and behavioral development of the puppy. Continue reading Puppy Socialization Before Full Vaccination

8 Reasons To Exercise Your Dog In A Pool

At The Martial ARFS™ we use our pool for a variety of water based exercises that go well beyond swimming.  We call them Open Water Exercises (OWE) or Aquatic Conditioning, and you can have your dog perform them in a pool or any other open body of water. The purpose of Open Water Exercise is to incorporate a variety of exercises into a canine athlete or a companion dog’s conditioning program that use water to provide resistance, buoyancy, instability, challenge, and/or safety. Continue reading 8 Reasons To Exercise Your Dog In A Pool

Functional Canine Conditioning Part 4: Endurance

The 4 Elements Of A Functional Canine Conditioning Program:
Power. Athleticism. Speed. Endurance. (P.A.S.E.)

Part 4: Endurance

How do you build your dog’s cardiovascular Endurance? Should you do High Intensity Short Duration or Low Intensity Long Duration. What about muscle endurance? How long should a set of Puppy Push Ups or Squats last? Or how long should an entire conditioning sessions last? At The Martial ARFS™ we use three components to develop dog’s endurance: Cardiovascular Endurance, Muscle Endurance, and Mental Endurance. Continue reading Functional Canine Conditioning Part 4: Endurance

Functional Canine Conditioning: Part 1: Power

The 4 Elements Of A Functional Canine Conditioning Program:
Power. Athleticism. Speed. Endurance. (P.A.S.E.)

Part 1: Power

Each of the 4 elements are comprised of several key components that make up that element. Ignoring any component of any element ruins the integrity of the entire process and you will most likely never see the result you’re hoping to achieve. There are 4 components to developing a “functionally” more powerful canine athlete. They are: Strength, Stability, Flexibility, Connection.

Continue reading Functional Canine Conditioning: Part 1: Power