Tag Archives: fitness training

10 Reasons Your Dog Doesn’t Lose Weight

The reality is clear  APOP’s 2017 clinical survey, showed that 56% of dogs were classified as clinically overweight (body condition score (BCS) 6-7) or obese (BCS 8-9) by their veterinary healthcare professional.

That equals an estimated 50.2 million dogs are too heavy, based on 2017 pet population projections provided by the American Pet Products Association (APPA). In 2016, APOP found 54% of dogs were overweight or obese. With all of the high quality foods on the market today, and pet owners expecting more for  the health of their pets why is the problem getting worse?HealthPetAssessmentCardNormal_Course

Though you might think it’s obvious, here’s another statistic from APOP. Even though we know that 56% of dogs are overweight, 93% of dog owners think their dog is a healthy weight. And even though 93% of dog owners think their dog is a healthy weight, 43% of dog owners actually admit that they don’t know what a normal weight dog looks like. We can’t help are dog lose weight if we don’t know they need to lose it. Above is a diagram of what a normal dog should look like, but it can vary slight from dog to dog.

So if you see that your dog is overweight and you’re trying to get your dog to slim down but you’re having trouble, here’s 10 reasons as to why that might be happening. Continue reading 10 Reasons Your Dog Doesn’t Lose Weight

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

The Problem With Canine Conditioning

Canine conditioning as it is generally practiced is not really geared toward canine athletic performance. There are a lot of great Journiexercises that ultimately will not translate to improved performance or injury prevention because the execution will never advance beyond a dog simply going through the motion of the exercises. That’s because the overwhelming majority of canine conditioning exercises never move beyond their canine rehabilitation roots. Continue reading The Problem With Canine Conditioning

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 3: Speed

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

Part 3: Speed!!

When you see a dog run and think to yourself, “Wow that dog is fast!”, what are you looking at? Is it how fast the dog runs in the open field? What about how fast the dog runs an agility course? Is it how fast the dog starts? Stops? Or changes direction? At The Martial ARFS™ we define speed using 4 components:  Reaction, Direction, Acceleration,  & Sprint, and you must train them all to improve your dog’s performance.

Continue reading Functional Canine Conditioning Part 3: Speed

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

FitPAWS K9FITBone Review

By Jeris Pugh (Owner, Martial ARFS™).

At The Martial ARFS™ Dog Training & Fitness Center we incorporate stability equipment into every thing that we do.  Do you want your dog to listen better? Get on the stability equipment.  Do you want your dog to do agility? Get on the stability equipment.  Do you have a crazy hyper puppy?  Get on the stability equipment.  RingoThe reasons why we train this way  is beyond the scope of this review, but it is what we do.  However, I am  always looking to integrate a variety of stability challenge pieces of equipment in a multitude of configurations to the curriculum.

Continue reading FitPAWS K9FITBone Review