K9 Conditioning and Fitness

Tessa and I have embarked upon yet another Fenzi Academy class adventure.  We are taking K9 Conditioning and Fitness at gold.

I took this class because Tessa is getting toward the shallow end of her prime and I was hoping to learn some exercises that will help her to stay strong and flexible, and to keep playing the game that she loves, for as long as possible.  We are definitely getting that through the class!

The biggest thing that has struck me, as we have gotten off to a start, is that I am amazed by the power that can be tapped by working on very basic foundation conditioning exercises.  And I wonder - why aren't we all being taught how to do these things in our training classes?  These are things I could have been doing with all of my dogs all along.  Don't get me wrong - I am glad to be learning this now.  But I wish this were something I could have been doing with all three dogs all along.  And with Speedy and Maddie, and most especially, poor old Sammie - before he was old!  Could some of the muscle in Sammie's back legs have been saved?  Could he have enjoyed walking and getting up on the furniture for a longer time?  Could his overall quality of life in his last two years have been a whole lot better?  Well, I'll never know, but I really wish I had known about this back then because I would have had tools to try to help him, long before he reached the point of no return.
 
However - that's neither here nor there, so Tessa and Dean Dog and Bandit will get to be the ones who do this sort of work!  Maybe I can do something for Dean that can help him to enjoy mobility into old age.

Taking this class has been a particularly interesting experience for me because this is the first Fenzi Academy class I have taken where I have not come into the class with an extensive background in the subject matter!!  So, I am learning all kinds of vocabulary, like: core and proprioception and topline!  And I hardly know what I am supposed to be doing or looking for as we carry out the exercises.  But I'm learning, so it's all good.  I will definitely come out of this with a greater knowledge base than I started with!

Tessa is rocking it!   Here is one of her videos.  This is part of the homework for the second week.  She tries out her new donut at the end.  She definitely approves!!




Looking forward to the remainder of this course.  Already I see a bit of extra spring in Tessa's step!  But I don't know if it's because she is starting to benefit from the class exercises, of if she is just happy that she is getting extra time to work with me on "stuff"!!