- What’s the most important part of our dog’s body to warm up?
- What are the best things to do to prevent injury and give our dogs the best chance for a peak performance?
- What exactly are the components of a proper warm-up?
After the general warm up, a specific warm up is done to prepare the body for specific movements that will be used in the activity. If the work or activity includes any twisting or turning at all then this is crucial to include in the warm-up. (This is the part of the warm up that is fun!) This part includes your dog moving in different planes as well as moving the major joints through the different ways they move: flexing, extending, rotating, sidebending, abducting and adducting. If your dog has had a previous injury in a particular muscle or joint then it is even more important to specifically warm up that area.
For the specific warm up, the body can be divided into a few different areas to focus on. There is the core, which includes the muscles of the back and the spinal stabilizers, and the abdominal muscles. Do not forget that the neck is part of the core too. Then we have the major joints: the hips and shoulders, and the elbows and stifles. Each hip joint moves in 6 different ways: flexing and extending, internally and externally rotating, adducting and abducting, as does each shoulder joint. As we travel down the legs, there are the hocks, carpal joints, and the toes of front and back feet. Each joint on the legs is important in movement and should not be overlooked in the warm-up.
And the final part of the body to warm up is the brain. This component of the warm-up is to mentally prepare our dogs for the activity to come. This is the part that is similar to the visualization technique used in people and our topic for our last blog (If you missed it, click here to read it). This is where our dogs connect their mind and body together. This is also where we connect to our canine teammate.
So, while it may seem like a lot to do, much of this can be accomplished in a series of simple exercises, that can be done without equipment anywhere and anytime.