Place Boards for Canine Conditioning

Place Board as a raised platform in Canine Conditioning and Body Awareness for my Senior Sports Dog

Super Sets for my Senior Sports Dog: 

Exercises to do at home: 

The following canine conditioning and body awareness exercises are incorporated into my senior dogs routine every other day.

Why use a Place Board? 

• The place board is useful as its rectangular shape controls the direction the dog faces while on the board, encouraging good body position. 
• The raised platform of the place board can be used to elevate the dog and build up the rear end muscles. 
• The artificial grass surface provides the dog with a target they can see and feel. The texture stimulates the dog's sense of touch and strengthens their toes and feet.

Exercise One:

We do 1 - 3 cycles of this superset:

What: A sequence of moves on a place board

Why: Tones abdominal wall, spine, shoulder and hip muscles. The board encourages good positioning.

How: move from one position to another in the following sequence, sit - lay down - sit - lay down - sit- stand - sit - stand - sit. 

Exercise Two: 

We do up to 5 repetitions of the exercises below:

What: Elevating her front on a place board to shift more weight onto the rear end.

Why: Strengthens the rear legs by loading them. 

How:

1. Count out 10 food rewards.
2. Use a piece of food to lure into a stand with front feet on the place board, wrists in line with their shoulders.
3. Slowly string 9 of the treats to her mouth, toss the 10th onto the floor to break position.
4. To progress, I increase the duration between each piece of food being given so she is in a position for longer. 

Why am I including canine conditioning and body awareness in my dogs routine? 

I noticed that my 8-year-old gundog was losing strength in her rear legs. Jumps, such as onto the sofa, were becoming more of an effort and her muscle tone in that area was decreasing. 

I have a background in veterinary medicine and knew muscle wastage like this can be a sign of the joint being less mobile to injury or stiffness so I booked her in for a vet check. The vet did notice some pain in her right hip, she has not been imaged, but it is likely she is starting to become arthritic; it has been recommended that we can manage her condition without medication and instead, continue with her healthy daily habits and have been referred for hydrotherapy. 

Healthy Daily Habits:

She is fed a high-quality raw diet and from a young age, due to her activity level, she has been supplemented with glucosamine and capsules rich in omega-3 known to support healthy joints. Search https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/ food directory to check the quality of a diet. 

Now retired from agility she is still active. We enjoy off-lead hiking which provides year-round conditioning as the speed of her movement varies and her muscles work to stabilise her over logs, roots and uneven ground.

Hydrotherapy: 

Sessions in a warm pool swimming once a week provide low impact exercise to re-muscle the areas that had become weakened. The warm water provides relief for any inflammation due to arthritic stiffness.