4 K9 Fitness Exercises Using An Aerobic Bench Step Platform
When I first started learning about K9 fitness for my CSCC certification, something that was really fascinating to me was that you didn’t always have to use expensive canine fitness equipment to see progress in your dog.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I use all of that expensive canine fitness equipment too, ha! Some may even call me a hoarder, ha! I do use it all though so at least it’s not sitting there taking up space!
One item that I use in numerous canine conditioning exercises including advanced K9 fitness exercises is an aerobic bench step platform! This one tool can help improve proper form, feet position and so much more for your dog’s K9 fitness exercises. Below are four dog fitness exercises you can do with your dog using an aerobic bench step platform.
Important Note:
Before you begin any dog fitness exercises, it is important to note that canine fitness is intended for healthy dogs to prevent injury. It is not a replacement for surgery. If your dog has any underlying conditions or is currently in rehab for an injury, please speak with your veterinarian, orthopedic specialist or any other specialist before beginning the exercises with your dog to keep them safe.
Dog Fitness Exercise 1: Tuck Sit
The first way I learned to use an aerobic bench step platform for K9 fitness was with the tuck sit exercise. When you use an aerobic bench with this exercise, it helps teach your dog where their feet are and can help aid in getting rid of that “mermaid sploot sit” and have a better “posture sit” that’s actually engaging your dog in multiple areas. Let’s dive in!
Dog Fitness Exercise Goal: Your dog’s front feet will remain stationary while the back feet and rear come to meet them in a sit position,
Dog Fitness Exercise Benefits: This exercise strengthens your dog’s shoulders and spinal flexors.
Bonus Pro Tip: For this dog fitness exercise, I always pair the aerobic bench with the FitPaws K9FitMat and sometimes the FitPaws TRAX Targets too to fill that gap for larger dogs on the bench. That mat has little nubs that send signals from your dog’s feet to their brain to help them know where their feet are which when building proper form for this exercise is kind of key! Most FitPaws or Blue-9 canine fitness equipment has different textured surfaces like that but since the aerobic bench doesn’t, and can sometimes be a little slippery sometimes (especially for excited dogs like mine, ha!), that also provides added traction and support while talking to their brain. Talk about a win-win!
Step 1: Have your dog begin in a standing position.
Step 2: Ask your dog to walk up onto the aerobic bench step platform (close to the front if you can) and ask them to sit. As you do this, pull your hands towards you to pull your dog towards you.
Proper Form: You’re looking for knees and feet tracking forward, a flat back and head in a natural position.
Dog Fitness Exercise 2: Fold Down To Stand
One of my all time favorite dog fitness exercises is the fold down to stand. I personally think this is such a powerhouse K9 fitness exercise that works so many different muscle groups in your dog. This is one that not only is amazing for sport dogs, but honestly everyday pet dogs! Being able to be strong and get up and off the floor, dog bed, or any other surface is only going to benefit them throughout their years!
Before beginning this exercise, I recommend your dog know the following:
- Nose Touch (check out my Instagram video tutorial!)
- If you don’t know this or are working on it, the steps below show how to teach it with a treat since it’s always great to start there initially so your dog understands what you want them to do!
Dog Fitness Exercise Goal: Your dog’s front feet should stay stationary while their hips and shoulders rotate together.
Dog Fitness Exercise Benefits: Strengthens spinal and core muscles while teaching the dog to push up with rear legs into the standing position. This in turn also strengthens your dog’s stifle extenders.
Pro Tip: I would also use the FitPaws K9 FitMat and/or FitPaws TRAX Targets here too. This is another dog fitness exercise where proper form is extra important and the aerobic bench is going to help but that added communication will only make it better!
Step 1: Ask your dog to go into a stand on the aerobic bench step platform.
Step 2: Lure your dog by holding the treat at their nose and then ask them to follow the treat between his front legs (towards their chest) to encourage them to shift their weight back and to a down position without moving their front feet.
Pro Tip: Many dogs will move their front feet a bit at first. My dog Annie still does it to this day from time to time. There’s a few ways you can help keep their front feet still, but one way is to simply touch their feet as they lower or stand and gently hold them in place. If your dog has a lot of sensitivity around their feet I would probably avoid that method but if they don’t, that’s a great place to start!
Step 4: With a treat in hand, or using a nose touch command, place your hand where your dog should end up back in a standing position. Immediately reward when they stand.
Note: You don’t want your dog nibbling on your hands the whole time. However, when first teaching your dog this exercise, the treat can be very beneficial to show them what you’re asking. Once they understand, this is where the nose touch comes in! Replace using the treat as their rise up by asking for a nose touch where their head will end in the standing position.
Pro Tip: This does take practice. Sometimes I have my hand up too high and other times I reach it a bit too far which puts Annie and Diesel in a bit of an extended position. It happens to all of us! The biggest tip here is to grab your phone, prop it up against something and record yourself. Or if you have a mirror, do your canine fitness training in front of it. Our body position impacts everything our dogs do and is one of the top reasons why our dog doesn’t understand what we’re asking!
Dog Fitness Exercise 3: Rear Paw Targeting
The third dog fitness exercise is by far Annie Bananie’s all time favorites: rear paw targeting! Fun fact: this was actually the hardest K9 fitness exercise to teach her. For the longest time she couldn’t understand what I was asking and then one day when it finally clicked she was like OH MY GAWD THIS IS AMAZING! Ha! Now, I legit can’t keep her back feet off anything. When she doesn’t know what I’m asking or I’m setting up our canine fitness equipment, she immediately puts her back feet on it, no matter how angled or high it’s set up to, ha!
Before beginning this exercise, I recommend your dog know the following:
- Rear Paw Targeting on the ground (you don’t start on something elevated, even as low as this aerobic bench step platform until your dog knows it). Here’s an easy tutorial of this on my Instagram account!
Dog Fitness Exercise Goal: Your dog’s rear feet should step up onto the aerobic bench while the front feet stay on the floor.
Dog Fitness Exercise Benefits: This exercise works the triceps, biceps and superficial pectorals to stabilize the shoulders and forelimbs.
Step 1: Place the aerobic bench on the floor and using the cue you’ve taught your dog, ask your dog to go into rear paw targeting position. Immediately reward.
Dog Fitness Exercise 4: Sidestepping
Another one of Annie Bananie’s favorites and honestly Diesel’s too is sidestepping! This exercise has a TON of awesome strength benefits for your dog and can be leveled up as well! There are many ways to teach this canine conditioning exercise to your dog, but to keep things simple, I’ll be focusing on one method in this post. If you’re having trouble with this method and need additional ways to teach your dog, send me an email or comment on this post and I’ll help!
Before beginning this exercise, I recommend your dog know the following:
- Front Paw Targeting (this is ONLY if you’re adding the aerobic bench or any other surface to work this on. This is an exercise you can do on the flat (ground) with no front paw targeting needed).
Dog Fitness Exercise Goal: Your dog’s back should remain flat, front and rear feet keep a natural distance part and the legs can spread and touch or cross.
What You Could See: Many dogs will step with the front and then the back foot on the same side of the body and is ok! Crossing also comes with repetition so don’t be discouraged if your do isn’t crossing both front and back feet.
Dog Fitness Exercise Benefits: Activates the hip and shoulder abductors/adductors and the muscles that support shoulder and hip stability.
Step 1: Ask your dog to go into front paw targeting position on the aerobic bench step platform.
Step 2: Keeping your dog in front paw targeting position, slowly walk into your dog (not pushing, but slight body pressure) to encourage your dog to walk to the side. Once they move and step one foot (front or rear) immediately mark and reward. Repeat a few steps, marking and rewarding immediately after each time. Change directions and repeat.
Pro Tip: If your dog has a strong targeting cue like nose touch, you can also add this in as well to not only prevent finger nibbling but improve form here. Nose touch has been a game changer with Annie and has kept her form more precise and her mind extra focused on the task at hand. If your dog also knows targeting onto an object like a stick or cooking spoon utensil, you can also use that to keep them focused as they walk sideways.
Level It Up: One way that you can level this up is to combine pivoting with sidestepping! If your dog doesn’t know how to pivot, check out my post 5 Blue-9 KLIMB Dog Fitness Exercises where I share step-by-step how to teach your dog to pivot before adding this in (which of course also doubles as a fun easy dog trick!) I also have a great Blue-9 Discount Code in that post too! To add this in, once your dog reaches the end of the aerobic bench, you can ask your dog to pivot the corners and return back to the long sides to sidestep.
Isn’t it cool to see how many dog fitness exercises you can do at home using something you may already have for your own fitness routine? I use this aerobic bench step platform as part of many K9 fitness exercises for my dogs, including their warm-up and cool downs!
If you found this helpful, grab a copy of my Mini K9 Fitness Exercise Guide here, check out my YouTube channel and Instagram account for tons of K9 Fitness videos and of course join my K9 Fitness With Caitlin Facebook Group to get even more exercises & tips so you can learn all about dog fitness!
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- 5 Blue-9 KLIMB K9 Fitness Exercises (20% off discount code inside!)
- 3 FitPaws Balance Disc K9 Fitness Exercises
- 3 Beginner FitPaws K9 Fitness Exercises
- 3 Easy Stretches For Dogs
- 5+ K9 Fitness Exercises with FitPaws Balance Pad