3 FitPaws Balance Disc K9 Fitness Exercises
I have a lot of favorite pieces of canine fitness equipment. One might even say I have a problem because of the amount I have, but I think I’m just talking to the wrong person, ha!
One piece that I love using in many different dog fitness exercises is the FitPaws Balance Disc. One of my favorite things about the FitPaws Balance Disc is the size variety. At the end of 2024, FitPaws actually launched a new size (18″) so now they have three sizes total: 14″, 18″ and 22″.
The size variety is great for multiple reasons:
- Allows you to fine tune your dog’s skills
- Gives dogs of all sizes the opportunity to learn
- Creates the opportunity for added challenges
In this post I’ll be sharing 5 FitPaws Balance Disc K9 Fitness Exercises that you can do with your dog and add to your canine conditioning schedule!
Important Note:
Before you begin any dog fitness exercises, it is important to note that K9 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: Pop-Up
Before we dive into the exercises, I do want to share every exercise shown is intermediate level. That said, every exercise can be leveled up or down depending on your dog’s fitness level, ability, or confidence level!
The first dog fitness exercise is called a pop-up. Before beginning this exercise, your dog needs to be able to do the following:
- Have a square sit
- Know a nose touch targeting command
**If you haven’t done these before, I recommend starting there!**
Important Tip: Before trying this K9 fitness exercise (or any dog fitness exercise in this post) your dog must be able to do any of these on the flat, or in other words, without any balance equipment. For a helpful tutorial on how to do this without any equipment, I shared a helpful video in my K9 Fitness with Caitlin Facebook group (I share tons of awesome video tutorials there + helpful tips) and a short video on my Instagram account. P.S. There’s videos on targeting too!
Dog Fitness Exercise Goal: Your dog’s front feet should lift off the floor from a sit and then come back down to the floor while their rear feet stay on the floor.
Dog Fitness Exercise Benefits: This teaches the dog to lift the front part of their body off the floor while engaging their core muscles and trunk muscles while also strengthening their quads.
Once your dog has worked on this canine fitness exercise on the flat with proper form, you can then add in the FitPaws Balance Disc for an added challenge.
Step 1: Ask your dog to go into a square sit on the FitPaws Balance Disc (I do a tuck sit with Annie). Annie is currently on the 18″ Balance Disc since the 14″ is a little too small and the 22″ would give her too much room and encourage her sloppy sit form.
Step 2: With your hand slightly over your dog’s head, ask your dog to touch your hand, encouraging them to lift their front feet off the ground while maintaining a sit.
Note/Pro Tip: Always keep an eye on where your hand is. If you see that your dog is lifting too high off the FitPaws Balance Disc it’s most likely because your hand is too high which will defeat the point of the exercise. Trust me, we all do it! I recommend grabbing your phone and videoing yourself. It’s the easiest way to spot these mistakes and find exactly where your placement needs to be (this applies to doing it on the flat too).
**In the photos below, Annie is lifting a little higher off the ground than I would like but that’s just what this particular rep looked like. The video I mentioned above shows a much better depiction of how that part of the exercise should look. Her tuck sit though is quite nice. If I had to critique that at all I would ask for her to move the slightest bit forward so her butt wasn’t too close to the edge.**
Dog Fitness Exercise 2: Pivoting
Pivoting is a fantastic dog fitness exercise that has so many amazing benefits that will be listed below, but my top favorite is the hind end awareness. Fun fact, most dogs have no idea where their back feet are when they move. They mostly know where their front feet are. Adding more exercises that make them conscious of foot placement will not only aid in dog sports if you do them with your dog, but also everyday life!
Before beginning this exercise, your dog needs to be able to do the following:
- Front paw targeting
- Pivoting on a stable object
- Chin rest/nose touch targeting command (optional but helpful)
Dog Fitness Exercise Goal: Front feet will stay on the FitPaws Balance Disc while rear feet laterally move around them. Your want your dog to maintain a flat back and neutral head position.
**This is where the targeting command can come in handy because if your dog is gnawing on your hand for the food the whole time, they could compromise their form. However, food isn’t always a bad thing, just keep your hand closed and watch your dog’s form, even if that means you have to take it one step at a time.**
Dog Fitness Exercise Benefits: Helps strengthen the shoulders, teaches your dog to move their back feet independently and laterally and strengthens the abductors and adductors in your dog’s rear assembly if your dog’s weight is shifted to the rear.
Step 1: Ask your dog to go into front paw targeting position on the FitPaws Balance Disc. Annie is on the 14″ Balance Disc here and Diesel is on the 18″.
Step 2: Slowly walk towards your dog, asking them to pivot (you can use a verbal cue if you have one here). As soon as they take one step, mark and reward. Repeat a few more steps and then change directions and repeat.
The goal is to eventually get all the way around, however, if this is the first time your dog is pivoting on balance equipment, building their confidence and rewarding along the way is key. If you do too many steps without rewarding your dog, they will eventually get bored and leave work.
In the photos below, I share a few ways you can begin to level this up. I have the FitPaws Balance Pad & Cover Bundle on one side and the FitPaws Donut Ring Holder on the other for Annie. This provides an added hind end awareness challenge because I’m asking her to step on and over the obstacles as she goes around. Another first step is to add some mats. I have the FitPaws K9 FitMat, FitPaws TRAX Targets and Blue-9 Traction Mat with Diesel. I like these mats because they have different surfaces to increase your dog’s proprioception (body awareness) and to stimulate the neuroreceptors in your dog’s brain. They start to feel something under their feet and as they go around, they know to find it again.
P.S. Diesel gets so excited during his training so if you always see his mouth open it’s because he’s woofing from happiness, ha!
You’ll also notice in my photos my hands are a tad bit high, which is why Annie and Diesel’s heads are a little higher than they should be! I make mistakes too!
Dog Fitness Exercise 3: Rear Paw Targeting With Targets
The last FitPaws Balance Disc canine conditioning exercise is one of my favorites to do with Annie! This exercise is fantastic for fine-tuning your targeting commands with your dog while also working multiple muscle groups.
Before beginning this exercise, your dog needs to be able to do the following:
- Rear paw targeting (on stable and balance equipment)
- Front paw targeting (on the flat)
- **Ideally here if your dog can put all four feet on targets and know back from front**
- Nose touch or chin rest targeting command (longer duration hold is also helpful!)
Dog Fitness Exercise Goal: Back feet will remain on the FitPaws Balance Disc while your dog switches front feet position from left to right onto targets.
**Featured here are the FitPaws TRAX Targets. I like these because they have a great weight and don’t move and the neurostimulation bumps help your dog learn where their feet are. A great DIY option to start with? Cut up some squares from a yoga mat!**
Dog Fitness Exercise Benefits: Strengthens the hip stabilizers and shoulders, increases proprioception and improves coordination.
Step 1: Place your targets where your dog’s front feet would be once your dog’s in rear paw targeting position. This might take a little trial and error at first.
Step 2: Ask your dog to go into rear paw targeting position.
Step 3: Using the targeting command of your choice, I use touch, place your hand off to the side towards one of the targets and ask your dog to touch your hand. The goal here is for your dog to keep their back feet on the FitPaws Balance Disc and put both their front feet on one target.
Pro Tip: Watch where your hand is. You want to maintain a flat back and neutral head position. If your hand is too high or too low, their form will be compromised. If you need to, you can always go on your knees or sit in a chair if that’s easier to maintain a more consistent hand placement.
Step 4: Repeat step 3 but on the other side.
As you can see, the FitPaws Balance Disc is one of my all-time favorites, ha! There really are so many K9 fitness exercises you can do with them to aid in your canine conditioning and ya’ll know I love a versatile piece! I’m always budgeting so anything I get, I have to make sure I can do a lot with it so it’s really worth the money!
If you found this helpful, definitely join my K9 Fitness with Caitlin Facebook group, check out my YouTube channel for tons of K9 Fitness videos, and of course visit some of my other posts below for even more exercises & tips so you can learn all about dog fitness!
- 3 Beginner FitPaws K9 Fitness Exercises
- 3 Easy Stretches For Dogs
- 5+ K9 Fitness Exercises with FitPaws Balance Pad
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Photography: Kate Kelley Photo