K9 Fitness For Senior Dogs: Improving Your Dog’s Balance And Stability
I like to debunk a lot of common K9 fitness myths from time to time, and one that’s relevant to today’s post is that dog fitness is only for young dogs.
I recently discovered a really interesting study shared by a Canine Rehabilitation Specialist in Canada that was centered around senior dogs. What the study did, was take 40 dogs total (20 young adult dogs and 20 senior dogs – 75% through life) and had them stand on a special pressure sensing mat. While on the mat, they looked for tiny shifts in their weight distribution. Each dog was tested twice, once with full vision and a second with special goggles that blocked their vision.
What they found was that the younger dogs had no problems with both full and removed vision. The younger adult dogs, when wearing goggles, would tap into their other senses and actually improved their stability. The senior dogs however, struggled when wearing the goggles, showing that they rely more on their vision to aid in balance.
So, what does this mean? This means that our senior dogs can hugely benefit from dog fitness exercises that focus on building balance, proprioception and stability; and that’s not all!
In this post, I’m going to be sharing helpful tips on how you can help your senior dog improve their stability as they age, including multiple balance canine fitness exercises.
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.
Tip #1: Vision Is Extremely Relied On For Older Dogs To Maintain Stability
I feel like this tip alone pretty much summarizes what that entire study was about, right? Now, what are somethings you can do?
- Keep your home well-lit.
- Add nightlights in the hallway to help your dog see.
- Keep your furniture arrangement the same.
- Any changes in the layout of your home could result in your dog running into furniture that they thought was in it’s previous location. By keeping furniture in the same place, it helps your dog’s memory.
Tip #2: Feet Awareness Becomes Harder
If you’re new to my blog, I often joke that my senior XL dog Diesel has no idea where his feet are. I have worked so hard with him on this, and while I have seen so much improvement, he is who is he and that is a goofy goober who loves to bulldoze cavalettis, ha! However, as dogs age, their awareness of where their feet are on surfaces becomes harder. How can you help?
- Add traction surfaces like rugs or mats to your floor to avoid slippery surfaces.
- Keep nails and hair between paw pads trimmed to aid in sending signals from their feet to their brain about where their feet actually are.
- Trimmed nails also makes a huge difference in posture and correct position during K9 fitness training and everyday life.
Tip #3: Balance Training Is Helpful For Senior Dogs
The research from the study actually suggested that balance training could “enhance sensory integration and help prevent fall risk in older dogs”. Now, this type of training is going to look different for every dog, right? If you have an older dog who is a retired sport dog with no injuries and needs to stay in shape/working for their mind and body, your dog might be doing something more advanced than say an everyday pet dog who’s just learning about K9 fitness now (and that’s ok!).
What I thought would be helpful is to show a few variations of a balance training exercise that I love doing with Diesel and is great for senior dogs (and all dogs!). You’ll see below that with everything related to dog strength training, you always start with stable surfaces first before ever adding any unstable canine fitness equipment. All items used are shared/linked below and I do have discounts for two of the products if interested!
Dog Fitness Exercise:
For every variation of this dog fitness exercise, your dog will remain in a balanced stand while you walk around your dog in both directions, resulting in your dog to shift their weight as they watch you go around them.
Variation 1:
Featured here is an aerobic bench, the FitPaws K9 FitMat and one of the FitPaws TRAX Targets. This variation has no unstable equipment.
Before I share the other three variations of this K9 fitness exercise, be sure to check out my YouTube video below for bonus dog fitness exercises and activities you can do to help improve your senior dog’s balance and stability!
Variation 2:
The second variation of this dog fitness exercise adds in one of my favorite pieces of canine conditioning, the FitPaws Balance Pad. This adds a very low level level of unstable equipment to the exercise, and is a great first step when leveling up. If you don’t have an aerobic bench but have a cato board, you can use that too!
P.S. Check out my post, 5+ Canine Fitness Exercises With The FitPaws Balance Pad to see just how versatile this piece of canine conditioning equipment is!
Variation 3:
The third variation of this canine conditioning exercise is to only use unstable equipment with low levels of inflation. You can also use half unstable and half stable depending on your dog’s confidence and fitness level. **Always set your dog up for success.** Featured here is the Blue-9 Propel Air Platform in the newest color, pink (aka my favorite!).
At Blue-9, you can save 20% on your entire order with my code Sparkles20.
Note: I didn’t see it initially during my photoshoot, but I do have Diesel a bit too close in these photos. It’s not that far off, but always ensure you have your dog in that nice balanced stand with a neutral, flat back.
Variation 4:
The next two and final variations of this dog fitness exercise change the set up a little. Now, we will be asking our dog to shift more of their weight to the rear while stabilizing their shoulders on the canine fitness equipment.
This first variation shows Diesel on the Blue-9 KLIMB dog training platform at an angled position. I am using the tall legs for this demonstration, but if you have the short legs and your dog is new to having any sort of incline, I recommend starting there first!
Don’t forget to use my code Sparkles20 for your 20% off at Blue-9!
P.S. Want to see even more ways to use the Blue-9 KLIMB dog training platform? Check out my post: 5 Blue-9 KLIMB K9 Fitness Exercises.
Variation 5:
The final variation of this dog fitness strength training exercise only uses an unstable piece of equipment that is one of my dog’s personal favorites, the FitPaws Donut and FitPaws Donut Holder. For this variation of the exercise, your dog has to have experience on this piece of equipment and experience on unstable equipment. This is the most advanced variation shown in this post.
There’s so many different combinations you could do with this exercise alone that create different challenges for your dog while building their balance, strength, proprioception and confidence, which is important for all dogs, but especially our seniors dogs.
If you want to learn more about dog fitness, check out my K9 fitness blog section to find more canine conditioning exercises and more ways to use your FitPaws or Blue-9 Pet Products canine conditioning equipment. Plus, check out my K9 Fitness YouTube Playlist and follow me on Instagram to find tons of helpful K9 fitness exercise videos and tips!
- 4 K9 Fitness Exercises Using An Aerobic Bench Step Platform
- 3 K9 Fitness Exercises Using FitPaws TRAX Targets
- 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