K9 Conditioning 13 Static vs Dynamic Stretching

by Dr Debbie Gross
K9 Conditioning

Still thinking about stretching...and I see I'm not the only one.

Rachel Schumacher wrote:

I do warm up my dogs before practice and trials. But never stretched them as I was under the assumption you only stretch your dog (and human) when you finish your activity for the day.

What I had in my mind was dynamic stretching before activity and static stretching after activity as described in this article:life.nationalpost.com/2013/04/05/stretch...performance-studies/

My dogs have some behaviours that act as dynamic stretches, but some are tricky so I do a manual stretch for them, but more as a range of motion manipulation to keep it similar to a dynamic stretch. It is enough to know if the dog is sufficiently warmed up and identify any residual stiffness and potential injury that need attention.

Is this the type of stretching you intend with the warmup?

Yes, more of a dynamic stretch before hand. We should never static or cold stretch before activity - but develop a warm up first and then perform low level stretches. Many dogs are able to do this on their own through cueing and assistance.