Any movement your dog does requires energy. The way your dogs body generates energy is determined by the intensity and duration of the activity they are performing. Activities that require short bursts of high effort, such as sprinting or weight-pulling, require the body to produce large amounts of energy over a short period, where as activities like running or hunting require continued energy production over a longer period and at a slower rate. It is the energy systems of your dogs body that control these activities. That is why it is important for you to understand which energy systems your dog needs when you are conditioning them for better health and performance. As you can see from the picture below there are three main canine energy systems. The Phospagen, Glycolyctic and Aerobic energy systems

The Phosphagen energy system is important for dogs who carry out high intensity short duration activities that last between 5-10 seconds such as weight-pulling and sprinting. These kinds of activities need strength and power. An example of improving this energy system is sprint training on a High Resistance Carpetmill or with max effort Flirt Pole work.

The Glygolytic energy system is essential for dogs who perform moderate to high intensity activities for longer period of up to 3 minutes such as racing greyhounds. These types of exercises involve speed endurance such as interval training on a Slatmill.

The Aerobic energy system is critical for hunting dogs and/or service dogs who perform their activities for longer periods of time but at a low to moderate intensity. This involves aerobic endurance such as long distance jogging which can be done with your dog running along side you on a push bike or with the use of a Slatmill so you can track speed.

Having a good understanding of the energy systems will allow you to plan better conditioning plans for your dog that help them perform at a higher level. For example, if you have a weight pull dog you should only really focus on activities that involve the Phosphagen energy system. Doing activities that use the aerobic system for example will reduce their strength and power. Of course all dogs are individuals and some activities require energy systems that overlap. In these cases it helps to get some professional advice. In our 12 Week Conditioning Programs we can support you and tailor your dogs plans based on your needs.

Which energy system is most important for your dog?

Keep them fit!

FITDOGNATION.

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The dog treadmill is the ultimate conditioning tool because it saves time when it comes to exercising your dog and it boosts your dog’s health and fitness. But which one is better the slatmill or the carpetmill?

The honest answer is they are very different! They are both mechanical treadmills which means the dog has full control over the workout and can stop at any time, unlike electric treadmills which is why we prefer slatmills and carpetmills.

There are 3 key differences between the carpetmill and slatmill and they are 1) Fitness adaptation 2) Cost 3) Space.

1.Fitness adaptation

As you have probably seen, both treadmills look very different with the slatmill designed with rollers and slats which make it very free spinning and easy for the dog to move and the carpetmill using a ‘carpet’ for the running surface which means there is more resistance and the dog has to work harder to turn the treadmill. Because of this, the slatmill is best suited for dogs that need to improve their aerobic endurance fitness like hunting, tracking and long races. Where as the carpetmill is perfect for dogs who need more strength, power and lean muscle like protection dogs, weight pull dogs, catch dogs and canine athletic competition dogs.

2. Cost

Due to the difference in design there is a variance in cost. Our slatmills start at around $1000 and our carpetmill at $536.

3. Space

Another major factor to take into account when choosing between a slatmill and carpetmill is space. For example the outer measurement of our Large Slatmill is 185x50cm and our Large Carpetmill is 170x60cm. Our slatmills are delivered part assembled with an instruction manual to help you to full assembly and our carpetmills are foldable and easily assembled in 1minute and 40 seconds.

Which one floats your boat? Click the link below & Grab yours now and to take your dogs health and fitness to the next level! https://fitdognation.com/product-category/treadmills/

There are four main pillars to canine conditioning in order to have success in developing your dogs performance. In this post we are going to take you through each one.

STEP 1: MAKE A PERFORMANCE BASED GOAL

For us canine conditioning is all about health & performance first and foremost. Sure, looks are nice but these are a byproduct of conditioning for performance and shouldn’t be the focus. The reason being once you follow looks or confirmation the results gets distorted, the exotic breeds are a great example of this distortion. A good example of making a performance goal is to set out to achieve a 4 metre wall climb, run a distance in a certain time frame or pull a certain amount of weight.

STEP 2: FEED THE RIGHT AMOUNT

It is essential to feed the right amount. Every dog is an individual, however a guideline which works is to feed a certain percentage per lb of body weight based on your ideal weight. For example if you have a dog who is 60lbs in weight and they are overweight you should feed them a serving of food that weighs 1% of their total body weight. If you want to maintain their weight feed them 2% of their total body weight and if they are underweight feed them 3%. Of course this is a guideline and every dog is an individual. Remember when it comes to judging a dogs weight you must be objective. You can do this by using our 5 point body composition chart.

STEP 3: TRAIN THE CORRECT FITNESS COMPONENT

This is probably the most commonly made mistake. Most people condition the incorrect fitness component. There are five key canine fitness components; Power, Strength, Endurance, Agility and Speed. You must know which one(s) you need and how to conditioning them. For example. if your competing for a weight pull competition you had better cut out any endurance work if you want your dog to achieve their highest weight pull potential. The reason being that endurance work encourages more type I muscle recruitment which is exactly opposite to the kind of muscle your dog needs to recruit when doing weight pull. They need Type II muscle recruitment. A weight pull dog should only ever really be training strength and power which involves activities such as heavy pulls and short bursts of power based sprints on a high resistance treadmill such as the carpetmill.

STEP 4: CREATE A PERIODIZED PROGRAM

Finally and most importantly, you need to make a periodized program for your dog that is at least 12 weeks long. What does that mean? A periodized program is a conditioning program that manages your dogs rest, workout intensities and duration’s. You see, you cant just make it up as you go along. It needs to be planned and organised otherwise your dog can become over trained or go ‘stale’. When this happens the risk of injury increases and your dog is less likely to peak. For example, when we write our 12 week Canine Conditioning programs we plan light, moderate and hard days which are rotated. We also factor into our programs rest days and active recovery days.

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To your dogs potential,

FITDOGNATION