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Tips to Help an Overweight Agility Dog
If you have an overweight agility dog, you must be a newbie at the sport because most agility dogs are pretty lean and agile. Overweight agility dogs need to be especially careful when they start out. Since the sport involves a lot of jumping and running, extra pounds can cause extra stress and injury on joints and other body parts.
While agility is great exercise and great fun, think of it as any other sport- you don’t just ‘start jogging’. You start out walking, jogging, walking, jogging, and so on, until you can jog those ten miles easily! Do the same for your dog. Engage in regular exercise in addition to his agility training so his agility will improve as he gets in better shape.
Start agility training slowly at first. A conditioning ladder or set of cavalettis are great for getting your dog moving and conditioned for agility! Try interval training for your dog by first walking your dog then playing a game of fetch and then do some agility. Afterwards, walk to cool down, and then belly rub as a reward for doing SO WELL! The idea is to motivate all the exercising and training without (or with fewer) treats for a bit, hey?
Doggy treadmills are becoming a popular item for many dog owners although the jury is still out on whether this is a practical item. It seems like it would be a waste of time to put them on a doggy treadmill and have to watch them on it rather than just taking your dog for a stroll yourself.
Related posts:
- What Makes a Healthy Agility Dog?
- Benefits of Agility Training for Dogs
- More Dog Agility Training Tips
