Binding: Spiral
At long last, we have a book that takes the mystery out of fitness training! We all care about our dogs’ physical wellbeing but how do we develop and maximise their potential? How do we help a dog to recover from injury? And how do we make the best use of fitness equipment?
Authors Carmen Hertier and Sandra Rutz have devised practical, easy to–follow exercises, which are designed to address the key components of fitness:
• Strength
• Relaxation
• Flexibility
• Co-ordination
• Tactile awareness
The exercises are categorised to target specific parts of the body, and they are graded so they are suitable for dogs new to fitness training, those ready for more advanced work, and the ‘professionals’ needing a bigger challenge still. There are also exercises for dogs with specific needs, such as puppies and seniors, dogs recovering from injury and those with on-going health issues. The training is outlined step-by step, and is based on 100 per cent positive reinforcement.
The Workout Book For Dogs is a comprehensive guide for all those who want to enhance their knowledge, and understanding, of canine fitness. If you are professional working in the field, it will expand your repertoire, if you are the handler of a sports dog, it will help you to keep him at peak performance, and if you own a companion dog, you can take pride in keeping him fit and healthy. The Workout Book For Dogs is packed full of ideas to make training both fun and varied, which means your dog will enjoy it, too! Illustrated with over 200 colour photographs.
Carmen Heritier qualified at the University of Tennessee as a canine fitness trainer, specialising in clicker training. She now works as a fitness trainer and also teaches dog trainers, physiotherapists and vets. In addition, Carmen is an independent researcher in dog sciences for German and Swiss universities. Her first book, Gymnastricks, has received international acclaim.
Sandra Rutz worked as a veterinary assistant for 20 years before qualifying as a small animal physiotherapist in 2010. She specialised in working with dogs for two years before opening her own clinic. Now qualified as an osteopath, Sandra has focused on devising therapies for sport dogs. She works closely with handlers on training techniques, and is a much sought-after speaker on canine fitness.
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Exercise
This book was well written, full of useful information and is well organized. I have a senior dog and will be able to put an exercise & stretching plan together for her. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in improving their dog’s anatomy and for whatever the purpose.
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The Workout Book for Dogs
Interest in canine fitness has increased exponentially in recent years due not only to the explosion of canine activities but also to the number of seminars, webinars and workshops diarised for both handlers and instructors. But not everyone has unlimited funds to regularly employ recognised, regulated paraprofessionals on anything but a temporary basis in the acute post injury phase or whilst being funded by insurance and thus a book like this can be of real value to owners. Both the writers are professionals in their respective fields and indeed Carmen has authored an earlier book called Gymnastricks which has garnered international acclaim. This is a much more ambitious publication which aims to provide a complete guide to fitness training with exercises to improve strength, relaxation, co-ordination, flexibility, and tactile awareness. These exercises are colour coded so that it is at once obvious to the reader what the goal is. They are further categorised into Basic, Advanced and Professional which apply to the experience of the dogs rather than their owners. However, this is more than just a list of exercises recommended to maintain/improve fitness/health. The first 40 or so pages are devoted to theoretical principles encompassing the elements of physical fitness, including training tenets, the design of a training schedule, the prerequisites needed by the owner before embarking on the exercise programme(s) as well as tools/equipment. Although there is a plethora of expensive paraphernalia illustrated in the text it must be said that there are cheaper alternatives available for some, not all the examples. The chapters then focus on targeted areas of the body and, later, specific conditions (not exhaustive). As the book of 200 pages is spiral bound it is easy to have open both before and during sessions, If you are keen on optimising the performance of your canine athlete by investing time, and it must be said money for kit as well as adding to your skills, knowledge, ability, and experience this is the book for you.
