What's Too Much?

A common training error I see with my clients (and myself) is that we often ask too much of our pets.

I recently had a client who was working so diligently with her dog to help him get stronger and correct some of the muscle imbalances that lead to pain. She listened well, ensured that she had the right technique, and did her best to continue with his home program and exercise routine regularly. She messaged me the other day saying that her dog had a set back and started shutting down.

So what happened?

He was doing so well in his routine that as time went on, she kept asking for just 1 more...and just 1 more...and just 1 more. As his program became challenging and was pushing him past his comfortable limits, she kept asking for just 1 more thinking that he was doing so well with it that he should be able to do just that. Unfortunately, when dogs get tired or start to get sore, they often will give us the tiniest of cues that we will often miss. If we keep asking them to push through it, they eventually stop, shut down, or disengage. No amount of food or coercion is going to change their motivation to participate. Our relationship of trust starts to break down. 

What are some of these signs?

If you see their form start to go, chances are they have had enough. This is different if they are learning a new skill and make errors more often than not. If however, they can do a proper square sit, or perform their box turn perfectly, or whatever skill you know they can and should be able to do but are no longer doing it, then they have had enough.

If you start to see increased signs of stress, more panting or drooling, picking at food off the floor, etc., same thing. They are done.

What should we do instead?

Instead of asking for them to do that 1 extra rep/skill/etc. let's try making it more fun and rewarding for them. Let's stop at the peak of fun so that they can't wait to go back for more! I advised this client to start over and go back to the basics.

Do you remember having a new puppy that can't get enough of EVERYTHING you do with them? We give them food, toys, and praise/love for EVERY LITTLE THING THEY DO! Eventually, we wean these positive reinforcements away. We ask them to wait a little longer each time before getting their reward. At a certain point, the reward is not worth the effort/discomfort it causes.

If we are working on minimizing or managing pain by correcting muscle imbalances through exercises, we should treat each round like they are a puppy and learning something new.

- Let's give them all the REWARD AND PRAISE they want for trying their best. Who cares if they make mistakes as they are learning. Let's celebrate their attempts and make little adjustments where we can.

- Let's go back to PLAYING WITH THEM and having fun at the same time! Make a game out of it.

- Let's stop asking for that 1 more...Do they only want to do 2 or 3 reps, GREAT! Maybe they only want to do 1 or 2 of the exercises instead of all 5. Thanks for telling me! I will listen and respect your needs.

What's the Take Away?

Let's listen to our pets. Stop asking for just 1 more. Play and have fun with them! Let's keep sessions short and engaging. Instead of 1 round of doing too much with them, let's do more rounds through the day that are super quick and engaging.

Here are 2 quick and easy tips to help your dog at home.

1) Avoid jumping down from high surfaces.

What's too high?

If the furniture is higher than your dog's withers (when standing on all 4's, measure from the top of their shoulder blades to the floor) then you should help them down or get them a ramp/steps to climb down instead of jumping off.

Repeatedly jumping down off of high surfaces can increase the risk of injury and their risk of developing arthritis in their wrist, elbows, shoulders and back. 

2) Use non-slip surfaces.

Give your dog a comfortable place to play and rest by using non-slip surfaces such as a yoga mat, area rug, foam puzzle piece mats, etc.

Dog's don't have a lot of traction on our laminate or hardwood floors and they can easily slip and slide when running down the hallways to chase their favourite toys. These slips can result in serious injury such as Medial Shoulder Instability.

With a non-slip surface, your dog can rest easily without having their legs splay out behind or ahead of them.

For your senior dogs, think about using soft, squishy, surfaces such as pillows and blankets to alleviate some of their stiffness and soreness.