[Hiaja]

I'm looking for exercises to strengthen my dogs back. He's an Australian Shepherd and his back slopes downward a bit, I would like to help him build up some muscle in that area. I'm training him for agility and want to make sure I prevent him from geting an injury.

 

[agility collie mom]

Swimming is an excellent exercise. Also trotting up and down hills. This strengths the back end. Always warm your dog up before you start to prevent injuries (just like in people.) You can also do stretching exercises. Don't know if you are familiar with Clean Run but they have great articles and there are many books at this site:
http://www.cleanrun.com/

 

[Kathyy]

Work on sitting pretty. When good at that trick try standing on hind legs. Max couldn't do either when I got him. He is now extremely proud that he can stand on his hind legs and hop. Only once but still he is proud of himself!

I am not sure of what all they consist off but 'core' exercises are important as well. Doing behaviors on a tippy board are good.

A terrific exercise for back leg awareness is to walk the dog through a ladder. Picking up the back feet and missing the rungs is surprisingly hard.

 

[Hiaja]

thanks for all the advice. I'll definetly try some of these things. We are currently working on sitting pretty, he's jus starting to be able to support himself for hald a second. It' still too cold and iced to go swimming here but I'll definetly do that more when it's warmer.

*agility collie mom* He seems to have pretty good awarness of his backlegs. He crawled under the bed and then crawled out, backwards, he's a very good reverse driver in many stuations. However I don't think he's always aware of his back feet so I will definetly try the ladder! My friend get clean run every month, I'll have to ask her if I can flip through them for the articles.