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We were recently asked to be part of a girl scout troop project and we were more than happy to help out especially since it had to do with stretching out your dog. Here is how it went:
Hello! My name is Juliana Tom and I am part of the Girl Scout Troop 12135 in Los Angeles. I am currently working on my Gold Award Project. My project has to be sustainable and impact the community in a positive way. I had the pleasure of working with Dawn Celapino from Leash Your Fitness and Dr. Stephanie Oba, DVM on my project. I love animals, especially dogs, and I am interested in physical therapy, so when Dr. Oba and I came up with this project, it was a perfect fit!
My project is called Happy Trails for Dogs and it is essentially physical therapy for dogs! During our session on August 13, 2016, the group received a brochure that I made. We went over:
- The importance of stretching and warming up before exercising
- Four stretches to actually perform on your dog
- The most common injury in dogs
- A four-month rehabilitative regimen for post surgery
- The importance of cooling down and stretching after a work out.
Just like you, your pet needs to warm up and stretch before exercising. I hope you enjoy and learn from the information I have provided, and use the stretches for your pet-owner workouts! All of the information is in the brochure!
So lets go over a few stretches that we learned:
Benefits of Stretching
By stretching before and after exercising with your dog, your dog will receive multiple benefits such as:
• keeping the muscles flexible
• boosted circulation of blood
• increased oxygenation and hydration
• enhanced feelings of calmness and contentment
Four Easy Stretches to Do with Your Dog
These stretches are sometimes known as Passive Range of Motion (PROM) stretches. Since they require the assistance of the owner and do not use a lot of movement on the dog’s part, they are “passive” stretches.
Hips:
1. Grasp the hind leg above the knee
2. Slowly and gently straighten the leg backward until the point of resistance
3. Hold the position for 15-30 seconds
4. Repeat 2-3 times for each leg Benefits:
Benefits:
- Increases flexibility in the hips and spine
- Improves the conditioning of the lower back, hips, and leg muscles
Shoulders:
- Grasp the fore limb above the elbow
- Slowly and gently straighten the leg forward until the point of resistance
- Hold the position for 15-30 seconds
- Repeat 2-3 times for each leg
Benefits:
- Improves the integrity of the shoulder structure
- Increases breathing capacity by loosening the chest muscles
Chest:
- Lay on back
- Grab both fore limbs by the wrist
- Gently open towards the sides of the dog
- Hold for 10-15 seconds
- Release and repeat 2-3 times
We also learned about anterior cruciate ligament tears (ACL) and some rehab exercises that you can do if your dog gets an ACL tear. You can check it all out on the handy brochure that Julianna made for us.
Thank you Julianna for including us in your project. We learned a lot and it was really fun! We like to include our dogs in all of our activities and now we can include them in our morning stretches!
**Please check with your veterinarian before doing any stretching or exercising with your dog. But don’t forget that your dog needs activity. They are not meant to be sedentary so find an exercise that you BOTH enjoy and do it together!
