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Coal As An Athlete...
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Coal as an Athlete
Coal is currently my mean, green, fighting machine!
I am training him currently in two different sports, but I would like to add "Dock Dogs" to that list, however Canada doesn't offer much for Dock Dog enthusiasts.

The two sports he is training in are...
Agility and Disc Dogs.

In order to him to be at his top preformance, there are a few things I have to stick to first. If you plan to have your very own canine athlete, you will probably have to follow this schedual as well...
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TRAINING
In order to keep your canine athlete at his best performance, you have to train him and train him, and train him! Learning a new vigorous sport does not happen over night. You must practice and start small. For example, when starting a new obstacle at Agility, I let Coal to just play around and get him to place his feet on it (if it's a contact obstacle). Next I take a target with food on it and place it on the obstacle, not at the end, because this is just the beginning. Once he associates the obstacle with getting food (something good), I advance to getting his whole body on it. You may need to place your dog or simply lure him with food. Next step is getting him to go across it, now using a target at the end. During this stage I teach the dog how, and where to place his feet. Once he's got the hang of that, I step it up to gaining speed and accuracy, and working away from my body. No matter what sport you choose; you will need to take small steps and slowly introduce your dog.
Dog Sports were invented to have fun with your dog! You don't want him afraid of obstacles or what you want him to do; you want him to learn that this is all fun! Teaching your dog slowly also teaches him how to do what you're asking more accurately, therefore reducing the risk of injury.
Whether you chose to join a club, training class, or do it on your own, remember the Three P's Of Dog Training: PRAISE, PATIENCE, and PRACTICE.
Still at the early stage of training, Coal learns how to control the tip of the teeter, and is still learning where to place his feet.
BODY AND DIET:
Just like human athletes, canine athletes need to prepare their body and adjust their eating habits, as well as exercises.
Before starting any hard exercise with your dog, make sure you have your vet check him out and give the OK to do so.

There are a few simple things you can do to exercise your dog before doing any vigorous sports...
First, you can make sure to take your dog on daily walks, and if you are doing so already, lengthen the walk a bit, or go more often throughout the day.

Here are a couple stretches I've taught Coal so far...

The Bum Touch: This is a simple exercise, which isn't too different than teaching your dog to spin in circles. You can place your dog's hips between your legs to keep him from jumping around if your having troubles. Using a treat as a lure, and a command of your choice, have your dog follow your lure to his back end, this will cause him to loop around. Get him to stretch moving on either side a few times.

Bow: The doggy equivalent of "bow" is to have his front end and front legs on the ground as well as his face/muzzle, and his hind end in the air. You can see your dog do this when he wants to play, and it's known as "the play bow". You can teach this to your dog by placing a treat on the ground to lure him down, and holding up his back end. You can do this with two hands, but it is much easier to get a helper to hold up his bum while you lure his front end down. As you can see in the picture to your left, Coal is just learning this one.


As for your dog's diet, I suggest talking to your vet (even better, a holistic vet!) if you aren't sure how to alter his diet for his new active life style!
A GREAT diet for a canine athlete (and any dog for that matter) is the BARF diet (Bones and Raw Food). For more information, the following books are great resources:

"Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog" - Wendy Voilard & Brown
"Herbs for Pets" - Greg Tilford & Mary Wulff-Tilford
"Keep Your Pet Healthy The Natural Way" - Pat Lazarus
"Natural Health For Dogs & Cats" - Diane Stein
"Food Pets Die For" - Anne Martin
"Dogs - Anatomy of a Carnivore & Dietary Needs" - Lew Olson (www.b-naturals.com)
"Raw Meaty Bones" - Tom Lonsdale
"Give a Dog a Bone" - Dr. Billinghust
"Grow Your Pup With Bones" - Dr. Billinghust
"The BARF Diet" - Dr. Billinghust
"Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats" - Dr. R. Pitcairn

Great Websites about BARF:

Raw Dog Food
Jane Anderson's Raw Learning Site
BARF for Beginers
Agility Boxer: Raw Food Diets
Jane Johnson's FAQ
Holistic Health Maintenance Program

You can also check out the Reality Forum Health and Nutrition for more information and to ask any questions you may have...
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