#2 - Getting Your Dog in Shape for Hiking
The importance of physical conditioning to have a safe a fun summer of hiking with your dog
This was originally sent as a newsletter in May 2022.
Spring is truly here. Temperatures are warming up and snow is melting… You might be dreaming of your summer hiking plans with your dog and looking forward to backpacking trips and long day hikes.
Before you set foot and paw on your dream trail, it’s important to ensure your dog is fit enough to be hiking the mileage and elevation gain you are planning for. This will help your dog avoid injuries and have a fun experience on trail.
Here are some tips to get started.
1. Assessing Your Dog's Fitness
2. Developing a Training Plan for Your Dog
3. Safely Pushing Your Dog's Limits
4. Exploring Various Terrain Types
5. Importance of Rest and Recovery for Your Dog's Physical Health.
1. Assessing Your Dog's Fitness
What’s your dog’s current level of fitness?
Pay attention to the way your dog moves and behaves before and after exercise. How tired are they? Are their legs moving stiffly? Book an appointment with your vet to discuss your dog’s health and the activities you have planned for your dog over the summer. With your help, your vet will be able to highlight any area of concern.
If you’re concerned about your dog’s mobility and have the money to spare, you could consider going to a canine physiotherapist. They will be able to give you advice on what exercises will help your dog.
Be realistic about what your dog can do and be prepared to modify your plans to accommodate.
2. Developing a Training Plan for Your Dog
Look at the daily amount of exercise your dog is currently getting, and compare it to the hardest and longest hikes you want to complete with your dog this summer. The goal will be to bridge the gap between the two, slowly and progressively.
It might be impossible to go hiking everyday, and that’s okay. However it’s important to go beyond the ‘weekend warrior’ model -only short on-leash walks during the week and long intense exercise during the weekend- as this can increase the likelihood of injuries and joint pain.
List the type of exercises you can offer to your dog during weekdays and weekends: walks, swimming, fetch, at home exercises, hikes, etc. You should plan to increase your dog’s strength, endurance, and cardio.
Giving your dog access to different type of exercises will also help reduce the risk of overuse injuries. Complementing hiking with swimming for example, will enable your dog to strengthen her muscles without putting pressure on her joints.
Build your dog’s strength, endurance, and cardio, slowly and progressively. Jumping straight from a winter of 30-minutes leashed walks to 4-hour off-leash hikes is a recipe for injuries.
3. Safely Pushing Your Dog's Limits
Dogs are not the best at pacing themselves. They get caught up in the excitement of being outside, chasing a ball or smelling the forest. They might behave in a way that will increase their chance of getting injured.
This is where we should step in, as humans with a more developed frontal cortex.
- Give your dog a chance to warm up before starting intense exercise. If you dog has a tendency to run full out as soon as she’s off leash, keep her on a leash for the first 15 minutes of your hike.
- If you notice your dog’s getting overly excited during the hike, put him on a leash for a short while. My dog Bucky will sometimes get riled up and start jumping of high rocks and putting a lot of pressure on his joints. He needs the occasional moment to calm down on leash.
- Avoid exercises that you know might cause injuries. There are a lot of ball-obsessed dogs in Vancouver. When they are chasing the ball and jumping in the air to catch it, they have no regards to the pain they might be causing themselves later.
4. Exploring Various Terrain Types
Hiking is not just about having the stamina to walk long distance with a lot of elevation gain, it’s also about being comfortable on all kinds of terrains, from dirt trails to boulder fields and river crossings. This is dependent on two factors:
Your dog’s sense of balance. City sidewalks are (hopefully) smooth and easy to navigate, a great way to get where you want to go, but not to prepare for a hike in the mountains. You can prioritize short hikes on rocky and rooty trails and build from there. At home you can have your dog walk on a trampoline or a wobbly board.
Your dog’s confidence with varied terrain and new situations. Navigating a river crossing or whatever obstacle you will encounter on your hike, has a much to do with confidence as it has to with strength and balance. If your dog tends to be anxious when dealing with new situations, it’s helpful to slowly introduce them to new things with a lot of encouragement, and avoid overwhelm as much as possible.
5. Importance of Rest and Recovery for Your Dog's Physical Health.
Rest and recovery is an essential part of physical conditioning. Our dogs’ bodies (and ours) use periods of rest to rebuild muscles and replenish their energy. Dogs need around 17 hours of sleep per day (more for puppies and senior dogs), and while they can go with less for a period of time, it’s vital for their long-term well-being to give them the opportunity to rest.
Muscles have two main functions: strength and flexibility. Both should be considered in your hiking training plan. While it’s good to stretch everyday, you can take more time to help your dog stretch on days without high intensity exercises. There are stretches and exercises your dog can practice at home.
Yes, dogs stretch on their own, but they might not be systematic about it and avoid uncomfortable stretches that would be beneficial.
Resources like Hike Dog! Exercises & stretches to go higher by Sasha Foster are a good place to start.
To my knowledge there is no canine equivalent to the human “couch to 5K” program, but the principle to build your dog’s hiking fitness is the same: start easy, progressively increase length, duration and difficulty, stretch and rest plenty.
Don’t forget to make exercise fun for your dog. They live in the present and don’t really understand the concept of short-term suck for long-term gain. Making your hiking training plan fun for your dog will ensure you have an enthusiastic companion by your side when you go hiking.
Happy trails!