Front Matter

Chapter 10 Conditioning and Retraining the Canine Athlete 229

Components of an athletic readiness
evaluation

Clinical examination

Before establishing a conditioning program for
a canine athlete or working dog, or a dog
destined to become one, the dog should be
given a full clinical examination including com­
plete blood count, serum chemistry screen, and
urinalysis. This provides baseline information
to keep on record and identifies any potential
subclinical issues that need to be pursued and/
or monitored.

Structural evaluation

The dog should be evaluated structurally (see
Chapter  1) and its structural strengths and
weaknesses for the specific planned athletic
activities discussed with the client. This is
important so that a conditioning and/or
retraining program can be designed that takes
advantage of the dog’s strengths and mitigates
its weaknesses.
For example, German Shepherd Dogs gener­
ally have abundant pelvic limb angulation.
This gives them a very long stride, allowing
them to jump high and long, which can be an
advantage in protection and police work. On
the other hand, the same laxity of tendons and
ligaments that results in such abundant pelvic
limb angulation also means that dogs of this
breed have a higher incidence of hip dysplasia
and frequently experience hyperextension/
hyperflexion of various joints, particularly the
coxofemoral joints, the tarsi, the carpi, and the
toes. They frequently experience trauma to
their tarsi, for example, because the plantar
aspect of the metatarsals contacts the ground
when the dog is running and jumping.
In contrast, Belgian Malinois, another fre­
quently used police/military breed, tend to
have straighter thoracic and pelvic limb assem­
blies with reduced angles at the shoulder,
elbow, stifle, and tarsus. This provides these
dogs with tremendous agility—they are known
for their rapid acceleration and ability to turn
sharply. They tend to suffer a different subset of
injuries such as soft tissue injuries of the shoul­
der due to experiencing excessive load during

eccentric contraction when landing on the tho­

racic limbs. These differences in structure and

their potential effects on the dog’s performance

and longevity as an athlete or working dog

should be accounted for when developing a

conditioning program and should be discussed

with the client. Developing a conditioning pro­

gram that is specific to the dog’s structure, the

sports in which it competes, or the jobs that it

must perform, and the client’s abilities are dis­

cussed in this chapter.

Gait analysis

Every performance or working dog should be

encouraged to have a baseline objective gait

analysis (see Chapter  2) performed prior to

training and performing. This provides data for

reference in the event of an injury or change in

performance. This is particularly important

given individual and breed‐related variation in

gait characteristics. Further, if a pre‐existing

orthopedic condition is suspected, objective

gait analysis can help identify and quantitate

any lameness or abnormalities, which can then

be addressed.

Fitness evaluation

The dog should be evaluated for overall muscle

fitness. One of the best ways to evaluate general

fitness is to palpate the size and tone of the core

(paraspinal, ventral abdominal, and lateral

abdominal), shoulder muscles (supraspinatus,

infraspinatus, triceps), and pelvic limb muscles

(gluteals, hamstrings, and quadriceps). The size

of the muscles is partly breed‐associated—

compare the muscle sizes of an American

Staffordshire Terrier or Greyhound with those

of a Shetland Sheepdog or Tervuren—and partly

related to long‐term exercise. Muscle tone and

definition, on the other hand, is related to the

amount of resistance (strength) exercise the dog

has experienced in the previous several weeks.

With experience in palpating the muscle size

and tone of a variety of dogs of various breeds

and various levels of fitness, it is relatively sim­

ple to record a semi‐quantitative assessment of

the size and tone of each of the six muscle groups

(shoulder, paraspinal, lateral abdominal, ventral