Front Matter

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248 Canine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation


Mondays and Thursdays, core muscles on
Tuesdays and Fridays, and pelvic limb exercises
on Wednesdays and Saturdays, taking a break
on Sundays. In this way, all muscle groups are
allowed the necessary recovery time.


Endurance (aerobic) training


Endurance training generally involves training
the aerobic metabolic pathways for energy pro­
duction, as well as cardiovascular and respira­
tory capacity. Endurance training modifies
both the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal
systems. Long‐term endurance training
induces many cardiovascular adaptations in
the dog, including decreasing heart rate and
increasing interventricular septal thickness
and heart weight (Stepien et al., 1998). Skeletal
muscle and the nervous system also adapt to
exercise, with changes in the molecular struc­
ture of muscle fiber types (Seene et  al., 2009)
and the strengthening of connections between
neurons with enhanced firing frequency and
spinal reflexes and improvements in learning
and memory (Folland & Williams, 2007;
Morgan et  al., 2015; Cassilhas et  al., 2016).
Additional goals of endurance training are to
increase the lactate threshold in the muscles
(the exercise intensity at which lactic acid starts
to accumulate in the blood stream) and Vo2max
(maximal oxygen consumption—the point


during exercise at which oxygen consumption
remains at a steady state despite an increase in
workload) (Hiruntrakul et  al., 2010). For more
information on the physiology of exercise, see
Chapter 3.
Endurance or aerobic exercise can be
achieved by having a dog trot for at least 20
minutes continuously on land or swim con­
tinuously for at least 5 minutes. The most
commonly employed endurance exercise is
roadwork, in which the trotting dog is accom­
panied by the client, who can run alongside
(Figure  10.30), use inline skates, a bike, a
human‐ or electric‐powered scooter, and so on.
It is always best for the dog to be in the trot gait
for these exercises, as this is the only gait that
exercises both sides of the dog’s body equally
and requires each leg to function alone without
assistance from the contralateral limb. If a dog
is going to do roadwork at high frequency or
duration, an effort should be made to have the
dog work on a forgiving surface such as a grass
or wood chip path, rather than on concrete or
asphalt.
Dogs can be encouraged to swim around
the edge of a pool by using treats that float on
water (many dry dog biscuits do) or by hav­
ing the dog on a leash with the client walking
around the edge of the pool. Trained retriev­
ers can be sent to retrieve a planted bumper at
distances of 200 yards (180 m) or more
(referred to as a blind retrieve). Dogs can also

Figure 10.30 Dog performing endurance exercise (roadwork) accompanied by client.

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