Front Matter

256 Canine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation

Thoracic limbs:

● Wave

● High‐nines

● Wheelbarrowing

Core:

● Beg

● Diagonal leg lifts

● One side leg lifts

Pelvic limbs:

● Beg‐stand‐beg

● Thoracic limbs on perch

● Pulling against a theraband

Endurance exercises: Begin with a 10‐minute trot

3 days per week at a moderate speed. Increase to

15  minutes three times per week in 2 weeks, then

20 minutes three times per week at 4 weeks. Patient

can swim 5 minutes every other day, swimming

continuously rather than jumping in and out of the

pool. Increase by a minute per week to 10 minutes

maximum.

Proprioception exercises: Focus on retraining pro-

prioception of the thoracic limbs. Exercises include

walking forward, backward, and sideways with the

thoracic limbs in the ladder.

Skill training: The patient will start agility training at

16 weeks after surgery, introducing the obstacles in

the order shown in Table 10.2. In summary, this will

involve, in order:

● Straight lines of widely spaced 8-inch jumps and

tunnels ending at a low table.

● Wide circles of jumps, tunnels, tables, and the

teeter.

● Large figure‐eight‐shaped sequences (inside

diameter of loops = 20 ft) using the above obsta-

cles. Increase jump height to 12 inches.

Table 10.2 Sample agility retraining program for a dog that jumps 24 inches*

Phase

Number of

sessions per

phase (one

session

per day) Session duration

Number of

obstacles per

sequence Obstacle types Turns

I^5 •^ 10 minutes total

• Minimum 30 s
  break (dog is
  sitting, standing
  still or lying
  down) between
  repetitions of
  the sequences
  
  
  • Sequences
    of up to four
    obstacles
    only
  
  
  • One‐jump
    collection
    work at 8′′
    
    
    • 8 ′′ jumps, tunnels,
      8 ′′ tables
    
    
    • If using box method
      for contacts, start box
      work on the ground
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

Straight lines and

wide curves, but

no sharp turns

(other than the

ones used for

the one‐jump exer-

cises)

II 8 • 12 minutes total

• Minimum 30 s
  break between
  repetitions of
  the sequences
  
  
  • Sequences of
    up to eight
    obstacles
  
  
  • One‐jump
    work at 12′′
    
    
    • 12 ′′ jumps, tunnels,
      12 ′′ tables, tire, teeter
    
    
    • Practice 2o2o
      contacts on travel
      board, start to elevate
      it up to 12′′
    
    
    • Continue box work
      for contacts low
      A‐frame (4 ft)
      
      
      • Up to
        90‐degree
        turns. Start
        with just one
        per training
        session and
        increase the
        number you do
        throughout this
        phase
        III^10 •^15 minutes total
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• 30 s break
  between rep-
  etitions of the
  sequences


• Sequences
  of up to 12
  obstacles


• One‐jump
  work at 16′′


• 16 ′′ jumps, tunnels,
  16 ′′ tables, tire, teeter,
  dog walk (2o2o)


• Higher (5 ft) A‐frame


• Box on the A‐frame


• Channel weaves up
  to shoulder width, or:


• Up to four poles if
  using 2 × 2 weave
  pole method (no
  more than four pole
  sets per training
  session)


• Up to 180‐
  degree turns.
  Start with
  just one per
  training session
  and increase
  the num-
  ber you do
  throughout this
  phase


• No tight turns
  around jump
  stanchions