Friday, January 9, 2015

Exercise Ball & Great News About Phoenix! Fit Dog Friday


I am so excited to tell you guys!! Phoenix let one of the workers at Home Depot pet her!! She has NEVER let a random stranger touch her, ever! We actually had two great incidents of her greeting people this week, but I screwed the first one up for her. We went into the office at my apartment complex to pick up a package and the girl brought my package out and asked if she could say hi to the dogs. I said: "Sure, but the one in the purple collar is a little skittish." Phoenix had been the first dog to go up to her and the girl jumped back like three feet and didn't want to interact. Oops. My bad. I am definitely going to continue to let her great people if she wants to and I'm excited that she is not being as skittish as before.

Now onto the Fit Dog Friday post!

So I've been wanting an exercise ball for the girls for quite a while but we didn't get one because there just wasn't room for it when we were staying at the inlaw's house. The other day my husband was at the thrift store (he likes to treasure hunt) and he found a brand new one! He bought it and brought it home and we inflated it and then realized there wasn't a valve plug. So we ended up leaving the pump attached and we are going to get a valve plug for it later. It works just fine the way it is, though!!

A short clip of their exercise routine. This is their third session on the ball.
If you want to see a longer training session click the link:
14 minute Exercise and Training Routine - 2nd Session 

The exercise ball is really good for strengthening their core, back and legs. It's also awesome for teaching them balance and body awareness! We do additional exercises, like squats (as seen in the video above), too! I threw in some of their normal tricks as well to keep things interesting. I also stretch them out after each session.

I really like to do these sorts of exercises in between their free running and hiking out at the park and on days where it's raining too much to go for long walks. We do training sessions like this at their breakfast or dinner time so they are not getting extra treats.

Do you have any indoor exercise routines that you do with your dogs?

16 comments:

  1. Crikey ...... you girls sure are well behaved, aye?? You put me to shame. All of Mum's previous dogs have been well trained but she lets me get away with murder. I think she's just getting lazy in her old age.

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  2. Wow, that is pretty amazing! You really work on tricks and things with them. We aren't trick dogs at all, but Mom loves to watch dogs like yours. That ball might wear out before you get a valve for it! Thanks for joining the hop!

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    1. Awe thanks, Emma!! I do try to train them as much as possible! It's one of my favorite things to do, actually!! :D

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  3. That looks like a ton of fun! Barley has a balance board that we do similar exercises on, but I might have to find my balance ball that never found its way out of a box when I moved several years ago. And congratulations to Phoenix!

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  4. Great job..they really do well on the ball and all the other tricks too! Well done.

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  5. Very nice training video!! We like to play hide & seek inside the house, where I will hide somewhere throughout the house while the pups are in a down-stay. Once I found the perfect hiding spot, I call for them to come "find mommy". They get a treat and/or verbal praise when they find me :-)

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    1. Thanks!! My girls like hide and seek, too!! :D

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  6. Hi Y'all!

    That's a great routine. Congratulations to Phoenix! What a big step!

    Y'all come on by,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

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  7. It's hard when your dog is stranger-averse. Mr. N loves people but our foster dog didn't like strangers which was hard when you're trying to adopt him out! Good for Phoenix!

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  8. We have a bosu for the rear leg awareness, balance, etc practice. Mort thinks exercise balls are for bouncing off his face (yes.. yes he's a small dog). LOL.

    I hear you about the shy thing. With Tig I usually mention it but by then it's usually dreadfully obvious. People usually think she's shy of their dog, and I usually go "no... it's YOU" and smile. It actually lightens the mood from them being concerned to laughing, and I think it helps Tig in a way. Maybe :) But she's better anyway, just time/patience mostly.

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  9. Yay for Phoenix! My guys love the exercise ball. Pike was scared of it at first, but with some CC-ing he loves it.

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  10. I am so happy to hear about Phoenix! That's a huge step. With Shyla, I tell people that she is "shy", which never makes them jump back in fear. It just makes it okay (in the person's mind) if Shyla chooses not to greet them.

    You gave me some great ideas with that video. We have exercise balls (that we use) - so I'm going to try them with the pups. I also love the "squats" - I'm going to teach my pups that one.

    I love how quietly the second dog rests while you work the other one. Your amazing ability for training really shines through!

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  11. Wow! They're doing great on the ball and with all the other exercises too. Now that Rocco can "sit pretty" I like doing that on our balance cushion. And I'm also working on taking him from a sit pretty to a stand on hind legs back to sit pretty for a really good hind end and core workout! Great job! They seem to really enjoy it!

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  12. Oh that is fabulous!!!
    ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!

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  13. Brown dawgs would never sit quietly by while the other is being trained...lol. They might sit there, but they would not be relaxed about it. :) Hubby does some handling in our basement when the weather is bad. He puts out obstacles that they must go over while holding a straight line. It is not too challenging for them, but it gives a bit of exercise and mental challenge when it is too cold for outside work.

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