Pit Bull Health Tip of the Month:
Protecting Your Dog from Injuries

How do you protect your dog from injuries? Warm-ups and cool downs.

Athletes the world over start out with a warm up and then after their work out they have a cool down period. Fighters, runners, swimmers, bicyclist, and even surfers start out with a warm up. Warming up your dogs muscles can help prevent cramps, strains, pulls, and tears. Cool downs are just as important as the warm up. Getting your heart rate up and not allowing for it to return to normal before you stop completely can lead to serious injury sometimes. Your dog is not any different.

Warm ups should consist of stretching and getting the heart rate up before going any further into the work out. For example, if you jog with your dog taking a short walk (10-20 minutes) and increasing the pace as you walk to a jog is one way to start warming your dog's (and your) muscles up.

Stretching can be done by taking your dog and placing their body between your knees and slowly, I repeat slowly, moving their head up, down, right, and to the left while keeping their body from moving. Leg stretches can be done by taking the leg, straightening it out then pushing up and out again. Keep in mind all these stretches are light, gentle, and are not to be done by force. If your dog resists you then do them for shorter periods of time or take a longer walk to warm up the muscles and joints.

After the run, walk, weight pull, game of fetch or whatever type of exercise you are doing with your dog it is just as important to cool them down. If you are jogging with your dog return to a normal walking pace until your dogs breathing returns to normal and they are not panting as hard. Once you stop vigorously rub their leg muscles to prevent cramping, strains, or after work out pulls. It helps keeps the muscles loose so they don't cramp up when they lay down to rest.

Remember, while Pit Bulls are athletes they still need to have proper warm ups and cool downs even if you are taking a short walk or jog down the street. It will increase the benefits of the exercise and decrease the possibility of injury.

Pit Bull Training Tip of the Month:
A Simple Trick for Leash Pullers

Leash pulling can be a drag. A dog that pulls can not only wear you out but they can choke themselves, drag you into traffic, and basically look menacing to the general public. Walking a dog that pulls is not any fun and that takes away from the all bonding experience of the walk. If you're like me you like to enjoy your walks not fight with the dogs the entire time. Here is a simple little trick that can help stop leash pulling.

Whether you're walking one or two or even three dogs you can use this little technique. One day I was just goofing off with my dogs and my dog Patch (who loves to pull) was frustrating me with his constant pulling. So after we walked to our destination I was working on laying down some simple tracks for Angel and Patch to follow and it was when Patch was doing his track that this hit me.

During tracking you slip the leash under the dogs right leg to help keep the dogs nose down. Patch has a problem with the ground sniff and wants to raise his head up so I use this technique. We were making our way down the track and I pulled up on the leash for a second because he was getting ahead of himself and going the wrong way. I wanted to put him back on the track and he did go back on the track but he also stopped trying to pull. That's when I thought, "Self, this might work to stop his pulling while walking." Self replied, "You know, you're right!"

On the way back home I decided to try this technique and it worked like a charm. Now keep in mind Patch is 45 pounds soaking wet but he is a strong puller and the leash technique did work for him. To test this theory I put the leash under Angels leg and repeated the scenario. Once again it worked. I have a dog training client with a strong pulling AMstaff mix that pulls very hard. I asked her to try this technique and report back to me. She said it has made a great improvement on the pulling and her walks are more enjoyable.

Putting the leash under the dog and under their right or left front leg works in a similar fashion to an anti-pull harness. It stops the forward movement by pulling the head slightly down but lifting the leg (and shoulder) up. You need to pull straight up or up and diagonally over the dogs back for this to work. Pulling straight back does not achieve the same results because it will only force their head down and most dogs will instinctively fight this by pulling their head up against the strain of the leash.

You do not jerk the leash up either. You pull the leash upwards smoothly and then let it back to slack the moment your dog stops pulling. Praise when they stop pulling and repeat this as needed.

If you have a really hard pulling dog I recommend you by a harness called the "Sensation Harness." You can get them online and some pet stores carry them. I believe Gentle Leader is now making a similar anti-pull harness that works quite well (a couple of clients of mine use them and they really like them.)

Whatever you choose to do the key to stopping a leash puller is to never let them pull in the first place. This is easier said than done but with some creative thinking and the tools available today it shouldn't be a problem to get your dog walking nicely on a loose leash.

Resources:
Where to find Great Gear for Your Pit Bull