I am sooooo excited…

Tomorrow, we start our three day Canine Fitness and Body Awareness Symposium. This is a topic that gets me cranked up! Putting in the time to work your dog’s flexibility, strength, conditioning, balance and proprioception is like the gift that keeps on giving.

shelby_keegan_meThe thing I love about focusing on body awareness exercises is… not only do you have a fun, interactive training session with your dog… you also help him to become better aware of his body parts,  keep him fit so he has more energy to perform at his best, and most of all, investing time in your dog’s fitness and body awareness helps to prevent & rehab from injury.

When I got my first performance dog, my little Jack Russell Terrier, “Shelby”, “body awareness & fitness” was done without much conscious thought on my part.  I would take her for  long walks every day and on weekends she would join me on long hacks out with my horse. I taught her loads of tricks; from sit pretty, wave, roll over to play dead, to …I can’t even remember now.

That was back in the late ‘80s. It was not strategic…it was just fun.

Fast forward 25 years and it is still all very fun…but there is more thought put into balancing the dog’s body and skills. Here is a video I put together a couple of months ago that shows you clips from yester-year and clips from today.

Do you have a current plan for your dog’s fitness or a strategic approach to the tricks you teach? If not, you may want to join us this weekend…and good news is…it doesn’t matter where you live!

We will be streaming all three days of our symposium. You can sign up to be an auditor regardless of where you live.

Three Day Live Online Audit Registration

I purposely selected people to work with me at this event who I myself wanted to learn from!  So teaming up with me this weekend to present are;

body awarenessDr. Leslie Woodcock
Dr. Leslie, as she is known, has been the team veterinarian on just about every world team my dogs and I have ever been on. She is not only a veterinarian, animal chiropractor, postural rehab specialist,  but also, owns one of the area’s most popular canine Rehabilitation clinics.

Robert Porter
Robby is the Rehabilitation Treatment Supervisor at MedVet Medical & Cancer Center in Mandeville, Louisiana. He has a strong interest in the positive training approaches to specific targeted exercise for dogs. Robby is known as both a pioneer and an innovator in the area of conditioning for our performance dogs.

Lindsey Hinds
Lindsey works along side Robby with canines recovering from injury, as well as sporting dogs looking to prevent injury and gain a winning edge.

puppy_body_awarenessSaturday’s program is lecture and demos.

Robby Porter on “S.A.I.D. (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands) Principles and the direct impact they have on our training and functional demands of our performance dogs.

Dr. Leslie Woodcock:
First lecture is on “Posture Performance and Well Being” where she shares insights about the effect that a dog’s posture has on their movement and the impact of everything from gravity to your dogs nails can alter your dog’s posture.

Dr. Leslie’s second session is an interactive one called “Nailing It Just Right” where she will demo techniques to get your dog’s nail trims “just right.”

Through the entire day on Saturday I am going to be sharing my “Five Top Body Awareness Exercises” both what they are and how to train them!1488065_10154871135160354_8775036259519701092_n

Sunday and Monday is all working dogs!

Robby and Lindsey will be working dogs on a rotational basis teaching participants (including ME!) to get the best from a fitness and body awareness program for their dogs!

If you join us on live stream you will be able to ask questions and re-watch the video. All participants and auditors will have access to the live stream for a full 24 hours after each day has been completed.

Here is your link to join us “live” from the comfort of your own computer!

Today I am grateful for the chance to be a participant in a workshop this weekend (sure I will also be a presenter…but I just LOVE being a student!)…hope you will join us.