Core Workouts - Balance Discs

Here is another installment of the core workouts courtesy of Riley.  I love using the balance discs. Much easier to use than the peanut. All of my hounds enjoy working on them and are great at it. With Riley closing in on the age of 10, I am doing all I can to keep her fit and strong with minimal impact.

Core Workouts - The Peanut

So one of the great things about the new house is that we designated one of the extra bedrooms as a canine workout room. Now I have plenty of room to store and work with the hounds on the peanut, balance discs, wobble boards, and paw pods. It is a great way to work with the hounds when the weather sucks outside!

The Peanut is a great way to work the dog's stabilizer muscles. As the dog shifts, rebalances, and catches herself, she is using muscles to hold steady. Seven LOVES the Peanut and I have to be very careful to prop it back in the corner when I am not hanging onto it.  I have also had to work on her only being allowed to jump on it when I say HER name and not anyone else's. Riley likes it and does very well.  It was great for rehabbing her fractured hock several years ago and for keeping her rear end from getting shaky.  Maddie hates the Peanut and will only do one exercise on it unless we force her up there and make her do it. That is okay. There are other core exercises that she is very good and her methodical, thoughtful nature makes her a quick study on new stuff versus Seven who literally throws herself at everything.

Peanut Excitement

Like most things in life, Seven has become very excited about working on the Peanut.  It is quite funny... if she does not punch me in the nose.  She definitely makes it a good workout.

 

It is less than three months away until Seven's movie "Pain and Gain" opens!  Love this picture from the trailer.  I am so excited!

The Peanut

Introducing the peanut!  A large, inflatable device that takes up too much room in my little house.  But it is for the dogs, so it stays. Working with the peanut was recommended by Seven's rehab specialist to tighten up her shoulder... which by the way felt really good to the rehab specialist last week.  Otherwise, the appointment was not that noteworthy.  She thought Seven's back, hips, etc. all felt good and she was not in need of a chiropractic adjustment.

Last week, I was down and out with a cold so the peanut was a much welcomed indoor exercise for the hounds during that time.  Once on the peanut, the hounds have to use their core and stabilizer muscles to steady the peanut and to maintain balance.  I also steady the peanut between my knees while sitting in a chair.  I can challenge the girls more by letting the peanut rock or I can help them by steadying it.  I can also challenge them with stretches, holding up 1 or 2 feet (diagonal pairs) for a five to ten seconds, and changing positions (sit, down, stand).  I have worked them up to 10 minutes each on the peanut.  Here is a little of what we do.  I was really pleased that both Riley and Seven learned to jump up on the peanut in just a couple of days.  It was pretty awkward trying to lift them and steady the peanut at the same time.

Maddie has been up on the peanut three times.  Here is a video of the second time.  She did a lot of just standing and getting comfortable with it.  I did some easy head turns and had her balance on 3 legs.  She finally got brave enough for some sits and downs.  Sorry the video is so dark.  It was nighttime and being a black dog didn't help.

FitPAWS

Well, darn it!  The last post was supposed to include the video below.  I was away for a four day weekend so I was unable to correct until Sunday night.  If you have already read the last post, here is the video of Riley working on the balance disc that you missed.

My friend, Tamara, reminded me that I can also have her place her front paws on the disc as well and pivot around.  I have a smaller one just for this purpose, but so far I have only focused on placing the rear end on the disc.  Riley and Seven are just so focused on doing stuff with their front paws that it really was difficult to get them to think about moving and touching something with their rear paws.  So they are getting lots of reinforcement for finding something with rear feet for now.  I hope that by using two difference sizes that maybe they will eventually recognize that the larger is for rear feet and the smaller one for front.

Rehab Is Never Done

Due to Riley's rear end injuries last year (fractured hock and a punctured P1/metatarsal joint), I will probably never consider her rehab done.  I always want to be keeping her hind legs strong and flexible.  All in all, I think Riley has done very well, but I have seen gimpy warm ups and shakiness when she is fatigued.

For the stiffness, I have finally put Riley on joint supplements.  I do not use them as a rule since it is expensive if you pursue quality and quantity for multiple dogs, but I also have not had many greyhounds that needed it.  Other than Katie, my others have all aged very well and were active up until the end and showed no signs of arthritis.  But Riley is showing some early signs and certainly has had injuries likely to lead to arthritis so I think its time to be proactive and to keep  her joints as healthy as possible.

For the occasional shakiness, I have purchased a FitPAWS Balance Disc.  The shakiness comes from stabilizer muscles in the leg lacking strength and fatiguing quickly.  The Balance Disc provides challenges that help strengthen those muscles.  Riley has to first find the disc with her rear feet which helps her become more aware of her rear end, in general.  Then I can have her pivot and do a turn on the haunches while balancing on the disc.  I also can ask her to sit on it and then stand back up.  It is just a great way to work on strength without wear and tear.

Rehabilitating Riley's Hock

Riley and I have been working on rehabilitating her rear leg now that the hock fracture is healed.  I think she is doing really well.  She has had no trouble with any of the exercises.  In just the first week, we hiked twice for 30 minutes (including hills) and then walked nearly two miles on another day.  I thought I would have to build her up more slowly, but she is so eager for more and is not coming up sore or lame at all.  I have been alternating days with hikes or walks and then rehab exercises.

If you were reading this blog over a year ago when Katie was still with us (in fact she died exactly a year ago today), you might remember me working with her on cavalettis.  Katie worked very hard and enjoyed the cavalettis, but Riley is clearly bored and not impressed.  The key to cavalettis is that they must step over them slowly.  No hopping or trotting over them.  It is more difficult for the muscles to do it slow and deliberate.

This exercise is called Snoopy.  You lift a front leg and the diagonal rear leg for a short period of time.  You encourage the dog to balance on two legs.  It works on core and stabilizer muscles.  I can definitely tell she is more out of balance when the left hind leg is on the ground.

These are turns on the forehand.  They just get her to move her rear end and work the muscles that move the legs side ways.

These are all good exercises for helping to keep an aging dog's rear end strong.  Too many have shaky rear legs and begin to lose mobility.  These exercises will help prevent that.  I also have Riley doing sit-stand-sit-stand.  Sometimes she sits very tight (like in the photo at top) and sometimes she has her left hind leg slightly kicked out.  She is also working on backing up and going up and down stairs.  I am also trying to get her moving on a variety of footing and surfaces. 

Here are some of Riley's x-rays so you can see the progression. This one was taken July 27th, 2011, the morning after the fracture.

This x-ray was taken right after surgery on July 29th, 2011.

This x-ray was taken after six weeks in a splint on September 12th, 2011.  It was very disappointing to see that it did not look much different from the x-ray above.  However, when you magnify this x-ray using a special program for x-rays, you could see some healing.

Taken October 11th, 2011.  You can see that there is clearly a union now. 

Dr. G says that he will likely never see another hock fracture like this one.

12 Years Young

Katie turned 12 years young on Monday. Older dogs often get shaky hind legs if they do not work on maintaining strength. Walks around the block are often not enough especially if they lack challenging hills and natural terrain. Katie works extra hard at it because she has some neurological weakness in the left hind leg. Strengthening exercises are important so her leg remains functional. We had a very wet winter so I had to be creative indoors, but I'm so pleased that our backyard has finally dried out and is usable again. Here are some of the exercises I do with Katie.

Lastly, keeping weight off your dogs is another important factor to maintaining health and function. We all know that staying slim is healthier for everyone, but each unnecessary pound makes achy joints all the more painful. Adding 5 pounds of fat to Katie's frame may look more pleasing, hide those arthritic ribs, and fill in areas of muscle tone loss, but it would do nothing to aid her in staying strong.

Katie had a chest x-ray about 2.5 years ago and it was interesting to see the bony changes in her ribs. They are very pointed and jagged so they are more prominent than they used to be. The picture above was taken about 8 years ago when her sides were smoother. Happy Birthday, Katie!

Wobble Board

A friend loaned me a wobble board which is used to teach a dog how to handle movement under their feet. I thought it might be beneficial to Reagan as we work through her teeter retraining. Unfortunately, we had a recent set back on the teeter. She had worked back up to a full sized teeter, but was asked to do a teeter away from home that was unsteady and she did not like it at all. I think Reagan is now suspicious of "away" teeters, but is completely confident at home. I really wanted to avoid this, but no avoiding it now.

I thought it would also be beneficial for Katie to give the wobble board a try. She definitely does not like movement under her feet anymore, so its something challenging we can do indoors for with a clicker.

Reagan does not like the tipping either. She is willing, but cautious.

Riley, on the other hand, is hell bent for leather. She was hilarious and a stark contrast to the other two. Riley needs no wobble board work.

Free Swim

The benefit to summer is getting to swim for free. Hot weather and warm water allow me to use our local lake to swim Katie. She swims along the dock for treats.

I also take advantage of the stairs surrounding the lodge. It is good exercise for Katie to go up the stairs, but going down can be dangerous. We can go up several flights and then loop ourselves back down a hill to avoid going down the stairs.

Overall, Katie is doing well. I do worry about her coordination in her rear legs. I think she may be losing some strength in the left one. It always moves funny due to her injury, but I think the muscle looks a little smaller. Unfortunately, her issues with riding in the van keeps her exercise program somewhat limited. I do work her in the backyard, but it is not as much or as varied as it would be if she traveled with me.

Katie does not admit to being in any pain, but I wonder how sound she is. She carries her rear end to the left (stress on her back) and she twists the left foot with each step she takes (stressing the joints). Regardless, I do not plan to let up on her. She would be very unhappy without the work and I am not sure she could handle the slippery hardwood floors without continued strengthening. I wish I could swim her everyday.

Rehab Refresher

Katie has done remarkably well since her Fibrocartilaginous Emboli (FCE) in October 2007. There is still a "twist" with every step of the left hind leg, but she no longer drags it or walks on her knuckles. However, I feel that we are having a slight set back. I probably feel it more than I can see it. I believe she regained about 90% of her function, but now has dropped to 88%.

Another concern is that Katie has some swelling near the site of the toe amputation on the same problem leg. She does not appear to be in any pain, but there is puffiness (see above). I doubt that Katie is pain free, but she is always asking to do more. After her recovery, I scaled back what she is allowed to do and the frequency, but only to maintain as much soundness for as long as possible. My fear is that if she lives to be really old (14 or 15 years old), her joints will be in terrible shape and physical pain may finally slow her down. For now, I try to allow her to do something everyday.... for fun, to stay in shape, and to help maintain soundness.... but not so much that I use her all up.

So I have started having her do cavelettis again. I upturn my broad jump boards and walk her slowly over them encouraging her to exaggerate her walking motion. The agility training makes her want to just hop over them, but it is important that she deliberately step over each one with each leg............... "ok, anything for a treat" she says.

I have also scheduled her for acupuncture, swimming, and some water treadmill work. This time around I think I will try to do better about maintaining the progress through regular therapy rather than stop all together like last time.