Videos are one of the most helpful, but often underutilized, tools that a canine sports competitor has available to improve performance. Performance in agility, fly ball, dock diving, conformation, herding or whatever your chosen sport, can all improve with the use of frequent video reviews. Videos are tremendously helpful in identifying performance issues, miscommunication problems, and weaknesses. For instance, in agility, reviewing video of how your dog is doing the weave poles in particular, can really help identify spinal or front leg issues that might be brewing in your dog. These video reviews not only help identify potential problems with sport specific skills but also provide feedback in your dog's fitness training progress.
We, at K9 Fitness Solutions, recommend that videos be reviewed often. Even when no issues are apparent, a quick video review may help identify minor issues before they become major problems. A video created and reviewed on a regular basis also provides a baseline to compare to in the future if issues do manifest. Any reduction or even variation in your dog's performance warrants a careful review of current and previous videos to look for clues as to why your dog's performance is different. We recommend videos be done every 3-6 months as a baseline and at the first hint of possibly reduced performance or a change in your dog's technique. Videos should be done for all of the following, during training and competition:
Not only do videos come in very handy during participation in canine sports but also in fitness training. In fitness training videos we are looking for any deviations away from proper form for a given exercise as well as a variation or reduction in performance. We recommend videos be used in the following scenarios when fitness training:
These are a few basic guidelines for creating the best video for review.
Any reduction in your dog's performance, whether in their sport or in their fitness training, dictates a visit to a qualified sports medicine/rehab professional to first rule out a possible medical problem. Many medical issues in canine athletes are subtle in their initial appearance. They may only manifest themselves during sport training or fitness training. Once a medical issue is ruled out then the conditioning and fitness level of your dog is likely the culprit. At this point in time, a high quality targeted fitness and conditioning program, ideally one supervised by a sports medicine/rehab professional such as our online courses, is the next step to help you pinpoint the weaknesses and work on targeting those areas to improve performance.
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