What do you think about “warm-up and cool-down“ in dog sports?

Careful preparation and post-processing of the dogs’ sport use are an absolute “must”. For sport dogs, the same principles apply as for competitive athletes. Such measures not only serve as protection against muscle injuries, but an optimally prepared muscular system can also disburden the joints better.

High performances are required not only in sport, but also a long exhibition day with the numerous changing requirements should be well prepared. Of course, that is especially true for agility tournaments, during which the joints are put under high strain. Only an optimally trained and prepared musculature can reduce the risk of injuries. 

In protection service, I consider an attack after the long flight problematic. Apart from the strain on the cervical spine, especially hip joints and the connection spine–pelvis are highly stressed. Here, it should be considered whether the sense of this exercise cannot be achieved with less spectacular sequences which go down well with the audience, but do not endanger the dogs’ health.

Exercises over the wall are surely an important part in the training of a working dog. Because of the immense stress on hip and spine (jump up) and on forehand/elbow (landing), this exercise should be reduced to an absolutely necessary minimum in training and the dogs have to be prepared correspondingly. How and to which extent “warm up and cool down” have to be done depends on the sportive use. The “whether” should not even be up to discussion.