Canine Cross Training: Building Balance, Strength and Endurance in Your Dog

by Sasha Foster

What are the four conditioning components of top athletes? Most physical therapists agree that they include balance, strength, endurance and flexibility. The same characteristics apply to canine athletes as well and form the basis of this new book by Sasha Foster, co-author of the award winning The Healthy Way to Stretch Your Dog. When the four conditioning components are executed in a systematic approach using the key exercise principles of frequency, intensity and duration, you can train your dog to reach his fullest potential in whatever canine sport or activity you choose to participate in—and help keep him fitter and more injury-free over a longer period of time. 

Genres: Dogs, Nonfiction

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 11, 2012

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good, solid little book about dog fitness. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how useful it really is to most dog owners.

The good: Foster offers concrete, graduated fitness programs. It's easy to see how, why, and when to move a dog from one level of difficulty to the next. I love that she discusses training the dog to do the exercise without physical manipulation from a human, and she offers clear fatigue indicators to watch for.

The bad: Nothing in this book can be done without physical therapy equipment, which is quite expensive and very bulky. You can't even, according to the instructions, asses what level of exercises you should be doing without owning things like paw pods and wobble boards. I was hoping to see at least *some* things that could be done without specialized equipment.

The strange: Over and over again readers are referred to Foster's website for more information or to buy equipment, but the website is barely functional. I would expect this if the book had just come out, but it's been in print over a year. Puzzling.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the positive side the exercises look solid, even though there aren't very many of them, and the author is extremely knowledgeable. However, I'm not sure how practical implementing the training programs would be for many people given the equipment and training requirements. Also, the book was a quick read and probably could have been even shorter.

I lure course, but don't spend an inordinate amount of time training my dogs outside of getting them conditioned, so I might not be the target audience. If you're willing to devote the time to train your dogs on these exercises this book will be worth the read.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very quick, easy read. Not a lot of exercises, but enough to get you started. I think it's a nice supplemental text to other conditioning books out there. It definitely gives you a good place to start. And easy tests you can do at home to assess fitness at a basic level.

It's on my recommend list.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice, simple, straightforward.