Proprioception

Why is proprioception so important.

First of what is proprioception, or shortened pp ?
It’s the bodies ability to,through receptors, known it’s position – where is all the limbs and bodypart positions in this exact moment. It’s part of the bodyawarness and vital for keeping balance, because with great pp you know where the limb is and then you also know how to adjust it to keep and stay in balance and conduct everyday task without consciously have to think about what you are doing.

If you look at our young puppy, especially of larger breed when they are in it’s grow spurt, then they seem to have poor bodyawarness and the limbs seems to flop around. And a part of that is the the body grown so rapidly that the pp have trouble to keep up and know and adjust in accordance with that. You see the same in teenager that grow rapidly and how they can misjudge distance and spill out glas and knock things over, stumble when walking etc.

So why is this important and why should you care – doesn’t nature fix that itself?
Yes nature do fix that itself, but today most of our dogs don’t live a life out in a natural environment so why not aid in assisting the dog to be better.

But training your dog in different balance task they develop a much better bodyawarness and when doing so you do reduce the risk of injuries. It’s great for all dogs but extra beneficial for reducing injuries for dogs that play a lot with other dogs and older dogs or dogs that work (search & rescue, hunting, agility etc).

Dogs that play together increase their risk of getting injures due to running into each other, keep playing when they are tired (and their pp decrease) and they are more likely to come into situation when they make fast turn and twist their body – all together with high speed. A young athletic dog have strength in muscles and a flexibility in ligaments and tendons and is better prepared to absorb power their if they need to make a sudden twist or jump up and sidway to avoid an obstacle – while an older dog doesn’t have that in the same way. But with a good pp they can handle the situation better and hopefully without putting stress on ligaments and tendons.

So how do one train a dog to get better pp and balance?
First of start with what nature have, walking in uneven terrain where the dog need to be aware and adjust all the time. It’s also important to understand that for get the most out of it the dog should do it in different speeds, so not just walking in a leash all the time. Let the dog step up and balance on stones, fallen tree (just make sure they arn’t slippery you don’t want an injury). Doing some slalom, jumping over obstacle, keep them low to medium high no need to stress to jump high unless you need it for competition. Getting them away to put their front paws and back paws where you want is also a good concept to get them to be more aware, a low five, high five, stepping up on a old fashion phonebook with front paws/back paws. Having some old thick madras that is soft and then sink down into let them walk around on that (or just out a part of it, or you can buy pads made for this). (in nature this compare to walk in soft moss). Walking backwards, sidestepping, sitting with front paws up in air, standing on hind legs is also things you could train – just make sure you support you dog and if it has problems don’t add stress on it. Then you also have the pilatesball that you can use to train with, for larger dogs you can get an eggshapes ball while the regular pilatesball is functional for dogs well up to BC size.

Use natur to train basic balance
Start to train proprioception and balance with pilatesball