By Tania Costa
In a 2015 OBCC newsletter I wrote about “Fitness in Working Border Collies”. I discussed balance, strength, endurance, and flexibility as the pinnacles of proper fitness. Fast forward 10 years with several years of new training under my belt - I have revised my definition of fitness in working border collies.
Last year I had the privilege of meeting a notable sport vet in South Carolina to discuss developing a fitness test for working breeds. Right out of the gate he asked, “Why do you want to test fitness in working border collies”? I paused and said, “Well if I know what the baseline fitness is then I can set up exercises to prevent injury”! I thought that was an obvious answer. He laughed and said, “if we can agree a working dog has some degree of fitness, then really what we want to do is ensure that they stay injury free for as long as possible by way of proper conditioning, mental fitness, nutrition and recovery from exercise.”
Lightbulb moment here: there is a difference between fitness and conditioning. Fitness refers to the “condition of being physically fit and healthy”, while conditioning refers to the “process of training or accustoming a human/animal to behave in a certain way or to accept certain circumstances.”
To understand how all these pieces fall in place one needs to understand that the working border collie is not a sprinter, nor are they true endurance animals like sled dogs. They fall somewhere in between the two. So, designing an appropriate fitness program means we must take into account 4 primary variables; conditioning for the physical body, training for mental fitness, as well as nutrition and recovery. Briefly, conditioning of the physical body can best be summarized as targeted exercises that help to improve balance to have a better ability to react to ground forces. Strength that improves power of the muscles. Endurance that is the stamina required to carry out a task for periods of time and its ability to recover from the exercise load. Lastly, flexibility describes fluidity of movement of limbs while carrying out tasks. If one of these parameters is weak, we can expect a decline in performance and possibly injury.
When it comes to mental fitness there is a wealth of information and coaches for human athletes, but little is discussed about how we do it for dogs. One study in humans (Orlick et al) found a common thread among Olympic athletes. Those who were mentally fit were more likely to be more physically fit, demonstrating that a healthy brain is important for a healthy body.
A few components of mental fitness include quality training, clear daily goals, imagery training or simulation training (setting up training like it was a real competition), a Pre- Competition focus plan, a Competition focus plan and a Distraction focus plan. Interestingly, those with a clear Distraction focus plan (i.e. what to do if something goes wrong) seemed to excel more than those who did not. I think we can all use this human study to help put mental fitness into action with our daily training.
When it comes to nutrition, I won’t lie this is NOT my specialty (I would encourage people to do a consultation with Food for Fen, to learn about nutritional components for your working border collie). Essentially, we need to design a proper nutritional program specific to each individual dog’s level of activity that the dog will be asked to perform.
Once the activity requirements are determined, the components of the daily feeding regimen can be formulated (i.e. balance of protein, carbohydrates, fats and minerals). Supplementation may be required to address additional energy requirements needed for the different times of year. This approach to feeding can enhance performance and minimize problems that can result in poor performance, and possibly injury.
The last variable to consider is recovery from exercise. Ultimately, we want our dogs to recover from exercise well in order to reduce the risk of injury, thus enabling maximum performance over time. Meghan T. Ramos et al, Penn Vet Working Dog Centre, all itemize several factors for recovery. These include a proper warm up and cool down, checking dogs’ toes and pads for any injury or wear, observation of gait post exercise to identify any musculoskeletal issues, and lastly, a nose-to-tail “sweep” with bare hands to identify any wounds to the skin or coat. The end goal is to identify any issues that could affect performance.
This article only scratches the surface of optimal fitness in the working border collie. The take home message, to get the best performance out of your dogs, is that they must be properly conditioned, mentally prepared, have proper nutrition to meet activity demands and be free of any pain that might affect performance (i.e. recovery).
Tania Costa, VT, CCRP is owner of Canine Wellness Centre Inc and holds certification in Massage, Acupressure, myofascial release, and pain management, and is a Veterinary Cannabis counselor.