As owners and trainers we're highly attuned to the movement of our dog's tail. But have you ever really looked at your dog's tail? Chance are, in the middle of a sport performance the last thing your doing is looking at your dog's tail but you may be surprised to see just how big of a role it plays! It's easy to forget that our dog's tail is a vital part of our dog's sport performance and everyday life. Our dog's have an extra appendage that is highly flexible and capable of complex movements to convey information and  complete challenging physical movements. Put simply, our dog's tail is an important physical and emotional part of their body. In this week's blog  we'll take a look at how the tail helps a sporting performance and the potential ways a tail can be injured. 

We ask a lot of our sporting dogs so as owners we also have to do a lot of groundwork to prepare them for the physical challenges they'll face. Think of an agility run and the types of physical demands we place on our dogs. As trainers, we'll often drill our dogs on contacts, weave performance, and distance work but how often are we dedicating time to jumping form? In a single agility run the jump is the most common piece of equipment your dog will see. Think of how many jumps they might complete over a two day competition? The reality is we often take advantage of our dog's natural ability to jump and can neglect to put in the same amount of training for the jump performance as we do for their weave or contact performance. This week, I break down the complex topic of jumping!