The Tahoe region is full of athletic people and dogs. While we embrace all sorts of workouts for ourselves, we might raise an eyebrow at someone who told us they were busy having their dog exercise. Dogs are naturally athletic. They don’t need a workout, right?
But what if the dog doing that workout was the one to find you after an avalanche or help find a loved one gone missing? You would probably want to make sure that search dog is in the best possible shape.
“An injured working dog is one less resource for the mission,” said Sonya Roth, a veteran search and rescue (SAR) dog handler with the California Rescue Dog Association and several regional search teams. “A conditioning program lessens the risk of injury since the dog is stronger and more aware of its own body and movement.”
In our community, there are trained SAR dogs for a variety of urban and wilderness scenarios. They respond to locate lost or missing persons, or search after natural disasters like fires, earthquakes, or floods. We also have highly skilled ski patrol avalanche dogs trained to find someone buried under snow. Their handlers invest countless hours training and exercising these dogs to develop the necessary skills for the job. These working dog teams now have the opportunity to learn about canine conditioning.
In 2024, Lead Dog Athletics teamed up with Tahoe Integrative Veterinary Care to offer the first Working Dog Wellness workshops specifically tailored for avalanche and SAR dog teams. Ben Stone and Alex White, both Palisades Tahoe avalanche dog handlers, along with Roth, were attracted to the workshop’s primary goal: to provide handlers with new insights and assessment tools to build awareness of their dog’s baseline “normal” structure and movements in order to detect subtle signs of injuries early.
White said that the workshop has helped him better appraise his dog, Moxie.
“I am more conscious of Moxie’s rest days and evaluating him after he is out in challenging conditions, making sure that he didn’t injure himself and compensating through it without me noticing,” he said.
Roth echoed a similar sentiment.
“Having a baseline helps me to determine if [Ranger is] sore, limping, favoring one side,” she said. “The high drive dogs don’t often show injury until you’re hands-on.”
The focus is on minimizing injury risk because the consequences range from lost work time to vet bills to time off for recovery that is almost unfathomable with a high drive dog. This leads right into the second goal of Working Dog Wellness: to reduce the risk of injury by educating professional dog handlers about why and how to implement a balanced canine conditioning program.
Most people think these professional dogs must already be very fit and physically prepared for the rigors of their jobs. However, standard exercise and targeted conditioning are not the same. Canine conditioning is still an emerging field, so even seasoned dog professionals may not be familiar with it. Many people don’t discover it until they are seeking care after an injury, when a veterinarian may prescribe a physical rehab exercise program.
“We had been practicing agility and parkour exercises previously and I thought her body awareness and strength was excellent; now I see there is a lot of room to improve,” said Maria Preobrazhenskaya, who is in training for SAR with her dog, Tala.
Veterinarian Dr. Wendy Robinson and vet tech Michelle Kulchawik from Tahoe Integrative Veterinary Care have spent years helping working and pet dogs recover from a variety of injuries and surgeries. They emphasize the importance of specific exercises for dogs.
“Our goal as canine physical rehabilitation practitioners is to keep dogs mobile and pain-free,” said Kulchawik. “We often find that dogs that lack a base level of core strength and body awareness are more susceptible to activity-related injuries. Through simple, targeted exercises we can greatly minimize their risk while they are out enjoying mountain life at any life stage.”
Research has shown that the best way for people to reduce their risk of injury is to follow a fitness program including cardio, balance and body awareness drills, targeted muscle strengthening, flexibility, and mobility, combined with adequate rest and recovery. Studies by Penn Vet Working Dog Center in Pennsylvania have demonstrated the same for dogs.
Avalanche and SAR dogs need impressive endurance. Their noses and brains are working overtime processing the information they are sniffing, and their bodies need to be able to keep up. A fit dog is able to search with greater focus for longer stretches with less fatigue. Tired dogs make sloppy movements, which increases their injury risk.
Search dogs travel at high speeds, potentially for hours, over variable terrain. Thanks to the conditioning program, White saw a difference in his dog’s abilities, and his own.
“I definitely noticed a big change in Moxie’s body awareness and strength, he’s more confident moving in new environments,” said White. “I am more confident working with him in challenging conditions.”
Dogs need to focus on the search and move with grace and ease without thinking about where they put each paw. Precise paw placement relies on efficient brain-body communication. Neural pathways can be maximized with balance and body awareness drills.
“In order to minimize the chance of injury, we need to deliberately teach our dogs body awareness and practice exercising the muscle groups that are not used as much during regular activities,” said Preobrazhenskaya.
People chuckle imagining a dog doing sit ups, push-ups, or squats, but there are specific exercises that require minimal time and equipment and provide maximum benefits for dogs. Targeted strengthening of particular muscle groups, combined with warm-ups and stretching, helps to provide the necessary balance of mobility and stability in the muscles, ligaments, and joints to reduce injury risk. Canine fitness starts with the often-overlooked core muscles. If a dog’s core is weak, they become overly reliant on their front or hind legs and risk damaging those muscles and joints (hips, knees, shoulders, elbows, wrists).
“One thing I really like about the conditioning is that it slows Moxie down … getting him thinking and moving differently than we do at work,” said White. “The security it gives me knowing that the stability and strength he builds will help him stay healthy at work and live a better life is huge.”
Every handler wants their dog to live and to work alongside them for as long as possible. The benefit of keeping an experienced dog on the job for an extra year or two is huge. It can be hard for handlers to imagine the day their faithful working dog retires.
“Building a strong foundation of skills and awareness can benefit a working dog’s career and longevity,” said Robinson. “It can also help a dog transition smoothly into their golden years and continue to improve their quality of life.”
After retirement, senior dogs still benefit from working out to maintain strength, mobility, and mental engagement that typically decline with age. The value of having your dog age gracefully in retirement is priceless.
Working through the program with her SAR dog, Ranger, Roth explained, “Having a good relationship with your working dog … is of utmost importance. The one-on-one interaction of the conditioning program builds that relationship and trust.”
Stone highlights an appeal of workouts: “Dogs love games and [Ahsoka] sees the conditioning as one more game to play. The mental stimulation also pairs well with the physical side.”
That human-canine connection is critical for working dogs and essential for all dogs from athlete to pet, from puppies to seniors. Canine conditioning strengthens relationships as much as it does muscles. So, join the pack and get your dog started on becoming fit.
