Dogs love to play and exercise with their owners. Many dogs suffer from problems like Hip Dysplasia, which doesn’t allow them to exercise like a normal dog. Hip Dysplasia is very common in large dog breeds like the German Shepherds, Saint Bernard, etc.
Hip Dysplasia is normally hereditary and can also be caused by some injuries. Hip Dysplasia, if in earlier stages, would not hurt your dog that much that you can notice it but as it grows its stages its pain would surely increase and you could see it in your dog’s body language. So, to decrease the risks you can do a bit of warm-up before the intense workout session of your dog. But if your dog is already suffering through hip dysplasia and you are not able to give them proper walk or exercise, then this blog post is absolutely for you. Dog owners often face difficulties in exercising their dog who is suffering from hip dysplasia because the dog itself doesn’t want to move as it may experience extreme pain while walking or running. So, here is the solution to your issue of fitness of your dog. Let’s get started…
1. Best Exercises for dogs with Hip Dysplasia : Swimming
Swimming can be a really fun exercise for your pooch and you as well. Some dogs like Retrievers are natural swimmers and just love to swim. Swimming is recommended to the dogs with hip dysplasia because it burns calories without putting any pressure on the joint of the dog. This may not be possible for every dog owner to do this, so if you have a swimming pool in your backyard then it’s really nice, but if you have a dog with hip dysplasia and don’t have a swimming pool, mate you need to find a pet-friendly swimming pool near your house.
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2. Underwater Dog Treadmill
Let’s keep swimming aside for some time, if your pooch doesn’t like to swim you can go for an underwater dog treadmill. So, you would be thinking that walking on an under walking treadmill would have the same effect and pressure on the joints of the dog, but it is not that way.
The buoyant force of the water would obviously lessen the pressure on the joints while walking on the underwater treadmill. It would exhaust your dog faster than before because they would have to work their legs out with more power to walk underwater.
Even if you are lucky to have a swimming pool in your backyard but it could be almost impossible to get an underwater treadmill, so you have to work a bit to find a rehabilitation center for dogs with hip dysplasia and a hip dysplasia specialist too, to know the distance and speed that your pooch would be comfortable with. While jogging on an underwater treadmill it is recommended to have a bit of warm water in the pool.
3. Walking on soft surfaces
A dog with hip dysplasia would not be a great partner for jogging or a run but if you are planning a walk, yes they can become your walk partner but the only thing is that the walk should be on some natural soft surface like grass, sand, etc. rather than on hard surfaces like concrete, roads, etc.
Walking on a soft surface would help them distribute the pressure rather than pressurizing the hip joint. Walking would also give them kind of pleasure because dogs are really social and they just don’t like to be jailed inside the house and after all, you are making all the efforts for you and your dog’s mutual happiness.
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These were some exercises recommended by the experts for exercising your dog. It is not necessary that you have to perform the copybook exercises but you can also add some of your versions to the exercise but make sure that those are safe for your dog. If you and your dog are comfortable doing that and if your dog is not facing any problem in doing the exercise then mate you are good to go.
Happy Exercising!!!
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