4 ways you’re impacting your dog, good or not?
By Olivia Mills
Have you ever stopped to think about the impact you have on your dog during routine daily tasks? Everybody knows they should walk, groom, play with, and give affection to their dogs but could your intentional positive impact actually be destructive to your dog’s health and wellbeing? Imagine if spending 10 minutes a week reading an Impact post could expand your knowledge enough to improve the health of your dog? It’s a no brainer!
Why Impact should be your educator of choice
The impact brand is currently fronted by Impact Veterinary Physiotherapy. We consist of a business entrepreneur and a qualified and registered Veterinary Physiotherapist BS(Hons). Awareness of the impact we have on our animals, ourselves, and the environment has fuelled us to develop a brand focused on sharing our knowledge and lifestyle with hopes of inspiring our audience to recognise their importance and impact.
How are you impacting your dog?
The fact that you’re reading this tells me that you love your animals and you’re determined to be the best owner you can possibly be.
The busyness and stress of modern daily life leads us to overlook the impacts of our actions. All we are asking for is 10 minutes out of your busy day to invest in educating yourself on the positive and negative impacts you’re having on your dog right now.
If you decide to continue reading, you will appreciate the effects and consequences your actions have on your animal. You will also learn some valuable tips on how you can easily further influence your dog in a positive way!
Making a change can start right now! Promoting the health and wellbeing of your dog can be as easy as developing some quick and simple habits into your weekly routine.
4 Ways you’re Impacting your Dog
Stroking
Grooming
Walking
Training
Stroking
When you’re stroking your pet, you’re actually providing them a light, basic massage.
Have you ever thought about the effect that’s having on them on a cellular level?
I’m not going to bore you with the microscopic details but massage can increase blood flow, provide pain relief, and provide release of hormones such as dopamine and serotonin that can have calming effects on your pet. So next time your cuddled up on the sofa with your pet just remember the incredible effect you’re having on them physically and mentally.
Tips
A basic massage technique, called effleurage, involves slowly and progressively providing stroking pressure in the direction of the muscle fibres.
Start your massage feeling all the muscles slowly and try to identify which ones feel most tight, and try focusing on those. The more practice you have of this the easier it will be to identify these tight areas so even if you can’t feel any difference at first keep trying!
2. Grooming
Much like stroking, grooming your pet can have similar effects. I advise you to find a nice calming place, outside if possible, to sit with no distractions for as little as 5 a week to bond over a nice groom. This one-to-one time can be invaluable for developing your bond and will also keep your dog looking beautiful!
Tips
If your dog sheds lots and has long hair use a comb like this one: , its soft and will help untangle little matts and brush out shed hair.
If your dog has short hair, or in areas of short hair, use a brush like this one: , this is a very delicate brush which will be soothing for use on short hair and will make their coat look super shiny!
3. Walking
We walk our dogs every day but do we really know if we’re walking them for the ideal duration or in the correct style?
Subtle gait, or walking style, abnormalities can help you identify when your dogs tired or in pain. When walking, limb placement should be like this animation. From above, your dog should have a straight back and not twist to or fall into one side.
When going a bit faster and trotting your dog should:
Look symmetrical
Not shift more of their body weight onto one side or one leg
This is sometimes shown behind by one limb being placed along the midline.
Tips
Use slow-motion on your phone to video your dog from the side and front/back to look for asymmetry and weight shifting
If your dog is showing any gait abnormalities, reduce walking time and keep to lead walks and then gradually build back up to your normal walks. If you think the abnormalities are significant, take them to a vet!
4. Training
You may think that teaching your dog a few tricks is only beneficial for obedience or to avoid boredom, however, simple, easy to teach tricks are like doing a workout at the gym for your dog! Here are a few tricks you can easily teach your dog to strengthen large muscle groups
Sit-to-stand is like doing a human squat, it strengthens the bum and leg muscles (quadriceps and gluteal muscles)
High-five strengthens the shoulders and forearms (deltoids, biceps)
Backwards walking strengthens hind leg muscles that extend the hips
Tips
Do 5 of each exercise a couple times a week to start off with
Use YouTube videos to help teach your dog how to do the exercises
Summary
If you’ve made it to the end of this read, congratulations!! You’ve just expanded your canine knowledge and now you’re ready to intentionally improve your everyday care habits!
Here’s a quick summary of the tips you’ll need to become the best owner you can be:
Focus on major muscle groups while stroking to maximise positive impacts of your basic massage
Perform weekly grooms with the right brush for your dog’s coat
Watch carefully how your dog walks and runs to identify abnormalities
Add basic training exercises to your weekly routine to increase your dog’s muscular strength
If you’ve loved expanding your knowledge and want to continue, head to our website, Facebook or Instagram page to advance your learning and find out more about what IMPACT can do for you and your pets!
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