How to Condition a Dog on Hills, Stairs, and Agility

You want to condition your dog, but you're not certain how to do it. So you plan to work on hills, stairs and agility drills to get your dog in shape. The difficulty is that conditioning your dog is a slow and time-intensive process and requires patience from you. Just as you wouldn't expect an overweight and out-of-shape human to compete in a marathon, you can't expect a dog who has never done these exercises to any great degree to run them without conditioning. You will have to start slowly and build up.

Things You'll Need

  • Veterinarian
  • Collar and leash
  • Stairs
  • Hills
  • Agility equipment
  • Treats
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Instructions

  1. Condition on Hills

    • 1

      Bring your dog to the veterinarian for a full checkup to ensure that it is healthy enough for conditioning.

    • 2

      Take your dog for walks less than 1 mile. If your dog has trouble walking a mile, cut the distance to where the dog can easily walk that distance.

    • 3

      Build up the mileage slowly. Your dog needs to get comfortable with walking before trying hills.

    • 4

      Climb a small hill. Take your dog for a walk where there is a small hill, and walk up it. Go at a pace that is comfortable for the dog.

    • 5

      Increase the size of the hill and the distance traveled slowly. If your dog has difficulty, decrease the distance or the size of the hill.

    Condition on Stairs

    • 6

      Put a collar and leash on your dog, and slowly walk it up one flight of stairs. If the dog has difficulty, choose a smaller number of stairs to walk up.

    • 7

      Walk down the steps carefully. Do not run, as this can cause injuries.

    • 8

      Walk one flight of stairs each day for a week.

    • 9

      Increase the number of stairs to walk, and work on that for another week.

    • 10

      Continue to increase the number of stairs each week.

    Conditioning in Agility

    • 11

      Teach your dog the obstacles.

    • 12

      Learn to run the agility course.

    • 13

      Run your dog through an agility course made up of fewer than 10 obstacles. The dog should be able to complete it without signs of fatigue or overexertion (panting, slowing or stumbling). If your dog does show signs, reduce the number of obstacles and work on them slowly.

    • 14

      Run your dog on a course made up of 15 obstacles or more, once your dog is comfortable with running courses of 10 obstacles or fewer.