Summer is always the time of exercise, and the rage these days – or so I hear – is circuit training. A bunch of short exercises completed in fast, burst-type duration, done in a circuit, then a minute or two rest, and then the circuit is repeated, usually three times. Lunges, jumping jacks, pushups, crunches, squats, plank, running in place, breather, repeat. Each circuit need be no more than five to seven minutes apiece; each exercise might be a set number of reps or for a set time like 30 seconds.
Point being, it’s consistent, brief, and a lot of reps.
Hmm. Maybe there’s something there for our Labs, especially for those adults that are pretty much trained. What could dog circuit training look like? You don’t necessarily need to do these quickly to get his heart rate up; this is more for skills and obedience, and they could vary whether your Lab is also a hunting retriever, incorporating some of those hunting skills.
Ginny, Cici, and Bulleit had a painfully boring winter and spring with the weather and baseball season leaving them cooped up. Perhaps the following will help:
• Five fetches
• Five figure-8 heels
• Five remote downs
• Five fetches
• Five sit/stay/come/heel/sit on a checkcord or off
• Five fetch/hold/give while sitting
• Five whistle-sits (obedience setting, not while on a retrieve)
• Five heel/stop/sit/heel drills
• Five place commands to a carpet square/mat
• Five fetches
I don’t know if I would repeat this entire circuit three times in one day, at least not to start. It would depend on how many corrections were needed. I bet that after a week straight of this, we could get it down quickly enough to repeat the entire circuit. It might be a good way to keep your Lab mentally stimulated during the long days of summer.
Toss your Lab a treat for me,
Jason Smith
Editor
