Friday, September 5, 2014

Are You as Fit as Your Fido?

Rocco and I enjoy some down time outside the
ring and a few ribbons from our agility weekend
How important is your own fitness when it comes to enjoying a fit life with your dog?

Earlier this week, we participated in Dog Agility Blog Action Day, the quarterly Blog Hop where agility bloggers post on a specific topic.

This time the topic was Outside the Ringthe non-agility training and activities we do to help our dogs and ourselves when we DO enter the agility ring. After reading through many of the posts, I thought they'd be of interest to anyone who participates in an active lifestyle with their pups. 

I expected to read about cross training and other activities folks do like hiking and playing games. What I didn't expect were the number of posts that pointed out the importance of human fitness.

I bet you'll take away some tips from reading all the Agility Blog Action Day posts. Here are just a few  I enjoyed regarding human fitness

Training the Family Cheerleader talks about the importance of fitness for the human half of the agility team, and how that's often overlooked.

Days of Speed talks about "sitting is the new smoking" and how movement/mobility practices can improve health. Her post is chock full of fascinating resources.

Un-Still Life With Cavaliers shares ways that anyone can improve their physical and mental health to help your agility game and your life.

While I didn't focus entirely on human fitness in my post, I did include it in the mix as an important component to your human/dog team.

Speaking of agility… thanks to all the activities we do OUTSIDE the ring, take a look at how we fared at our trial last weekend!


We had a blast and Rocco took home six qualifying runs, a whole bunch of first place finishes and two new titles!

We also got our first USDAA Gamblers title. This is an event based on gathering the most points in a prescribed amount of time and achieving a distance challenge at the end. Each obstacle is given a certain amount of points so the handler needs to devise a pattern that will gather enough points to qualify.

In our run, the Teeter was worth the most points, so we took that obstacle twice -- the maximum number of times you're allowed to take each obstacle. Take a look!


Who's more fit in your household? You or your pups?


The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With LoveSlimDoggy and My GBGV Life to promote a healthy active lifestyle for pets (and their people, too!). Join in every Friday by linking up your FitDog story or visiting the blogs in the Hop.







18 comments:

  1. Well we think the two must go together and without both being fit it can't be so much fun. Have a fabulous Friday.
    Best wishes Molly

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    1. Absolutely! If you feel better you'll have much more fun! Happy weekend!

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  2. Mom and I are still in awe of all your awards, Rocco. Mom needs to stay fit for tracking with Bailie too. Bailie is tracking at full speed and Mom is racing along behind. My nose work is pretty slow, so we have variety. Can't wait to see your next set of wins!

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    1. Yes! It sure is more fun if you can keep up with your dog! That's cool that Bailie is doing tracking.

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  3. We believe walking and outdoors revitalizes the human
    Lily & Edward

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    1. Yes! It feels great to get outside and walk. And our pups help motivate us to do it!

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  4. I've always been terrible at Gamblers but it's SO fun! Congratulations on that and all your awesome runs!

    I know so very many handlers who have been or are injured because (in my 15+ years a a fitness professional opinion) they do nothing but agility. I am so glad to see people talking about the importance of being a fit handler!

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    1. Thank you! We love Gamblers and Snooker too. The games are so much fun! I was glad to see the human fitness part discussed too. Even fit people get injured, but at least we can take care of ourselves as well as we take care of our pups!

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  5. Congrats on all of your ribbons. The thing that I miss with our hunt test training this year is that I am not out in the field as much. When you are in the field throwing for the dogs, it is a lot of walking back and forth at distances of 100+yards.

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    1. Thank you! You DO cover a lot of ground in the field. I can see how that would be great exercise.

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  6. Oh Mr. N is definitely more fit than I am. He runs circles around me.

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    1. hehe! Rocco and Mr. N are SO the same! I love to watch the zoomies!

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  7. What a very impressive collection of ribbons!! I agree that human fitness and dog fitness go hand in hand. Veruca and I don't participate in any agility training, but we hike when we can and walk every day. Who is in better shape, I would say Veruca. She is out everyday, hiking when it works, and she only has three legs.

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    1. That's so impressive and good for Veruca to hike and walk! Happy weekend!

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  8. Congrats on all your winnings. Super job and super fit time!

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