About Dr. Chris Zink: Previously named Veterinarian of the Year by the AVMA, Dr. Chris Zink is an award-winning author of numerous books and co-editor of the first ever book on Canine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, Co-Founder of Avidog-Zink Ventures, and a world-renowned expert in canine sports medicine and rehabilitation, with over 125 titles in Agility, Obedience, Conformation, Tracking, Hunt Tests, Barn Hunt, Nosework, Coursing, and Rally on dogs from the Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier and Herding groups. Dr. Zink was also instrumental in establishing the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation as the newest specialty in veterinary medicine.
Dr. Zink discusses the Fit for Life program with Laura. The program was developed in response to seeing a lot of dogs with a lot of injuries, combined with the knowledge that being at a certain weight and fitness level can help prevent these injuries. Dr. Zink started to see that most people have no idea that dogs need to be conditioned and fit just like humans do to improve their health spans.
There’s a lack of focus on our dogs’ healthy weights - added weight has a lot of negative effects for dogs - it affects everything about our dogs’ lives, including leading to things like increased chance of arthritis, which affects mobility issues.
Laura and Dr. Zink discuss the importance of starting your dogs right - chubby puppies are set up for a lifetime of trouble, so it’s important to start conditioning and health monitoring young.
Fit for Life outlines many low-impact exercises that you can do at home with little effort; Dr. Zink gives an example of a rear-leg strength exercise that’s featured in the program.
Laura and Dr. Zink talk about the importance of repetitions and how you can use reps to get to overload. Fit for Life lets you know how to observe your dog as it exercises, so that you know when they are getting to that ‘overload’ point. Getting to overload is the important thing, not the number of reps or the amount of weight.
Dr. Zink then gives the background behind the Fit to be Tied program and how important it is that breeding dogs be fit. The program applies specific criteria to each stage of the breeding process (what you should and shouldn’t do). While you want your breeding dogs to be fit, you don’t want them as thin as you would want a performance dog.
In short, why is conditioning important?
1: Dogs that are weak are more likely to be injured, and injuries are expensive.
2: Fitness equates to longevity - who doesn’t want their dogs to live longer?