Geriatric dogs begin to lose muscle as they age. While this is part of the natural aging process, there are some simple ways to help your dog to stay healthier for longer by targeting specific muscles and exercising muscle memory.

With the right exercise program tailored to their needs, we can help our aging dogs maintain their muscle mass, improve their circulation and help them stay healthy and active into their golden years.  Let’s take a look at how we can help our beloved pooches stay stronger for longer.

Exercise as a foundation for healthy aging

There are many benefits of regular exercise for our aging dogs.  They include: maintaining muscle mass and bone density, improving joint flexibility, keeping stress in check plus overall emotional wellbeing. 

Exercising enhances circulation which in turn makes sure nutrients are delivered effectively to the muscles which in turn helps remove metabolic waste products.  Maintaining muscle strength is a massive part of helping to ensure your dogs independence as they age. 

5 exercises/tips that help:

1. Get your dog to walk backwards, or sideways. This is a great way to strengthen the leg muscles that are not as frequently used. To get your dog to practice walking backwards, hold a treat between their nose and chest and gently walk into them so they’re walking backwards. To get your dog to walk sideways, stand on their side holding their collar and take alternate steps gently into them practice in both directions.

2. Get your dog to walk over cavalettis or small poles, allowing them to lift their feet higher and improve balance - use treats to encourage this!

3. Gently massage their joints and muscles.  This improves blood circulation and overall muscle health.

4. Walking, running, healthy diet, and keeping up regular exercise are also essential parts of your dog’s daily routine.

5. Gut health is also key to ensuring optimum health. We recommend adding MicroMed probiotic each day to their food. They don't mind the taste and it ensures that their gut is getting the good bacteria needed to thrive and stay healthy. 

More on exercises

Your dog needs exercise, that is undeniable.  But, what exercise is best for a geriatric dog?  Well, here are some great ideas for our aging dog population:

Low-impact cardio

A fantastic exercise for older dogs is swimming because of the low-impact.   Being in the water means less impact on the joints but there is still enough resistance for the muscles, so give swimming a go! 

Walking is a standard for most dog owners, as it should be, because walking can be set to fit your dogs age and fitness level.  For example, you can go for more short walks instead of the longer ones you used when your dog was a pup.  Another thing to consider is the terrain.  Try grassy walks instead of rocky ones etc.

Strength training

For our aging dogs that good old ‘sit’ trick can be a great way to help strengthen their core muscles, and their hindquarters.  Take them back to their youth with a good old treat in return for a sit.  Then, repeat for those exercises!  For a puppy this is easy, but for your geriatric dog it’s a great way to keep those joints moving.

Another exercise you can do with your dog is to get them to stand on all fours and take turns lifting a paw for around 5-10 seconds.  This encourages your dog to put weight onto the three legs that are still on the floor, great for strength training in an aging dog.

Flexibility

You can help with your dogs flexibility by gently stretching their joints.  Focus on the major joints like the hips, knees and shoulders and slowly stretch them out within their normal range.  Watch out for any resistance that may be an indication of pain.

Massage is another great tool for improving circulation, eases stress and identifying areas of discomfort.  Gently massage using a circular motion and keep an eye on their reaction.

Know your dog

It’s really important to know your dog.  Any exercises must be tailored to their specific needs and, obviously, with their aging bodies in mind.  Is your dog apprehensive when you start your daily exercise routine, or excited?  Are adjustments necessary?  We want to gradually improve the muscle health without straining or upsetting our senior citizen. 

Above all else, as your dog goes from a spritely youth to a slower, geriatric version of themselves, they need the compassion and understanding of their loving pet parents.  So, take the time to understand what stage your dog is at and what they need.  We want them to live their best lives and for that we have to be there for them.