Subtitle: Health and Fitness for the Canine Athlete
Author: M. Christine Zink, DVM, PhD
Format: Paperback
Length: 146 pages
Release Date: 2007
The Agility Advantage won the Eukanuba Canine Health Award and the President's Award for the best dog publication of the year at the 2008 Dog Writers Association of America awards.
- Need to design a conditioning program for your agility athlete?
- Trying to figure out which of your dog's legs is lame?
- Wondering how much longer to trial your senior dog?
- Worried about bringing back an injured dog too soon?
- Seeking guidance in selecting your next agility prospect?
- Not sure when it's best to spay or neuter your dog?
The Agility Advantage is written with the busy agility aficionado in mind—you! Each chapter stands alone and is intended to be one sound bite on one topic, designed for easy digestion. You can read about a single topic before bed, while you are waiting for the oil to be changed in your minivan, or in the vet's office before your appointment. The chapters have been grouped into subjects that take your canine agility partner through a lifetime with you. The subjects range from how dogs are built, to how dogs move, to how to feed and exercise them so they move faster and more accurately, to a few of the things that can put the brakes on agility for a while, to sharing those later years when dogs don't move as fast as they used to.
About the Author
M. Christine Zink, DVM, PhD is a consultant on canine sports medicine. She evaluates canine structure and locomotion, and designs individualized retraining and conditioning programs for canine athletes. She is an award-winning author and seminar presenter and competes in obedience, agility, retrieving, tracking, and conformation.
The Agility Advantage contains the following chapters:
Introduction to the Agility Dog
How Dogs Look
How Dogs Move
Getting Started
Picking a Performance Partner
Your Pup and Parvo
Early Spay-Neuter: Considerations for the Canine Athlete
Puppy Exercise
Nutrition Nuggets
Food Facts
Water, Water
What Is an Ideal Weight?
Exercise for Agility Dogs
Exercise: How Much and What Kind?
Indoor Exercises
To Tread or Not to Tread
Cross Training
Front Leg Exercises
Fetch and Tug
Before and After Exercise
I Can’t Run
Musculoskeletal Problems: Diagnosis, Treatment,
and Rehabilitation
Spotting Lameness
Recommended Health Checks
Dogwalk Slips
A-frame Heights
Darn Those Slats!
Cranial Cruciate Ligament Rupture: Prevention and Repair
Cranial Cruciate Ligament Rehabilitation
Flashy Heeler
Carpal Arthritis
Hyperextension of the Hock
Dog Podiatry
Knocked Bars
Diseases and Conditions of Agility Dogs
Travel Stress
Hot, Hot, Hot
Hypothyroidism
Addison’s Disease
Canine Influenza
Agility Seniors
Too Old?
Best Exercise to Promote Longevity
"Whether you are raising and training a dog with competition in mind or bringing a dog back to competition after an injury or surgery, you will want to keep The Agility Advantage at the ready." —Julie Daniels, Top agility competitor and trainer of trainers
"Chris Zink offers all dog sports enthusiasts authoritative, unequivocal answers to their questions in an engaging style. I've yet to find a book with deeper understanding of the structural variations in dogs and how they affect performance." —Rachel Page Elliott, Author, Dog Steps: A New Look
"What every agility competitor needs: A user-friendly guide to the agility athlete from one of canine sports medicine’s best and brightest." —John Sherman D.V.M., Rehabilitation veterinarian for canine athletes