Searching for dummies or balls in long grass is an easy way to boost a dog’s fitness and help their muscles develop in a rounded way. I do this several times a week on our walks – the dogs usually do 15-20min of this in total.
This environment requires them to jump in a slow and controlled way as well as wade through the heavy grass, both of which develop different muscle groups. It also engages the dogs’ brains and noses when they search, and trains them to work more persistently and push through some frustration when something isn’t easy.
This is especially good for young dogs because they need to develop core strength – running fast develops their “engine” (back legs) but that creates a problem of too much speed and not enough brakes.
In other words, if the extremities (limbs) are strong, but the core is weak, there is not enough force provided to produce efficient movements – leading to a potential injury. A weak core also puts more pressure on limb joints (hips, knees, etc).
More information in this article:
https://www.dogs4motion.com/en/blog/533-the-dog-s-rear-end-its-role-in-activities-and-weight-distribution-exercises
Grace did this from a very early age, and I have also done it with Astra ever since she was about 4-5 months old – back then, she took it at her own pace and often stopped after a couple while Grace kept going. Her recent exhibition judgment concluded that she is well developed, while her brother, with the same genes, is not quite there yet – and in our case, I’ve seen this with other ones of our puppies too.
[Please note that this isn’t a comment on their families, simply because this type of environment isn’t even available everywhere – I just mention it because it’s very useful and fascinating to be able to compare the development of our 6 puppies in real time 🙂]
BusyDoggie 