Stair exercise is one of my favorite workouts with my mom. I’ve talked about it on several posts. My mom also participates in a yearly climb and I helped her train for the event. How did it start? It started when I was a young pup. My mom just recovering from her ankle and hip injuries and stair exercise helped her gain motion control. Stair exercise also provides an intense high calorie burning exercise, perfect for an active dog, ME.
Stair exercise is a great workout for legs, shoulders, hips, and lower back muscles. It is more intense than running as each step requires the lifting up of a dog’s entire body weight through the height of the stair. Going down the stairs involves negative contraction which intensifies the workout greatly. Lastly, stair exercise helps a dog with coordination and agility.
These Basic Commands are the Foundations of Stair Exercising With Your Dog.
1) Your dog needs to know sit/stand/stay commands.
2) Your dog needs to know the heel command.
(The heel command is the key for your dog to be off leash during your stair exercise.)
How To Stair Exercise With Your Dog (Steps/Method my mom taught me).
1) Find a good set of steps/stairs. Start on short steps/stairs.
2) At the bottom of the steps, ask you dog to sit/stand on your right side.
3) Go up the stairs with the command heel.
(You may take off your dog’s leash. If your dog is not skilled being off leash, use a shorter leash. We recommend a 24″ leash to have a better control of your dog to stay by your side during your stair exercise.)
4) Once you reach the top stair, have your dog face the steps and ask him/her to sit/stand.
5) Go down the stairs using the heel command. Same way as #3).
It takes a lots of patience and practice to stair exercise with your dog.
Being in-sync is a PAWsome achievement (you’ll see in the video).
Mom has a current knee injury so it is a bit harder for her to go down the stairs.
So here’s a 30sec video of our Stair Exercise …
I’m a senior active dog … in need for more movement. Due to my mom’s current knee injury, she gave me permission to climb up and down the stairs by myself.
Last Tuesday, very special bloggie friends from Seattle had a surprise visit in my town. Of course, I just had to show them my town’s park and the steps I often climb up/down.
I am joining FitDog Friday Hop,
hosted by SlimDoggy, Peggy’s Pet Place and To Dog With Love.
Click Here to read our review of SlimDoggy App.
Read our previous posts on my Dog’s Health page.
Lots of Golden L♥VE n Woofs
SUGAR
I know it’s only Thursday. Tomorrow (Friday), I have a special post.
You make it look easy!
You are very athletic and oh so adorable, Sugar!
We have very few stairs here….it’s flat and most houses are one story. Looks like good exercise, though.
XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy
Great videos Sugar…Love watching you and Mom in sync…There’s some steps Giz & i take occasionally, but we will have to try using them the way you suggest…Have a wonderful Thankful Thursday
Oh how exciting that you got to meet those 3! That stair exercise looks like a nice workout. I know I’d be tired afterwards!
Sugar, you’re making me tired just thinking about all those stairs! 😉
Wow…that looks so easy. But it doesn’t work out so well when you have short legs and a long body like ME!
🙂
That was some work out – we will have to go hunting to find some good steps.
you are so patient! I love to run up stairs hehe!
We could never try stairs here as I think it is fun to bite my peeps ankles which I use to do as a puppy. As soon as she runs up or down the stairs I take it as playtime. Have a tremendous Thursday Sugar.
Best wishes Molly
We kittehz love stairs, but we don’t have any at our new house. You make it look so easy, Sugar! XOXO
Hey Sugar, Great exercise for you, your mom and some new friends. I was worried though when you mentioned you got carried up each step-as we ladies get a bit more mature(older), it is important to be so careful with our backs too. I was sorry to hear that your mom has had leg and hip problems and now knee-hopefully staying very active helps. Hope you have a pawsome day!!!
Noreen & Hunter
Does living on the second floor count? I go up and down stairs all the time! So cool you got to meet Cascadian Nomads! Love Dolly
Sugar, That’s great you are staying fit! I love your booties!
Just a general warning, to any dachshund owners out there, stair exercises are not good for those pups. 🙂
I think Wilhelm is in love – I can see the butterflies in his tummy :o)
Geez! We saw the Nomads were passing through MN but they were over an hour north of us…we missed the boat there! Mom likes doing stairs exercise and actually she does the stairs with my chubby cat bro Bert sometimes to help him slim down. She jogs up and down pulling his favorite toy and he runs along. Happy stair climbing!
Wow, Sugar, you are a stair master or is that stair mistress:) You go up and down so quickly. Mom says we might be doing that one of these days as she is getting lots of physical therapy for her back problem. But we think we might have to go with her just one at a time:)
Woos – Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning
You did that very well Sugar. I knew you would though since you are such a well trained baby.
Have a woof woof day. My best to your mom. 🙂
Sugar you and mom are stair mistresses!
My liter box is up about 15 stairs…and when I head up I am fast.
Hugs
MAdi your BFFF
Ps your friends look like lots of fun
Madi
Gee Sugar, when you said mom was making a brief appearance I expected to see her face. 🙂 I miss your mom, and am so glad we had some time together at BP’s.
Great stair exercises. i wonder how Delilah will do with that? 😉
Sugar you are SO good at those stairs! Put most of us humans to shame 🙂
I don’t have any long staircases in my area, but I do throw the ball upstairs to get the boys to run up.
That is a wonderful exercise! We have to climb 3 flights of stairs to our apartment, so we will start using them for the stair workout!
Looks like some great Mommy & Me time!
We love your videos Sugar! Your ears flopping and your tail wagging are just so cute! You’re such a sweetie!
No wonder your Mom is in such good shape!! lol!!
Your videos are fantastic!
Love that you got to see your doggy friends too!
Great job on the stairs Sugar – that is great exercise. Hope your mom’s injuries heal up quick so she can join you again. Lots of Bikram is the key 🙂
I don’t really have any steps at my house, just a couple to go in and out of the house. I can see where it would be a good workout though. I try to make myself walk up steps if I have classes on any floor other than the first one.
We do LOTS of stairs. Mom says we do TOO MANY stairs in fact. When we go outside it is 17 stairs to get to the ground, then 17 back. And we go out a million times a day! It is because we are on a hill so the back of the house is high from the ground.
Your Pals,
Murphy & Stanley
Ambassadors of Love
Mom doesn’t let me use stairs because they’re horrid on backs.
Nola
That’s great exercise! And a brief glimpse of a bit of your mom! Hope her knee gets better.
You have me thinking it’s Friday. I wish! 🙂
Very exciting about meeting the Cascadian Nomads. Such a good-looking crew you all make!
The stairs are good exercise for both of us. We always took the stairs. Since we live in an apartment building the stairs are right there no matter what the weather. There’s just one problem. When I was a teenage pup, the not-so-bright, actually downright stupid, superintendent wanted to make the stairs shine. He decided to put wax in the water and wash the stairs. Why bother telling people, that would have taken brains.
Mom and I took the stairs at our regular pace and I slipped all the way down the stairs. My yelp was heard. Mom grabbed the railing before she fell all the way down. Since then I refuse to go up those stairs. Mom has tried, but I just dig in and refuse to move. We walk down, just not up.
Mom says she knows it’s not a nice thing say, but there are fundamentally stupid people in this world and we got one as a super.
Hugs and licks, BJ Pup
Good job on the stairs, Sugar!
Love ya lots♥
Mitch and Molly
Super good workout, Sugar. And I know the guys from Cascadian Nomads loved the tour!
Wows, that looks great Sugar! I loves that idea, I’m gonna keep my eye out for some good stairs to climb!
Kisses,
Ruby
Wow, you really made that look easy, Sugar! Now that is something I never thought of….we have lots of stairs in our house, so it would be a great place to start training, and maybe something we could start when we can’t get outside. Then we just need to find a place to go outdoors with lots of stairs!
I recognized the Cascadian Nomads right away, how great that they visited you!
What a great way to stay in shape! Lee and Phod
I wonder if Maya can benefit from this. I know I could! 🙂
Those are some awesome steps to get exercise on. You are looking so good.
Wow, this is a really good idea! Does it cause any damage to the hips? I’m a bit cautious with Charlie because of his hip dysplasia, but I think this would be fantastic exercise for him.
Nice action clips Sugar. We’ve got a set of stairs in our nearby park (although not quite 32 steps). Might have to give it a whirl…….
Wow Sugar!! you make this look like soo much fun! and I love the stylish booties!
Stairs are a tough workout! I know I couldn’t do more than one set right now 🙂 Dachshunds can’t do stair exercises because it is bad for their back so I am safe as long as I stick with them. Ha, ha.
Looks like a great workout! I notice that when Rocco climbs stairs he takes them two paws at a time — two front paws and then two back paws — while his taller Havanese friends goes up one paw at a time, like you do. Just an interesting observation!
Your pals,
Diane and Rocco
PS Can’t wait to see where you go for lunch today!
What a great exercise. Thanks for sharing it with us. It’s making me tired looking at all those stairs now. Love the picture with Cacadian Nomads! That’s wonderful!