We all live busy lives; however, it’s very important for our dogs to get the exercise they need each and every day. Your dog can get fantastic daily exercise by running (more like trotting) on a treadmill in the comfort of your own home, condo or apartment. We recommend this approach to all of our clients and they have had great success. It’s particularly useful for owners that live in small or urban areas that may not have a backyard. Not only will your dog feel better but they will become more alert and even easier to train. Many clients have seen their dog’s bad behaviors simply fade away as a result of a daily treadmill routine. Because exercise naturally feels good, this is a fairly easy process to teach your dog. We’ve broken the Course up into 6 easy-to-follow lessons. Each lesson includes a high definition video with crystal clear commentary and written guidelines to follow. Your dog will be on your treadmill in no time and in the best shape of their lives!
Lessons
Equipment Review
We’ll review the general equipment needed to successfully treadmill train your dog. No special equipment is needed beyond a basic working treadmill that can be found on Craigslist or a yard sale for as cheap as $100 (and in some cases free!).
Introduction & Creating Comfort
The most important lesson of the course! You’ll learn how to introduce your dog properly to the treadmill in an off state and break things up into small manageable sessions that your dog will enjoy. We start with a puppy in this video and also show the same steps with a fearful adult dog in a later lesson.
Attaching Dog to Leash & Treadmill
Once your dog is comfortable around the treadmill and being on top of it, we’ll begin adding the step of attaching your dog to the treadmill using a short leash or lead. Once your dog is comfortable with this step, we will turn the treadmill on at it’s slowest speed and coach the dog into figuring out the simple movement of the treadmill.
Bonus! How to Gain Leash Cooperation
We love giving our clients extra information! Leash cooperation is a crucial skill every dog should have, yet many dogs you see out in public have no concept of it. This video will teach you how to introduce the leash to your dog, which will make further training that much easier.
Adding Distractions and Promote Focus
In this lesson we take a fearful adult dog that has never been on a treadmill before and introduce him to the treadmill using the exact order of steps taught in this course. Jimi takes us through each step and then shows how to add distractions to promote additional comfort and focus.
The End Result & Finding the Right Speed
Jimi uses his personal dog Ben to show the end result of the training taught by the course along with the correct speed your dog should be trotting at. Our clients have had great success and we look forward to seeing you achieve the same success with your dog. It won’t be long until you wake up in the mornings and your canine companion is sitting on the treadmill waiting for you to turn it in!