Fatigue: 1. cause to feel tired or exhausted. 2. tiredness, typically resulting from mental or physical exertion.

Just as our muscles get tired when we workout, so do our dog’s muscles when we exercise them. When doing strengthening exercises with your dog it is important to watch for fatigue.

The following are some things to look for in your dog as you train:

• can’t maintain proper position when they previously could
• stumbling
• repeated failures
• excessive panting or licking
• walking away or refusal to respond- in most cases, they are not being stubborn, they are tired

In this video, you’ll observe two dogs doing the same exercise with good form and what might happen when the dog starts to fatigue.

The sheltie starts out well with the folding downs but you’ll notice that he starts to move his front feet, is slower to go into position, and avoids going all the way down.  To some people, the border collie may  look like he is just being silly, or that he doesn’t know what I am asking for, but actually this is a sign that he is getting tired.  The bottom line here: know your dog! You know them best!