Make sure to check out Part I before you dive into Part II!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/761645/episodes/17462029
What happens between competitions might be the most critical factor determining your dog's peak performance and long-term well-being. In this deep-dive conversation, Lauren Langman welcomes back small animal physiotherapist Mel Doyle to unpack the science of effective recovery for competition dogs.
This eye-opening episode continues to dive into how we approach training schedules, revealing why high-drive dogs need carefully structured programs that balance building capabilities without overtaxing their bodies. You'll discover why many mentally talented dogs lack the physical development to support their competitive spirit, and how proper muscle conditioning prevents career-ending injuries.
Mel shares her expert framework for structuring the perfect training week, explaining the concepts of peaking and tapering that elite handlers use to optimise performance. You'll learn exactly when to schedule treadmill sessions, land-based exercises, and professional treatments around competition weekends, with specific adaptations for dogs competing on different days.
The conversation tackles practical questions most handlers face: Should you take your dog to the beach before a competition weekend? Which recovery tools deliver the best results for specific dogs? How should you feed a competition dog throughout the day? When is a harness better than a collar, and which harness design minimises movement restriction?
Perhaps most valuable is their discussion of seasonal planning. Mel reveals why a full month off from agility training (while maintaining baseline fitness) followed by a strategic 12-week buildup creates the optimal performance curve for seasoned competitors.
Whether you're managing multiple dogs across endless events or simply want your weekend warrior to perform their best, this episode delivers the recovery roadmap that makes sustainable excellence possible. Your dog's performance potential depends not just on their skills training, but on the recovery strategy between competitions and this conversation provides the blueprint.
Bookmark both Part I & II to reference back for all the amazing golden nuggets planted throughout!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lauren Langman (00:09):
Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel
podcast.
I'm Lauren Langman.
I'm one of the world's leadingdog trainers and it's my mission
to help owners become theirdog's top priority.
In each episode, you'lldiscover how to gain trust and
communicate with your dog likenever before, creating
unbreakable bonds that make youthe most exciting part of their
world.
Introduction to Part II (00:29):
If you caught part one of this
conversation with Lauren and Mel, you already know they dove
deep into what recovery reallylooks like for our dogs after a
competition weekend.
So for this second part, Laurenis once again joined by the
brilliant Mel Doyle, smallanimal physio, rehab expert and
her personal go-to when it comesto keeping her dogs fit and
(00:50):
thriving.
Whether you're a weekendwarrior or a professional
handler, juggling multiple dogsand endless events, this episode
will help you rethink, resetand rebuild your training
schedule with purpose.
Mel Doyle (01:05):
Let's go ahead and dive into part two with Mel and
using those all the differentsize but solid-based platforms
to create what we want to create.
Whether we're sort of loadingthe back end more, whether we're
loading the front end more,whether we're creating like a
balanced, even surface, whetherwe've got individual paws that
are targeted Again, I don'tthink I mean you might correct
me, but I don't think Jamie usesthe pawpaws anymore- Very
rarely, very rarely.
(01:26):
And again.
But you've got those individualtargets and look at what I mean
.
You have to say Skittle's bodyshape, her physique is amazing,
100% different.
Lauren Langman (01:38):
Yeah, 100% changed as well.
So it has changed completely.
So she's lean, but muscly leanas well, so has changed
completely.
So she's she's lean, but musclylean.
So, um, but her body changes.
But her body, and you're right,it has been since august last
year where you put hands on youlike we need more muscle here,
we need to recruit better musclehere, because if not, this
won't last yeah, and without themuscle she would because of the
brain that she had.
Mel Doyle (01:59):
Without having the body to back up the brain, she
would have very easily hurtherself because the body wasn't
there to support what her brainwanted to do.
Lauren Langman (02:05):
Yeah, yeah so it makes makes complete sense.
So I'm looking at this week,mel yep, and I'm now thinking
hard um, if you were going tofit in the treadmill session
with those dogs and they'recompeting again now, let's say,
skittle obviously isn't.
She's competing on sunday, butthe other dogs are competing on
saturday.
Where are you going to fit atreadmill session in?
Where's the best day to do that?
Mel Doyle (02:26):
so then you have to re-look at what you want to do
on the Wednesday really, becauseWednesday again is probably the
day the last day to do it ifyou could do it on the Tuesday,
but then you affect what you do.
Wednesday, thursday yeah, yeahso you know it's, you know it
might be.
And again, sprint work doesn'tnecessarily have to be included
within every week, you know.
So we I know we're talkingabout a week here, but in a way
you could talk about a month andgo right, well, this, this week
(02:47):
, we're going to do some sprintwork and we're not going to do
that this week, we're going todo this but we're not going to
do that.
So although we've got this sortof like collection of things we
want to include, we don'tnecessarily include them every
week.
You know, like we're talkingabout.
I say right, if I week when I'mnot competing, I will do um,
and everything would be.
An ideal world would be lovelyto do everything every week, but
(03:08):
we can't fit it all in and it'slike.
Lauren Langman (03:11):
It is like life, isn't it?
There's so many things you wantto do.
There's part of me that nextweek is, um, a school holiday.
Part of me wants to go abroad.
Part of me wants to enjoy thehorses here.
Part of me wants to train thedogs all week.
Part of me wants to goexploring the local area.
Part of me wants to go in acamper van for a week.
I want to do it all right, andit's about what you can fit in
and and what you can't fit in,and then um, and then life as
well, and doing life too.
So, potentially, the treadmillsession on like the wednesday
(03:33):
yeah, potentially, or thetuesday is better.
Mel Doyle (03:35):
You're saying yeah, or the, or the third.
Well, if you do it on thetuesday, you then affect what
you can do on the wednesday.
So you then would limit howmuch, because you wouldn't be
able to do the agility trainingthat you wanted to do on the
wednesday um, so you couldn't dolike the fast dog walk, you
know the fast, really high, morehigh, so higher intensity um
exercises.
Lauren Langman (03:51):
If you did a treadmill session on the tuesday
, really, the treadmill could bethe end of your wednesday
session, so you could do yesyeah, and that you know,
definitely sort of include thosethings at the end of the day.
Mel Doyle (04:00):
So your professional inputs, if you can, so if you
can timetable, you know you seethem at four o'clock, then see
them at four o'clock, then thatgives you all the rest of the
day to do all the other things.
But target them in the rightway.
So be something like you knowdo.
Maybe you want to do a littlebit of training, um, or you
would do treadmill in themorning on the thursday before a
professional on the thursdayafternoon.
For those dogs that are onlydoing work on the sunday, but
those that are doing saturday,you might treadmill them on the
(04:21):
Wednesday.
So each dog might have adifferent plan for the week.
It might not be every dog doesexactly the same thing for each
day of the week, um, so thenThursday potentially the
treadmill early if they'recompeting Sunday only.
Lauren Langman (04:30):
If not, they could do um land-based on the
Thursday.
Still, and yeah, like toland-based because they did the
treadmill on the.
Mel Doyle (04:36):
Wednesday, yeah, um, if for that dog, yes, that if
the dog's done the treadmill onthe Wednesday, then you can have
a lighter land based in themorning.
Um, you have a, you could havea lead walk and then you're
professional in the afternoon.
Excuse me, um, it's just reallymaking sure that if you have
something high intensity, like apool session, a treadmill
session, you've got a light daythe next day or later.
(04:59):
That you know you put it lateron in the day so that it allows
you the morning and the sort ofyou know um earlier part.
So, say, on the dogs that werehaving a treadmill session, a
professional, they could havelike a treadmill session at
lunchtime on thursday, um,professional thursday afternoon,
and then you've got all ofthursday morning that you could
do some more.
You could do some more skillstraining.
So not as high intensity aswednesday, um, so again,
thinking of this curve shape,wednesday being the peak, so
(05:21):
you'll be coming off the curve.
You know it might be.
You just want to maybe work ona couple of weave entries, but
you don't want to do 12 weaves,you just want to work on the
entry.
So you might just reward theentry or you might do put out
three poles.
I don't know whatever methodspeople use, but you know you've
got sort of flexibility there towork on some things.
But I wouldn't be doing likebig, long, hard-running
sequences on the thursdaymorning yeah, it makes complete
sense.
Lauren Langman (05:41):
And then on the Friday really it's a travel day,
so we're talking again leadwork, or lead walking in the
morning, or land base in themorning.
No more agility work becausewe're traveling that day and
that's a rest day, effectively,for them before competition.
Mel Doyle (05:55):
Again, it's sort of you're tapering down, so you
taper up at the beginning of theweek to a peak, and then you
taper down towards the weekend,towards the weekend um.
And if you aren't competing thefollowing weekend, then you're
sort of you could sort of spreadyour, your time out to be um
wednesday, thursday, friday, andthen taper down saturday,
sunday, monday, build back upagain for the following week.
Do you see what I mean?
So, um, and again, if you'vegot something like so, say,
(06:18):
we've got the next four weekendsof champ, but then the fifth
weekend there's no champ, thatwould be, I'll go right, this is
the time we're gonna have alittle bit of downtime, we're
gonna sort of come off of thathigh intensity and just let it
taper off.
And then the weekend, theweekend after, you've got
another championship show fortrying to work my head.
Yes, you would hit the axe.
Uh, no, you've got fiveweekends.
You're actually staying as well, haven't you?
So, um.
And then the weekend after ispossibly I don't know would that
(06:39):
be a, you know?
So it's building, thinkingright, I've got championship,
championship, championship.
Do I want to do all of those?
Um?
Or, for example, like you'vejust run Sheba, you've won a
champ ticket.
Yes, you want to look towardswinning three, but maybe she has
a little bit of downtime as aresult of the fact of the fact
she's just done that part of myplanning in my own dogs.
Lauren Langman (06:57):
If, say, venture won a championship, I actually
would then probably knock offchampionship for six weeks.
The reason I would do that isbecause it gives me time to
focus on the other classes, butalso she doesn't really need
another one and I think,although you like to win the
three, actually you just take alittle bit of work off because
you've already hit and achievedone of the goals.
Um, so actually, um, it's, it'sa nice way to look at it and I
definitely have that mindset.
The other thing you said whichI thought was really interesting
is um, we went to somebeautiful beaches when we were
(07:19):
in um in scotland.
You saw some beautiful beaches.
We saw some beautiful beaches.
But I had to say to my reallygood friend, amy I had to say,
amy, I can't go with you becauseVenture just will not work the
day after racing around on abeach all night.
She just will be exhausted andshe just can't handle that Wild.
I know it isn't right for her.
The only dog I could take isNell, our little sheepdog.
She would come quite happilyand run around the beach all day
and all night, but actually,and because it's a really nice
(07:40):
thing to do, isn't it whenyou're a competition?
But is it the right thing to doand what's your take on it?
Because we're not saying it'swrong or it's right for anybody
else.
What you do is what we'remodelling here or talking about
here.
So it's not right, it's notwrong, it's just what you do
(08:08):
no-transcript hours.
Mel Doyle (08:13):
It was a little bit of downtime, it's a bit of
decompression, um, for all of us.
Um, but at the same time therewas no, there was going to be no
competition afterwards.
I wouldn't have gone on.
For me, I wouldn't have gone onfriday or saturday, because I
was competing saturday, sunday,and I want my dogs to be at the
freshest they can be.
Um, I still want them to be dogs, I still want them to enjoy
life, but at the same time Iwant to make sure that they
(08:34):
don't hurt themselves.
And if they are fatiguedbecause they've been racing
around the beach, they are morelikely to hurt themselves.
When they're doing agility,they're probably more likely to
be more tired and not be able togive me their best if they've
been running around a beach alot and beaches.
You know, it depends which partof the beach you're on as well.
The sand can be really deep andreally hard to move through,
and right along the waterline itcan be quite compact and quite
(08:55):
nice.
Um, it depends whether you'vegot a dog that's wanting to go
in and out the water or whetherthey're just happy to go along
the beach.
But for me it was a Sunday trip.
It wasn't a um, it wasn't aFriday or a.
Lauren Langman (09:04):
Saturday trip.
Yeah, no, brilliant, I think,really interesting.
And then another question foryou, sort of based on that um
and it kind of links, but itkind of doesn't.
Often, me and you will bothhave our dogs on lead for a
period and then off lead so theydon't go straight off lead.
But you've really converted meto harnesses, but not just any
harness, a well-fitted harnessand the type of harness and the
double clips and everything else.
I know again another thing myshe's a lovely friend, but I nag
(09:25):
and it's harnesses now, becauseI see the damage on the neck um
, what's your take on that?
And I now, once I've seen it, Ihave a real problem, but I
can't unsee it.
And then I have this thing Ihave to say it, um, because I
can't just not say it, becausethis is um, and so I have to say
it.
I have to verbalize how I feel,which is a very I don't know,
maybe it's my age or stage or Idon't know.
Whatever, there's a reason Ihave to say it, um.
And so I have to say that um,oh, my god, where's the harness?
(09:46):
Grab a harness on.
She's a harness on, like,because I can see the type thing
and it's the same as in arestrain if you're restraining
dogs and you can see the likecut off the throat movement and
what are your?
thoughts.
What are your thoughts intreating dogs, in seeing dogs as
a, as a physio, as aprofessional in the in the field
?
What are your thoughts on that?
Mel Doyle (10:02):
I mean there are sort of a lot of thoughts about it
and a lot of people say, well, aharness can affect movement.
I think anything that we put onour dog can affect movement,
but what we want to do isminimize the effect that that
has on the dog's movement.
Um, and I think a harness, um,that doesn't impact the front
leg, being free to move, isreally important.
Um, well, fitting as well.
Sometimes they can be quitebaggy or they can be too far
back.
Um, it's also really important.
(10:24):
It's, um, it needs to be.
I want to say snug, but I don'tmean tight, I mean snug.
It needs to be to the body, itdoesn't want to be slipping
around from side to side.
And I mean the harness that wetalked about.
I just think they're quite goodbecause you can actually pick
and choose each individual bitto fit the individual dog or
have one made.
I mean both of my two actuallyhave ones that are specifically
(10:45):
made for them.
They are bespoke, so they onlyfit them, they don't fit anybody
else.
They are bespoke, so they onlyfit them, they don't fit anybody
else.
But I just think harnesses arereally important because then
you reduce the sort of pressurearound the neck on all the other
structures around that area aswell.
But even having a harness ondoesn't mean that the dog can
then pull, so it's reallyimportant that they can move in
(11:06):
balance as well.
You know, I do my best to makesure that, even though I've got
a harness on that, actually whenI'm walking backwards and
forwards I want her focusing onme and not going and pulling
into the harness and a harnesswon't stop a dog from pulling,
that's not.
Lauren Langman (11:17):
It's a really interesting point because, um,
one of my observations withskittle is, as much as I can
teach great lead walking and shelikes to pull in a harness, so
she really does.
So one of the things I've hadto do is really work on balance
walking.
I wouldn't say it, the weirdtrain away, the trainers that
say they balance things, it'snot, that's not.
I mean, I've been walking, andwhere she's not pulling and
effectively she can, you can seea walk in a trot gate.
Often you can't see a walk in atrot gate from her.
(11:37):
She still only has like acanter or a strong pull, um, or
a hop on the spot, um, kangaroostyle, um.
And so I've actually used uh,rightly or wrongly, I've used
the front clip and I've alsoused the head collar, but she
will still try and toe into itif she can.
So it's definitely something weneed continued work on and it's
something I actually think sheneeds schooling on.
I think she's an animal thatneeds schooling on how to walk
continually, and some of youmight be shocked because you're
listening like it's atwo-year-old dog.
(11:57):
I've got nell, who's aone-year-old dog who's never
been taught to walk on a leadwho walks perfectly on a collar,
and I have yanks and pulls andsome dogs have it in them to toe
and they would like to toe.
So, um, give us some of yourthoughts on that, mel, anything
you do to help or anything you'dobserve and I definitely know
(12:18):
I'm working on this and it'ssomething I've really observed
just because she's on a harnessdoesn't mean she's like not
still running on two legs andher back is not part of the
world and her front legs, likeshe's all front-ended, and so I
do have to constantly like checkmyself not to just keep walking
and be towed by her becauseshe's strong and toes, yeah.
Mel Doyle (12:33):
I think it is being mindful, like you say there.
You know it's being mindful tothe whole sort of process, um
and um.
The other thing we've talkedabout we've done a lot with
brave, you know.
Bring brave into the equationof using a balance, a lead, to
help balance her movement, tohelp walk her as best we can get
her to walk, without herwanting to just go and chicken
watch and um go up the drivewayas quick as she can, but to move
(12:55):
her.
And what you say about balanceis moving her in balance and
moving any of them in balance sothat they are equally loading
each leg as they should inwhatever gate they happen to be
in um, without actuallyoverloading other structures
like that thoracic sling ofmuscle.
You know, because anytimethey're pulling all the muscular
structures around the frontlegs and chest they are
overworking and they're notdesigned although they can,
(13:16):
they're not designed to to pullthey um and they can very easily
become too tight and overloaded, which is a lot of the time.
What we have with brave is sheuses that end a lot to help her
move herself around because ofher other little difficulties.
But other dogs, like skittles,just want to get there as quick
as possible and that's thequickest way.
So you know it's still abalance.
I've got a little chihuahuawho's been coming to me because
she's had luxating patella, um,and that just wants to pull down
(13:38):
the road as well.
So it's not sort of breedspecific or sport specific, I
think it's any dog, you know.
And I think sort of teachingour dogs to walk on a lead
without those things isn't goingto be controlled by a gadget.
It's what we put into it aswell, and but things like head
collars and harnesses and how weuse the lead can help us get to
the places we want to with themand manage them, because
(13:59):
although, like you have a headcollar on skittles, you don't
walk along with her pulling intoit so hard that her neck's at
90 degrees so that she's stillwanting to go far as forward, um
, it's just an aid to helpmanage her, to get her to walk
better than what she was doing,so that sort of makes sense.
Lauren Langman (14:13):
Your stroking of the lead, for example.
The stroking of the lead worksvery well with her.
At the same time, you'rechanging tactics all the time
because if you don't, she'spicked up that one and she's
moved on.
She's now climbing the lead orshe's.
I've not had many dogs thatchallenge me as much as much as
I love her.
She's a big challenge really,like there's a lot of dog in a
in a small package, um, whereasI've had much bigger dogs and
much heavier dogs that are mucheasier to to live with and own
(14:35):
um or be owned by, because theydon't necessarily have the same
mental space that she does.
Her headspace is.
I'm a winner and I'm gonna dunkanyone in my way.
And if you just don't put herin with other dogs, I've learned
, and because she she would dunkanyone if she can she'll put
them under, like she's just in ahurry to get there, like she
doesn't care who's in her way,um, and I mean, we all know
people like that.
Um, but they're gonna get thereanyway, like whatever comes in
their way.
They're still like sonic thehedgehog and leaping and
(14:56):
catching the hoops on the way.
Uh, she's caught all the hoopsand she's leaping and she's got
them all and she doesn't carewho's like.
Put a head collar on herharness on her and the shiny kit
some people even glitter them.
Um, but the biggest thing isactually, we still need to
rehearse that skill and we needto rehearse that skill correctly
.
Yeah, yeah, big, really big.
(15:19):
Now a couple of other things.
You talked on mel, and I don'twant to go into nutrition too
much here because obviously thisis just what you do or what I
do.
We're not nutritionists, we'renot qualified as nutritionists,
not what preaching on, but justgive us a couple of examples of
things you might consideryourself, so things that you do
that we can listen to so justfor example, really so I want to
whether it be a day where I'vedone like a high level of
training.
Mel Doyle (15:38):
so like, let's say, the wednesday or thursday.
If I'm not competing on asaturday, um, that evening I
will give some high, some sortof high protein chew or kong or
something, but something reallyhigh protein to help her body
recover from what she's beendoing that day and that I do
without fail, and she gets thaton a show as well.
(15:59):
So like, on a Saturday nightshe will get that, and a Sunday
night she will get that as well.
And that, I think, is reallyimportant because we just
whatever, whatever fuel we use,it's got to fuel the body to
repair itself.
Not only fuel it for what wewant it to do, but also for
repair is massive and protein isgoing to be the biggest source.
Lauren Langman (16:17):
I completely agree, and mine would get their
filled kongs, they get theirfilled bones, they get them
filled with with great qualityprotein and obviously the
supplement things like shroomand things like prime and things
like flexi that I know havereally great um ingredients
there to support and um almostfor me, charge that um.
But I agree completely.
I always want to make surethey've got the right things and
fresh when they're drinkingafterwards and and, like you
said, the right chews or theright um high energy snack
(16:40):
effectively as well.
So even within my treats andwhat I'm giving them, uh, in
between working, I make surethat I wouldn't feed.
For example, there's certainbrands I wouldn't feed
supermarket brands, so I'm notlooking to give them things like
that.
I don't want to be giving themfiller, I want to be giving them
something.
Mel Doyle (16:52):
That's that's what I mean, yeah, so good, high
quality protein, whatever sourcethat happens to be.
It could be a collagen chew, itcould be, um, you know, some
meat-based product in theevening.
It could be, like you say,meat-based product through the
day.
But again, again, we need to becareful balancing that out,
because we don't want too muchfood in the stomach for running,
yeah, so we do have to bemindful of all of that.
(17:13):
We can't just go and have loadsof treats because I need to
fill you up with high qualityprotein for you to repair if
you're going to go and sprintaround an agility circuit.
Lauren Langman (17:21):
Um, because we, that is something that wouldn't
be very good at all I know thisis a controversial question, but
do you feed your dogs a lot inthe morning of a competition, or
how do you feed your dogs, oris everything completely normal
and the um, they well, ifthey're competing, they'll get a
very small, very small amountin the morning, just something
just to start the day off.
Mel Doyle (17:39):
And then, um, my spaniel does get she.
I, I give her sort of um it's afull meat pate and that's what
she gets, the sort of herrewards, and going to and from
the ring they're very small bitsand I use that in my warm-up as
well and my cool down um, but Igive a very small amount in the
morning and I know that otherpeople have different thoughts
and that's whatever.
But I give something smallbecause I don't want too much in
her stomach, because I knowshe's going to get some more
(17:59):
through through the day exactlythe same.
Lauren Langman (18:01):
So we use a high protein pate.
It's on the canine site andit's on the absolute dog site
and you can get hold of themreally nice high protein pates.
I use different flavors, as indifferent protein sources deer,
ostrich, lamb, goats, um, turkeyvenison, that type of um
protein and mine get thatthroughout the day.
But again, I realized quitequickly with a greedy dog like
she the other day she's greedy,like she'll eat everything I
give.
She's greedy, um, she's hungry,like not hungry, but just
(18:24):
greedy.
She'll eat whatever.
And but, similar to you, I'lldo something little in the
morning.
It might be a raw egg or itmight be um, some of their
normal food or some of thedinner or a small amount, and I
do like the idea of lining theirtummy, but I don't like the
idea of filling them when I knowI'm going to be using food
throughout the day of acompetition day as well.
So I'm always going to useenough food throughout the day
and I know that's againcontroversial one, but I think
it's worth just saying what wedo.
Mel Doyle (18:42):
We're not recommending that we're just
saying yeah, we do um and that'show we do it, and I think what
I'm saying as well is, for meit's um, it's not that I'm just
going, oh, I don't know, let'sjust do this.
This is what.
This is my reason for doing.
(19:02):
It's the same with my physiowork, you know.
It's like anything we've talkedabout, like right, I want you
to try and do this.
The reason for it is x, y and z, because for me, what's the
point of doing something if wedon't know why we're doing it?
We need to know why we're doingit.
We need to know the end resultthat we're trying to get to, um,
otherwise, what?
What's, what's the purpose ofdoing it?
So, and I've got such a sciencebackground that everything for
me has got to have a reason whyI'm doing it.
I don't just like, oh, I justfancy doing that today.
(19:24):
Let's find out why and whatwe're doing, you know.
And so for me, it's for anybodywho, who you know, said
anything.
I quite often, so many times,get questions at shows.
I did this weekend, um, someonesaid, oh, mel's a physio, and
I'm like oh, can I ask you aquestion?
I'm like, you know, um, I, andI say I'm not.
You know, I'm not commenting onwhat anybody else does.
But if you've got any, ask why?
Because anybody would be happyto share their, their clinical
(19:46):
reasoning with.
Why, if they're science-based.
You know, and that's why I dothe things I do, because there's
sort of a reason behind it.
I don't.
I'm not one for following fadsas well.
So if you know, just because Isee somebody else doing it
doesn't mean so I'm going tofollow and do it.
I might go I wonder why they'redoing that and reason out why.
And if I can't see a reason why, then I wouldn't just do it
because I saw somebody who's atthe top of their game doing it.
Um, I would be wanting to knowwhy.
(20:07):
And I think why is a reallygood question to ask, whatever
we're in really.
Lauren Langman (20:10):
And anyone who doesn't like your.
Why I always say I think, it'soften just a self-confidence or
they don't.
They don't actually have thebacking, and I don't say that in
a critical way.
I always encourage questions.
I think questions are,questions are a good thing.
And one more question swimmingversus treadmill, because I know
that I've often got the optionof both.
I know that some people willhave the access to both and I
know that since I've known you,I've used the treadmill way more
than I probably used to, and westill have times when I mean
(20:37):
the swimming just feels so fun,um, but actually um, you've got
some fairly um again good, goodreasoning behind what you've
suggested and I definitelywholeheartedly understand and
and go with that really and tellus a little bit about that, mel
um, I mean they both have theirplace.
Mel Doyle (20:47):
I mean it's like anything, it's you know, it
doesn't matter really what it isyou're using, it's why you're
using it and what you're tryingto achieve by it.
And I know sort of ourdiscussions have evolved around
um, the high energy dogs thatjust want to go from a to b as
quick as possible and not reallyconsidering their movement so
in the pool you have a lot lessability to control that.
So there's no end of range inthe pool, so the dog's legs can
(21:08):
go in whatever direction theywant them to go if they're not
being managed by somebody youknow as a therapist, for example
, so they're just doing hisactivity.
Now that's.
That's okay if they're quite um, efficient and considered in
their movement in the pool.
So, but if you've got a dogthat's high energy and just
wants to go and go from a to bas quick as possible, they're
not going to consider howthey're moving in the pool.
And if they've got any littleunderlying issues, those can
(21:30):
easily be enhanced by a quickmovement, because they've turned
or they want to chase something, or you know, oh, there's
somebody gone down there for x,y and z, if they're um, you know
with other dogs in the pools.
I know sometimes you havemultiple in there.
So I you know, I don't thinkany.
Neither is bad, but I think theone advantage the treadmill has
is we are got a lot morecontrol over what happens in it.
(21:51):
We can control the speed, wecan control the water depth, we
can control the temperature.
We can control the speed, wecan control the water depth, we
can control the temperature.
We can control so many morethings about how the dogs are
moving.
So that's the only reason why.
But the pool is fine, butsomething that's high energy and
we just need to be careful morecareful, I think, in the pool
than the treadmill, becausethere's a lot more room for
(22:12):
error.
Lauren Langman (22:12):
I would like to say that we can't always control
, whereas we can control a lotmore things in the treadmill and
then my last one how muchdowntime now would you give a
dog like finishing a season, sosay they finish, not a hormonal
season, so say the dogs finishcompeting in, say october?
Um, would you give like a month, two months, a week, three
weeks, like, how much likeagility downtime do you give a
(22:33):
dog if you've got like the bestchoice in the world, the best
range, no big performance comingup, or what would be your sort
of?
Because I think there's a needfor us to sometimes do agility,
like I really want to do it, butI also go, I really need to
book a holiday so I'll just givemy dogs a good break because if
not, I think we can easily keeptraining.
So is there like a period ofyou go actually rest wise.
This dog needs two weeks, threeweeks, four weeks, five weeks,
six weeks, two months, likewhat's what's right right.
Mel Doyle (22:53):
I mean for me I I do get, I give a whole month off
and I try and time it dependingon what else I've got going on.
Um, so, for example, phoenixhad all of January off because I
wanted to give her January off.
And then I'm looking at at 12weeks, build up to sort of her
being at her best.
You need to sort of think abouta program of about 12 weeks and
then they'll be at their peakfor sort of two to three weeks.
So I wanted her to try and beat her peak for the novice
(23:14):
qualifiers.
Um, that was what I aimed for.
Now, obviously, unfortunatelyit didn't quite work for me.
I had two poles down damn thosepoles which don't normally
happen she had.
No, I can't.
I think I count on one hand howmany poles this dog has down in
a year.
Lauren Langman (23:27):
She's only been competing a year, probably not
used to undulating sand indifferent spaces and it was
particularly hard surface towork on right yeah, and I I
looking at the video andanalyzing it.
Mel Doyle (23:37):
The two that she had down, I think, were where the
previous dogs, which were largedogs that run around and they
dug up the surface.
It was slightly deeper, it wasundulating and she's not used to
that.
Lauren Langman (23:45):
I think we had the same pole I think one of the
poles was the same, yeah,similar area at least.
Um, they're not used to it.
They're not used to the ground.
They're not used to working onsand like that.
They're not used to working onundulating sand.
They're not used to working ondeep sand like that.
Mel Doyle (23:57):
Yeah, um and and now she'll probably.
I will just tone things downnow because for her the next
sort of big thing will be theend of june.
So I'm not gonna, I won't stopdoing anything because I don't
want to, I don't want to giveher like a month off, like I
gave her in january, because Idon't want to lose everything
that I built up until that point.
But I will sort of take it downa notch now for her so that in
June and July we start to peakup again you'll always give her
(24:18):
a tick over, so she gets a tickover.
Lauren Langman (24:20):
Um, and if you had the choice, so you had
longer than a month that youcould give a dog off.
Do you think longer, or do youthink a month really is enough?
Mel Doyle (24:25):
and then, I think a month is plenty.
I think a month is plenty.
But I wouldn't also like stopdoing all the fitness exercises
and things we're doing.
Those would still be in place.
It would just be the agilitytraining that would and like the
sprint training and the hardersort of, you know, high
intensity, things would justdrop off, but everything else
would stay in place.
Because I don't want her to umbecome at a point where I've
literally got to start like wedid in August, basically with
(24:47):
skittles.
I don't want to go to thatpoint.
I don't want to get to thepoint where I've got to spend,
you know, quite a period of timebuilding muscle back up again
and then start in skillstraining and then start in
everything else.
But I will just tailor it downa little bit and I think a month
is just enough time foreverything to just um decompress
, but continue those things andthen I'll build back up again um
, great sounds, absolutelyperfect.
Lauren Langman (25:06):
So give them a month and, equally, where
there's time within acompetition season to tick them
over, take them over rather thanpush them hard.
So if you've got a few weekswhere the qualifiers maybe
aren't coming so thick and fastand let them tone down a little
and go from there.
Mel, it's been epic.
It's dark with you now, so it'slike dark with you and it's
gone, I know.
Mel Doyle (25:22):
I just realised I haven't got a light on and I'm
like trying to keep the glow ofmy laptop on my face, so you can
still see me, you're in pitchblack mode.
Lauren Langman (25:26):
Thank you so much for joining us.
I don't think it fun.
Loads of fantastic informationfor people.
I really hope it helps um dogsand me too, all over, and I
appreciate all of your expertiseand all of your time.
Thank you for joining us.
You're welcome.
Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel
podcast.
I'm Lauren Langman.
I'm one of the world's leadingdog trainers and it's my mission
to help owners become theirdog's top priority.
In each episode, you'lldiscover how to gain trust and
communicate with your dog likenever before, creating
unbreakable bonds that make youthe most exciting part of their
world.
Introduction to Part II (00:29):
If you caught part one of this
conversation with Lauren and Mel, you already know they dove
deep into what recovery reallylooks like for our dogs after a
competition weekend.
So for this second part, Laurenis once again joined by the
brilliant Mel Doyle, smallanimal physio, rehab expert and
her personal go-to when it comesto keeping her dogs fit and
(00:50):
thriving.
Whether you're a weekendwarrior or a professional
handler, juggling multiple dogsand endless events, this episode
will help you rethink, resetand rebuild your training
schedule with purpose.
Mel Doyle (01:05):
Let's go ahead and dive into part two with Mel and
using those all the differentsize but solid-based platforms
to create what we want to create.
Whether we're sort of loadingthe back end more, whether we're
loading the front end more,whether we're creating like a
balanced, even surface, whetherwe've got individual paws that
are targeted Again, I don'tthink I mean you might correct
me, but I don't think Jamie usesthe pawpaws anymore- Very
rarely, very rarely.
(01:26):
And again.
But you've got those individualtargets and look at what I mean
.
You have to say Skittle's bodyshape, her physique is amazing,
100% different.
Lauren Langman (01:38):
Yeah, 100% changed as well.
So it has changed completely.
So she's lean, but muscly leanas well, so has changed
completely.
So she's she's lean, but musclylean.
So, um, but her body changes.
But her body, and you're right,it has been since august last
year where you put hands on youlike we need more muscle here,
we need to recruit better musclehere, because if not, this
won't last yeah, and without themuscle she would because of the
brain that she had.
Mel Doyle (01:59):
Without having the body to back up the brain, she
would have very easily hurtherself because the body wasn't
there to support what her brainwanted to do.
Lauren Langman (02:05):
Yeah, yeah so it makes makes complete sense.
So I'm looking at this week,mel yep, and I'm now thinking
hard um, if you were going tofit in the treadmill session
with those dogs and they'recompeting again now, let's say,
skittle obviously isn't.
She's competing on sunday, butthe other dogs are competing on
saturday.
Where are you going to fit atreadmill session in?
Where's the best day to do that?
Mel Doyle (02:26):
so then you have to re-look at what you want to do
on the Wednesday really, becauseWednesday again is probably the
day the last day to do it ifyou could do it on the Tuesday,
but then you affect what you do.
Wednesday, thursday yeah, yeahso you know it's, you know it
might be.
And again, sprint work doesn'tnecessarily have to be included
within every week, you know.
So we I know we're talkingabout a week here, but in a way
you could talk about a month andgo right, well, this, this week
(02:47):
, we're going to do some sprintwork and we're not going to do
that this week, we're going todo this but we're not going to
do that.
So although we've got this sortof like collection of things we
want to include, we don'tnecessarily include them every
week.
You know, like we're talkingabout.
I say right, if I week when I'mnot competing, I will do um,
and everything would be.
An ideal world would be lovelyto do everything every week, but
(03:08):
we can't fit it all in and it'slike.
Lauren Langman (03:11):
It is like life, isn't it?
There's so many things you wantto do.
There's part of me that nextweek is, um, a school holiday.
Part of me wants to go abroad.
Part of me wants to enjoy thehorses here.
Part of me wants to train thedogs all week.
Part of me wants to goexploring the local area.
Part of me wants to go in acamper van for a week.
I want to do it all right, andit's about what you can fit in
and and what you can't fit in,and then um, and then life as
well, and doing life too.
So, potentially, the treadmillsession on like the wednesday
(03:33):
yeah, potentially, or thetuesday is better.
Mel Doyle (03:35):
You're saying yeah, or the, or the third.
Well, if you do it on thetuesday, you then affect what
you can do on the wednesday.
So you then would limit howmuch, because you wouldn't be
able to do the agility trainingthat you wanted to do on the
wednesday um, so you couldn't dolike the fast dog walk, you
know the fast, really high, morehigh, so higher intensity um
exercises.
Lauren Langman (03:51):
If you did a treadmill session on the tuesday
, really, the treadmill could bethe end of your wednesday
session, so you could do yesyeah, and that you know,
definitely sort of include thosethings at the end of the day.
Mel Doyle (04:00):
So your professional inputs, if you can, so if you
can timetable, you know you seethem at four o'clock, then see
them at four o'clock, then thatgives you all the rest of the
day to do all the other things.
But target them in the rightway.
So be something like you knowdo.
Maybe you want to do a littlebit of training, um, or you
would do treadmill in themorning on the thursday before a
professional on the thursdayafternoon.
For those dogs that are onlydoing work on the sunday, but
those that are doing saturday,you might treadmill them on the
(04:21):
Wednesday.
So each dog might have adifferent plan for the week.
It might not be every dog doesexactly the same thing for each
day of the week, um, so thenThursday potentially the
treadmill early if they'recompeting Sunday only.
Lauren Langman (04:30):
If not, they could do um land-based on the
Thursday.
Still, and yeah, like toland-based because they did the
treadmill on the.
Mel Doyle (04:36):
Wednesday, yeah, um, if for that dog, yes, that if
the dog's done the treadmill onthe Wednesday, then you can have
a lighter land based in themorning.
Um, you have a, you could havea lead walk and then you're
professional in the afternoon.
Excuse me, um, it's just reallymaking sure that if you have
something high intensity, like apool session, a treadmill
session, you've got a light daythe next day or later.
(04:59):
That you know you put it lateron in the day so that it allows
you the morning and the sort ofyou know um earlier part.
So, say, on the dogs that werehaving a treadmill session, a
professional, they could havelike a treadmill session at
lunchtime on thursday, um,professional thursday afternoon,
and then you've got all ofthursday morning that you could
do some more.
You could do some more skillstraining.
So not as high intensity aswednesday, um, so again,
thinking of this curve shape,wednesday being the peak, so
(05:21):
you'll be coming off the curve.
You know it might be.
You just want to maybe work ona couple of weave entries, but
you don't want to do 12 weaves,you just want to work on the
entry.
So you might just reward theentry or you might do put out
three poles.
I don't know whatever methodspeople use, but you know you've
got sort of flexibility there towork on some things.
But I wouldn't be doing likebig, long, hard-running
sequences on the thursdaymorning yeah, it makes complete
sense.
Lauren Langman (05:41):
And then on the Friday really it's a travel day,
so we're talking again leadwork, or lead walking in the
morning, or land base in themorning.
No more agility work becausewe're traveling that day and
that's a rest day, effectively,for them before competition.
Mel Doyle (05:55):
Again, it's sort of you're tapering down, so you
taper up at the beginning of theweek to a peak, and then you
taper down towards the weekend,towards the weekend um.
And if you aren't competing thefollowing weekend, then you're
sort of you could sort of spreadyour, your time out to be um
wednesday, thursday, friday, andthen taper down saturday,
sunday, monday, build back upagain for the following week.
Do you see what I mean?
So, um, and again, if you'vegot something like so, say,
(06:18):
we've got the next four weekendsof champ, but then the fifth
weekend there's no champ, thatwould be, I'll go right, this is
the time we're gonna have alittle bit of downtime, we're
gonna sort of come off of thathigh intensity and just let it
taper off.
And then the weekend, theweekend after, you've got
another championship show fortrying to work my head.
Yes, you would hit the axe.
Uh, no, you've got fiveweekends.
You're actually staying as well, haven't you?
So, um.
And then the weekend after ispossibly I don't know would that
(06:39):
be a, you know?
So it's building, thinkingright, I've got championship,
championship, championship.
Do I want to do all of those?
Um?
Or, for example, like you'vejust run Sheba, you've won a
champ ticket.
Yes, you want to look towardswinning three, but maybe she has
a little bit of downtime as aresult of the fact of the fact
she's just done that part of myplanning in my own dogs.
Lauren Langman (06:57):
If, say, venture won a championship, I actually
would then probably knock offchampionship for six weeks.
The reason I would do that isbecause it gives me time to
focus on the other classes, butalso she doesn't really need
another one and I think,although you like to win the
three, actually you just take alittle bit of work off because
you've already hit and achievedone of the goals.
Um, so actually, um, it's, it'sa nice way to look at it and I
definitely have that mindset.
The other thing you said whichI thought was really interesting
is um, we went to somebeautiful beaches when we were
(07:19):
in um in scotland.
You saw some beautiful beaches.
We saw some beautiful beaches.
But I had to say to my reallygood friend, amy I had to say,
amy, I can't go with you becauseVenture just will not work the
day after racing around on abeach all night.
She just will be exhausted andshe just can't handle that Wild.
I know it isn't right for her.
The only dog I could take isNell, our little sheepdog.
She would come quite happilyand run around the beach all day
and all night, but actually,and because it's a really nice
(07:40):
thing to do, isn't it whenyou're a competition?
But is it the right thing to doand what's your take on it?
Because we're not saying it'swrong or it's right for anybody
else.
What you do is what we'remodelling here or talking about
here.
So it's not right, it's notwrong, it's just what you do
(08:08):
no-transcript hours.
Mel Doyle (08:13):
It was a little bit of downtime, it's a bit of
decompression, um, for all of us.
Um, but at the same time therewas no, there was going to be no
competition afterwards.
I wouldn't have gone on.
For me, I wouldn't have gone onfriday or saturday, because I
was competing saturday, sunday,and I want my dogs to be at the
freshest they can be.
Um, I still want them to be dogs, I still want them to enjoy
life, but at the same time Iwant to make sure that they
(08:34):
don't hurt themselves.
And if they are fatiguedbecause they've been racing
around the beach, they are morelikely to hurt themselves.
When they're doing agility,they're probably more likely to
be more tired and not be able togive me their best if they've
been running around a beach alot and beaches.
You know, it depends which partof the beach you're on as well.
The sand can be really deep andreally hard to move through,
and right along the waterline itcan be quite compact and quite
(08:55):
nice.
Um, it depends whether you'vegot a dog that's wanting to go
in and out the water or whetherthey're just happy to go along
the beach.
But for me it was a Sunday trip.
It wasn't a um, it wasn't aFriday or a.
Lauren Langman (09:04):
Saturday trip.
Yeah, no, brilliant, I think,really interesting.
And then another question foryou, sort of based on that um
and it kind of links, but itkind of doesn't.
Often, me and you will bothhave our dogs on lead for a
period and then off lead so theydon't go straight off lead.
But you've really converted meto harnesses, but not just any
harness, a well-fitted harnessand the type of harness and the
double clips and everything else.
I know again another thing myshe's a lovely friend, but I nag
(09:25):
and it's harnesses now, becauseI see the damage on the neck um
, what's your take on that?
And I now, once I've seen it, Ihave a real problem, but I
can't unsee it.
And then I have this thing Ihave to say it, um, because I
can't just not say it, becausethis is um, and so I have to say
it.
I have to verbalize how I feel,which is a very I don't know,
maybe it's my age or stage or Idon't know.
Whatever, there's a reason Ihave to say it, um.
And so I have to say that um,oh, my god, where's the harness?
(09:46):
Grab a harness on.
She's a harness on, like,because I can see the type thing
and it's the same as in arestrain if you're restraining
dogs and you can see the likecut off the throat movement and
what are your?
thoughts.
What are your thoughts intreating dogs, in seeing dogs as
a, as a physio, as aprofessional in the in the field
?
What are your thoughts on that?
Mel Doyle (10:02):
I mean there are sort of a lot of thoughts about it
and a lot of people say, well, aharness can affect movement.
I think anything that we put onour dog can affect movement,
but what we want to do isminimize the effect that that
has on the dog's movement.
Um, and I think a harness, um,that doesn't impact the front
leg, being free to move, isreally important.
Um, well, fitting as well.
Sometimes they can be quitebaggy or they can be too far
back.
Um, it's also really important.
(10:24):
It's, um, it needs to be.
I want to say snug, but I don'tmean tight, I mean snug.
It needs to be to the body, itdoesn't want to be slipping
around from side to side.
And I mean the harness that wetalked about.
I just think they're quite goodbecause you can actually pick
and choose each individual bitto fit the individual dog or
have one made.
I mean both of my two actuallyhave ones that are specifically
(10:45):
made for them.
They are bespoke, so they onlyfit them, they don't fit anybody
else.
They are bespoke, so they onlyfit them, they don't fit anybody
else.
But I just think harnesses arereally important because then
you reduce the sort of pressurearound the neck on all the other
structures around that area aswell.
But even having a harness ondoesn't mean that the dog can
then pull, so it's reallyimportant that they can move in
(11:06):
balance as well.
You know, I do my best to makesure that, even though I've got
a harness on that, actually whenI'm walking backwards and
forwards I want her focusing onme and not going and pulling
into the harness and a harnesswon't stop a dog from pulling,
that's not.
Lauren Langman (11:17):
It's a really interesting point because, um,
one of my observations withskittle is, as much as I can
teach great lead walking and shelikes to pull in a harness, so
she really does.
So one of the things I've hadto do is really work on balance
walking.
I wouldn't say it, the weirdtrain away, the trainers that
say they balance things, it'snot, that's not.
I mean, I've been walking, andwhere she's not pulling and
effectively she can, you can seea walk in a trot gate.
Often you can't see a walk in atrot gate from her.
(11:37):
She still only has like acanter or a strong pull, um, or
a hop on the spot, um, kangaroostyle, um.
And so I've actually used uh,rightly or wrongly, I've used
the front clip and I've alsoused the head collar, but she
will still try and toe into itif she can.
So it's definitely something weneed continued work on and it's
something I actually think sheneeds schooling on.
I think she's an animal thatneeds schooling on how to walk
continually, and some of youmight be shocked because you're
listening like it's atwo-year-old dog.
(11:57):
I've got nell, who's aone-year-old dog who's never
been taught to walk on a leadwho walks perfectly on a collar,
and I have yanks and pulls andsome dogs have it in them to toe
and they would like to toe.
So, um, give us some of yourthoughts on that, mel, anything
you do to help or anything you'dobserve and I definitely know
(12:18):
I'm working on this and it'ssomething I've really observed
just because she's on a harnessdoesn't mean she's like not
still running on two legs andher back is not part of the
world and her front legs, likeshe's all front-ended, and so I
do have to constantly like checkmyself not to just keep walking
and be towed by her becauseshe's strong and toes, yeah.
Mel Doyle (12:33):
I think it is being mindful, like you say there.
You know it's being mindful tothe whole sort of process, um
and um.
The other thing we've talkedabout we've done a lot with
brave, you know.
Bring brave into the equationof using a balance, a lead, to
help balance her movement, tohelp walk her as best we can get
her to walk, without herwanting to just go and chicken
watch and um go up the drivewayas quick as she can, but to move
(12:55):
her.
And what you say about balanceis moving her in balance and
moving any of them in balance sothat they are equally loading
each leg as they should inwhatever gate they happen to be
in um, without actuallyoverloading other structures
like that thoracic sling ofmuscle.
You know, because anytimethey're pulling all the muscular
structures around the frontlegs and chest they are
overworking and they're notdesigned although they can,
(13:16):
they're not designed to to pullthey um and they can very easily
become too tight and overloaded, which is a lot of the time.
What we have with brave is sheuses that end a lot to help her
move herself around because ofher other little difficulties.
But other dogs, like skittles,just want to get there as quick
as possible and that's thequickest way.
So you know it's still abalance.
I've got a little chihuahuawho's been coming to me because
she's had luxating patella, um,and that just wants to pull down
(13:38):
the road as well.
So it's not sort of breedspecific or sport specific, I
think it's any dog, you know.
And I think sort of teachingour dogs to walk on a lead
without those things isn't goingto be controlled by a gadget.
It's what we put into it aswell, and but things like head
collars and harnesses and how weuse the lead can help us get to
the places we want to with themand manage them, because
(13:59):
although, like you have a headcollar on skittles, you don't
walk along with her pulling intoit so hard that her neck's at
90 degrees so that she's stillwanting to go far as forward, um
, it's just an aid to helpmanage her, to get her to walk
better than what she was doing,so that sort of makes sense.
Lauren Langman (14:13):
Your stroking of the lead, for example.
The stroking of the lead worksvery well with her.
At the same time, you'rechanging tactics all the time
because if you don't, she'spicked up that one and she's
moved on.
She's now climbing the lead orshe's.
I've not had many dogs thatchallenge me as much as much as
I love her.
She's a big challenge really,like there's a lot of dog in a
in a small package, um, whereasI've had much bigger dogs and
much heavier dogs that are mucheasier to to live with and own
(14:35):
um or be owned by, because theydon't necessarily have the same
mental space that she does.
Her headspace is.
I'm a winner and I'm gonna dunkanyone in my way.
And if you just don't put herin with other dogs, I've learned
, and because she she would dunkanyone if she can she'll put
them under, like she's just in ahurry to get there, like she
doesn't care who's in her way,um, and I mean, we all know
people like that.
Um, but they're gonna get thereanyway, like whatever comes in
their way.
They're still like sonic thehedgehog and leaping and
(14:56):
catching the hoops on the way.
Uh, she's caught all the hoopsand she's leaping and she's got
them all and she doesn't carewho's like.
Put a head collar on herharness on her and the shiny kit
some people even glitter them.
Um, but the biggest thing isactually, we still need to
rehearse that skill and we needto rehearse that skill correctly
.
Yeah, yeah, big, really big.
(15:19):
Now a couple of other things.
You talked on mel, and I don'twant to go into nutrition too
much here because obviously thisis just what you do or what I
do.
We're not nutritionists, we'renot qualified as nutritionists,
not what preaching on, but justgive us a couple of examples of
things you might consideryourself, so things that you do
that we can listen to so justfor example, really so I want to
whether it be a day where I'vedone like a high level of
training.
Mel Doyle (15:38):
so like, let's say, the wednesday or thursday.
If I'm not competing on asaturday, um, that evening I
will give some high, some sortof high protein chew or kong or
something, but something reallyhigh protein to help her body
recover from what she's beendoing that day and that I do
without fail, and she gets thaton a show as well.
(15:59):
So like, on a Saturday nightshe will get that, and a Sunday
night she will get that as well.
And that, I think, is reallyimportant because we just
whatever, whatever fuel we use,it's got to fuel the body to
repair itself.
Not only fuel it for what wewant it to do, but also for
repair is massive and protein isgoing to be the biggest source.
Lauren Langman (16:17):
I completely agree, and mine would get their
filled kongs, they get theirfilled bones, they get them
filled with with great qualityprotein and obviously the
supplement things like shroomand things like prime and things
like flexi that I know havereally great um ingredients
there to support and um almostfor me, charge that um.
But I agree completely.
I always want to make surethey've got the right things and
fresh when they're drinkingafterwards and and, like you
said, the right chews or theright um high energy snack
(16:40):
effectively as well.
So even within my treats andwhat I'm giving them, uh, in
between working, I make surethat I wouldn't feed.
For example, there's certainbrands I wouldn't feed
supermarket brands, so I'm notlooking to give them things like
that.
I don't want to be giving themfiller, I want to be giving them
something.
Mel Doyle (16:52):
That's that's what I mean, yeah, so good, high
quality protein, whatever sourcethat happens to be.
It could be a collagen chew, itcould be, um, you know, some
meat-based product in theevening.
It could be, like you say,meat-based product through the
day.
But again, again, we need to becareful balancing that out,
because we don't want too muchfood in the stomach for running,
yeah, so we do have to bemindful of all of that.
(17:13):
We can't just go and have loadsof treats because I need to
fill you up with high qualityprotein for you to repair if
you're going to go and sprintaround an agility circuit.
Lauren Langman (17:21):
Um, because we, that is something that wouldn't
be very good at all I know thisis a controversial question, but
do you feed your dogs a lot inthe morning of a competition, or
how do you feed your dogs, oris everything completely normal
and the um, they well, ifthey're competing, they'll get a
very small, very small amountin the morning, just something
just to start the day off.
Mel Doyle (17:39):
And then, um, my spaniel does get she.
I, I give her sort of um it's afull meat pate and that's what
she gets, the sort of herrewards, and going to and from
the ring they're very small bitsand I use that in my warm-up as
well and my cool down um, but Igive a very small amount in the
morning and I know that otherpeople have different thoughts
and that's whatever.
But I give something smallbecause I don't want too much in
her stomach, because I knowshe's going to get some more
(17:59):
through through the day exactlythe same.
Lauren Langman (18:01):
So we use a high protein pate.
It's on the canine site andit's on the absolute dog site
and you can get hold of themreally nice high protein pates.
I use different flavors, as indifferent protein sources deer,
ostrich, lamb, goats, um, turkeyvenison, that type of um
protein and mine get thatthroughout the day.
But again, I realized quitequickly with a greedy dog like
she the other day she's greedy,like she'll eat everything I
give.
She's greedy, um, she's hungry,like not hungry, but just
(18:24):
greedy.
She'll eat whatever.
And but, similar to you, I'lldo something little in the
morning.
It might be a raw egg or itmight be um, some of their
normal food or some of thedinner or a small amount, and I
do like the idea of lining theirtummy, but I don't like the
idea of filling them when I knowI'm going to be using food
throughout the day of acompetition day as well.
So I'm always going to useenough food throughout the day
and I know that's againcontroversial one, but I think
it's worth just saying what wedo.
Mel Doyle (18:42):
We're not recommending that we're just
saying yeah, we do um and that'show we do it, and I think what
I'm saying as well is, for meit's um, it's not that I'm just
going, oh, I don't know, let'sjust do this.
This is what.
This is my reason for doing.
(19:02):
It's the same with my physiowork, you know.
It's like anything we've talkedabout, like right, I want you
to try and do this.
The reason for it is x, y and z, because for me, what's the
point of doing something if wedon't know why we're doing it?
We need to know why we're doingit.
We need to know the end resultthat we're trying to get to, um,
otherwise, what?
What's, what's the purpose ofdoing it?
So, and I've got such a sciencebackground that everything for
me has got to have a reason whyI'm doing it.
I don't just like, oh, I justfancy doing that today.
(19:24):
Let's find out why and whatwe're doing, you know.
And so for me, it's for anybodywho, who you know, said
anything.
I quite often, so many times,get questions at shows.
I did this weekend, um, someonesaid, oh, mel's a physio, and
I'm like oh, can I ask you aquestion?
I'm like, you know, um, I, andI say I'm not.
You know, I'm not commenting onwhat anybody else does.
But if you've got any, ask why?
Because anybody would be happyto share their, their clinical
(19:46):
reasoning with.
Why, if they're science-based.
You know, and that's why I dothe things I do, because there's
sort of a reason behind it.
I don't.
I'm not one for following fadsas well.
So if you know, just because Isee somebody else doing it
doesn't mean so I'm going tofollow and do it.
I might go I wonder why they'redoing that and reason out why.
And if I can't see a reason why, then I wouldn't just do it
because I saw somebody who's atthe top of their game doing it.
Um, I would be wanting to knowwhy.
(20:07):
And I think why is a reallygood question to ask, whatever
we're in really.
Lauren Langman (20:10):
And anyone who doesn't like your.
Why I always say I think, it'soften just a self-confidence or
they don't.
They don't actually have thebacking, and I don't say that in
a critical way.
I always encourage questions.
I think questions are,questions are a good thing.
And one more question swimmingversus treadmill, because I know
that I've often got the optionof both.
I know that some people willhave the access to both and I
know that since I've known you,I've used the treadmill way more
than I probably used to, and westill have times when I mean
(20:37):
the swimming just feels so fun,um, but actually um, you've got
some fairly um again good, goodreasoning behind what you've
suggested and I definitelywholeheartedly understand and
and go with that really and tellus a little bit about that, mel
um, I mean they both have theirplace.
Mel Doyle (20:47):
I mean it's like anything, it's you know, it
doesn't matter really what it isyou're using, it's why you're
using it and what you're tryingto achieve by it.
And I know sort of ourdiscussions have evolved around
um, the high energy dogs thatjust want to go from a to b as
quick as possible and not reallyconsidering their movement so
in the pool you have a lot lessability to control that.
So there's no end of range inthe pool, so the dog's legs can
(21:08):
go in whatever direction theywant them to go if they're not
being managed by somebody youknow as a therapist, for example
, so they're just doing hisactivity.
Now that's.
That's okay if they're quite um, efficient and considered in
their movement in the pool.
So, but if you've got a dogthat's high energy and just
wants to go and go from a to bas quick as possible, they're
not going to consider howthey're moving in the pool.
And if they've got any littleunderlying issues, those can
(21:30):
easily be enhanced by a quickmovement, because they've turned
or they want to chase something, or you know, oh, there's
somebody gone down there for x,y and z, if they're um, you know
with other dogs in the pools.
I know sometimes you havemultiple in there.
So I you know, I don't thinkany.
Neither is bad, but I think theone advantage the treadmill has
is we are got a lot morecontrol over what happens in it.
(21:51):
We can control the speed, wecan control the water depth, we
can control the temperature.
We can control the speed, wecan control the water depth, we
can control the temperature.
We can control so many morethings about how the dogs are
moving.
So that's the only reason why.
But the pool is fine, butsomething that's high energy and
we just need to be careful morecareful, I think, in the pool
than the treadmill, becausethere's a lot more room for
(22:12):
error.
Lauren Langman (22:12):
I would like to say that we can't always control
, whereas we can control a lotmore things in the treadmill and
then my last one how muchdowntime now would you give a
dog like finishing a season, sosay they finish, not a hormonal
season, so say the dogs finishcompeting in, say october?
Um, would you give like a month, two months, a week, three
weeks, like, how much likeagility downtime do you give a
(22:33):
dog if you've got like the bestchoice in the world, the best
range, no big performance comingup, or what would be your sort
of?
Because I think there's a needfor us to sometimes do agility,
like I really want to do it, butI also go, I really need to
book a holiday so I'll just givemy dogs a good break because if
not, I think we can easily keeptraining.
So is there like a period ofyou go actually rest wise.
This dog needs two weeks, threeweeks, four weeks, five weeks,
six weeks, two months, likewhat's what's right right.
Mel Doyle (22:53):
I mean for me I I do get, I give a whole month off
and I try and time it dependingon what else I've got going on.
Um, so, for example, phoenixhad all of January off because I
wanted to give her January off.
And then I'm looking at at 12weeks, build up to sort of her
being at her best.
You need to sort of think abouta program of about 12 weeks and
then they'll be at their peakfor sort of two to three weeks.
So I wanted her to try and beat her peak for the novice
(23:14):
qualifiers.
Um, that was what I aimed for.
Now, obviously, unfortunatelyit didn't quite work for me.
I had two poles down damn thosepoles which don't normally
happen she had.
No, I can't.
I think I count on one hand howmany poles this dog has down in
a year.
Lauren Langman (23:27):
She's only been competing a year, probably not
used to undulating sand indifferent spaces and it was
particularly hard surface towork on right yeah, and I I
looking at the video andanalyzing it.
Mel Doyle (23:37):
The two that she had down, I think, were where the
previous dogs, which were largedogs that run around and they
dug up the surface.
It was slightly deeper, it wasundulating and she's not used to
that.
Lauren Langman (23:45):
I think we had the same pole I think one of the
poles was the same, yeah,similar area at least.
Um, they're not used to it.
They're not used to the ground.
They're not used to working onsand like that.
They're not used to working onundulating sand.
They're not used to working ondeep sand like that.
Mel Doyle (23:57):
Yeah, um and and now she'll probably.
I will just tone things downnow because for her the next
sort of big thing will be theend of june.
So I'm not gonna, I won't stopdoing anything because I don't
want to, I don't want to giveher like a month off, like I
gave her in january, because Idon't want to lose everything
that I built up until that point.
But I will sort of take it downa notch now for her so that in
June and July we start to peakup again you'll always give her
(24:18):
a tick over, so she gets a tickover.
Lauren Langman (24:20):
Um, and if you had the choice, so you had
longer than a month that youcould give a dog off.
Do you think longer, or do youthink a month really is enough?
Mel Doyle (24:25):
and then, I think a month is plenty.
I think a month is plenty.
But I wouldn't also like stopdoing all the fitness exercises
and things we're doing.
Those would still be in place.
It would just be the agilitytraining that would and like the
sprint training and the hardersort of, you know, high
intensity, things would justdrop off, but everything else
would stay in place.
Because I don't want her to umbecome at a point where I've
literally got to start like wedid in August, basically with
(24:47):
skittles.
I don't want to go to thatpoint.
I don't want to get to thepoint where I've got to spend,
you know, quite a period of timebuilding muscle back up again
and then start in skillstraining and then start in
everything else.
But I will just tailor it downa little bit and I think a month
is just enough time foreverything to just um decompress
, but continue those things andthen I'll build back up again um
, great sounds, absolutelyperfect.
Lauren Langman (25:06):
So give them a month and, equally, where
there's time within acompetition season to tick them
over, take them over rather thanpush them hard.
So if you've got a few weekswhere the qualifiers maybe
aren't coming so thick and fastand let them tone down a little
and go from there.
Mel, it's been epic.
It's dark with you now, so it'slike dark with you and it's
gone, I know.
Mel Doyle (25:22):
I just realised I haven't got a light on and I'm
like trying to keep the glow ofmy laptop on my face, so you can
still see me, you're in pitchblack mode.
Lauren Langman (25:26):
Thank you so much for joining us.
I don't think it fun.
Loads of fantastic informationfor people.
I really hope it helps um dogsand me too, all over, and I
appreciate all of your expertiseand all of your time.
Thank you for joining us.
You're welcome.
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