We are four canine therapy specialists, passionate about animal welfare and best practice in rehabilitation, conditioning and training. Having met on various courses and CPD days and worked alongside each other on cases, we decided to get together on a project close to our hearts – supporting clients with safe, effective home exercise programmes.
So, who are we? Kirsti Dix is a specialist canine rehabilitation and massage therapist. Alex Collins is a canine exercise rehabilitation and massage therapist. Kirsti and Alex run canine fitness and conditioning workshops together and also each compete their own dogs in agility. Nikki Engelbach and Katie O’Brien are veterinary physiotherapists and hydrotherapists with a specialist canine rehab clinic in West London. Our combined experience of 26 years working professionally in canine rehabilitation led us to develop Conditioning Your Canine. The aim of this project is to provide a progressive series of safe, effective exercises that can be recommended by canine specialists to support rehabilitation and/or conditioning goals for dogs of all lifestages and abilities.
Having initially developed this platform for use with our own businesses and clients, we decided to take this a step further so that other therapists could use CYC too. As therapists, we know time is often in short supply. We found using CYC to build bespoke home exercise programmes was such an efficient way to be able to do this safely and confidently in the knowledge that owners had all the information and resources they needed for them and their dog to succeed. We also found our clients were more engaged in their dog’s exercise programmes, taking on a new level of understanding of how their dog moves and greater enthusiasm to do their homework! Many have commented on how much fun it has been, how much their dogs enjoy their exercises and how it has helped to develop the bond with their dogs in a way they had not anticipated.
We each recognised the positive impact a good home exercise programme that owners were able to complete successfully, accurately and on a regular basis between appointments had on our patients’ therapy outcomes – whether that was rehabilitation from an injury or a specific conditioning programme to optimise performance and protect against injury. We wanted to share this with other therapists so they could experience the benefits for themselves, for their businesses and ultimately for their clients and canine patients.
We are so confident that you will love CYC that we offer a free full-service trial period so please do get in touch if you would like to find out more.
