Advanced treadmill tricks and transitions with Lois Lane and Robby Porter CCRP

​Treadmill Tricks is part of an exercise program that our therapist, Robert J Porter CCRP, has created and developed over the last 20 years. The program started out as a few exercises to help agility dogs recover from injury and now has become a highly complex set of actions and positions. Robby has been teaching his program for many years and it has brought him all over the world to veterinary symposiums, continuing education programs, and dog training facilities. The majority of our patients benefit from this same program as it starts out at a very basic level. Even neurologic patients that have little to no function can benefit since the exercise program is also paired with a positive reinforcement training program. Over time, the exercises continue to build in intensity and skill as the dog understands more about their body and/or as recovery progresses. 

Most of our patients that are in recovery don’t get to the level of treadmill tricks that is seen in this video. However, it gives a place to continue to challenge patients in a formal and consistent way without having to re-train or train new behaviors. This basically means that there is something more challenging and harder to do. Athletic dogs competing in agility, herding, flyball, disc, dock dog, and other sports can also benefit from this program. Most of the actions mimic real life decelerating actions but at a lower intensity. This can greatly improve performance and theoretically help prevent injury. 
In this video Robby and his Border Collie, Lois Lane, demonstrate treadmills tricks. Some may think that only “smart” dogs can perform this way, but that’s not the case at all. Robby has trained just about every breed of dog in the world with his method. Keep an eye out for future videos of patients that have benefited by his program and positive approach to therapeutic exercise. 

Want to see video before they are posted on other social media channels? Subscribe to our YouTube channel and receive notifications of new and upcoming videos.