Course Start Date 2.12.18

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Building Functional Strength For Maximum Performance

Unlike a canine conditioning program for an active companion, healthy pet or show dog, a conditioning program for a canine athlete is about maximizing physical performance. However, not all strength equates to maximizing performance for your canine athlete.

Over the past few years at The Martial ARFS we developed activities and exercises to build functional strength. Functional Strength is the ability to maximally contract any muscle, throughout its full range of motion, at multiple angles of limb placement, amid wide ranges of eccentric torque, without fear of injury. 

In order to achieve functional strength your canine conditioning  exercises must focus of 4 key areas: Strength, Stability, Flexibility,  and Connection. During this course you will learn conditioning exercises  to strengthen the forelimbs, hindlimbs and core using those 4 key  components combined with variations in body angle, limb placement, and stability platform.

This is self guided open enrollment class with discussion forums dedicated to each lesson in order to provide students direct access to the course instructor. You'll have the convenience of learning at you're own pace, while still having access to your instructor throughout the entire course.

Learn Over 30 Different Conditioning Exercises: 

  • Forelimb Exercises:
 Much of canine conditioning focuses on improving hindend awareness. Though hindend awareness is essential for performance, forelimb strength allows for controlled landing, quicker stopping and turning, improved jumping, faster running and overall shoulder integrity. 

  • Hindlimb Exercises:
 Your dog's hamstrings are the largest muscles of their hindlimbs. Exercises the build strength in the hamstring are essential for powerful athletic movement. However, the muscles that adduct and abduct the hindlimb as well as the muscles that stabilize the hips, knees and pelvis are key to improved athletic performance and injury prevention. 


  • Core Exercises: The muscles of the core flex, extend, rotate and stabilize the spine. A strong core enables power to efficiently transfer energy from hindlimbs to forelimbs. As part of this course you will learn core exercises that focus on these movements in addition to exercises that stretch the spine while building strength in the process.


  • Combination Exercises: Combination exercise are an excellent way to create movements for real world athletic performance. In this course you'll learn exercise combinations that focus on multiple planes of movement at varying angles of body placement while incorporating 2-4 exercises. Execution will use different speeds, rhythms, and difficulty and each combination should teach the dog to use its body for the owner’s intended goal.

Forelimb Strengthening Exercise

Exercise Variations

Even though forelimb exercises can look similar, simple changes in equipment and treat movement will create subtle changes in your dog's body position, as well as alterations in their movement. Deliberate, technical variations to strength training exercises are paramount to an effective conditioning program for your canine athlete.

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About Your Instructor

The Martial ARFS Owner

Jeris Pugh

Jeris Pugh has been studying canine behavior through practice, publications and live seminars for the past 15 years. He's attended lectures from veterinary behavior experts like Dr. Ian Dunbar, founder of Associations of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) and Dr. Lynn Seibert, President of The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB).  After years of training dogs privately for obedience and competing in disc dog competitions throughout the Northeast, he realized there was something lacking in the dog training world. He set out to create a program that would not only improve dog's behavior, but give them an outlet for their excess energy, and improve their ability to perform their sport or maintain an active life. His experiences beyond the canine world that were instrumental in achieving that goal.He utilized his experience in teaching and training in the martial arts to combine the concepts of positive reinforcement dog training and the physical outlet that comes along with a martial arts class in order to create the original concept for The Martial ARFS. Under the guidance of his partner, Eve Pugh DVM CVA, CCRP, he used the principles he learned performing and providing functional training for human athletes and substituted canine rehabilitative exercises, canine balance, coordination and body awareness drills, and canine sports activities in order to create functional fitness training programs. However, a one of kind dog training program is only as beneficial as someone's ability to reach people with it. So in 2013, he open the first Martial ARFS facility on Long Island NY (Just 20 minutes outside NYC). Because of this dense population of the NYC metro area The Martial ARFS has become a high volume training center with as many as 60 new dogs per month. As a result, over the past 9 years The Martial ARFS has become the center piece for improving health, behavior or just a fun place for dog owners and their dogs.   The success Martial ARFS  has enabled Jeris to worked with a number of veterinarians across Long Island and NYC to provide programs for their specific clients. Countless General Practitioners, as well as specialist in Surgery, Neurology  and even Oncology have sent their clients to The Martial ARFS for general fitness, conditioning, or weight loss. To continue the process of bringing The Martial ARFS to more and more dog owners, Jeris is now expanding The Martial ARFS brand with additional facilities and online training so that people throughout the US and the world will be able to benefit from The Martial ARFSHe, along with The Martial ARFS has been featured in numerous articles from, PetMD, Dogster, The I Love Dogs Site, Dog ID's.com, and Natural Awakenings with articles on canine fitness, behavior, and the concept of The Martial ARFS itself.

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