Proprioception
HOW TO HONE YOUR DOG’S BODY AWARENESS
BY CHRIS ZINK DVM PHD DACVP DACVSMR CCRT CVSMT CVA
P roprio—what? Proprioception is from the Latin proprius , meaning “one’s own,” and capere , meaning to grasp. Thus, proprioception means to grasp one’s own position in space, including the position of the limbs in relation to each other and the body as a whole. Proprioception is how a baseball player hits a 3-inch ball going 95 mph with a 2-1/2-inch bat. It’s how your Agility dog flies over the dog walk, placing its feet in exactly the right spots on a narrow board. Check out the dog in the image below; the dog’s right rear foot has about one inch to spare! Propriocep- tion is how your athletic dog snags a thrown ball in mid-air and lands running. It’s responsible for your dog’s paw-eye and mouth-eye coordination. A well- tuned proprioceptive system will prevent your dog from making one or many missteps that could lead to a catastrophic injury.
“...proprioception means to grasp one’s own posi- tion in space, includ- ing the position of the limbs in relation to each other and the body as a whole.”
70 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, JANUARY 2024
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