Best Exercises for Dogs Recovering From Injury: A Phase-by-Phase Rehab Guide

Written by the PetFitness team and reviewed by our Certified Canine Fitness Trainers. Last updated October 22, 2026.

The hardest part of a dog’s recovery isn’t the surgery or the injury. It’s the six to twelve weeks afterward, when the dog feels better than it is, you’re exhausted from carrying it outside, and every instinct says a proper walk would do you both good. Most re-injuries happen in exactly that window, and most dogs that never quite get back to normal are the ones that were either rested too long and lost the muscle, or let loose too soon and tore something again. The dog physical therapy exercises on this page sit between those two mistakes: they rebuild strength, range of motion and confidence in the right order, at a pace the healing tissue can take. This page covers the phases of recovery and what belongs in each one, the twelve exercises we use most with recovering dogs and exactly how to do them, how to set up your house, the activities that undo weeks of progress in one afternoon, when to involve a professional, and the signs that tell you to stop and call the vet.

Why movement, not just rest, is the treatment

Thirty years ago the standard advice after an injury or orthopaedic surgery was six weeks in a crate. It kept the repair safe and it produced dogs that came out stiff, weak, scared of using the leg and often lame on the opposite side from compensating. Modern veterinary rehabilitation works the other way round: protect the injury, but keep the rest of the dog moving, and get the injured limb bearing weight and moving through its normal range as early as it’s safe to, because that’s what tells the body to lay down tissue along the right lines, keeps the joint from stiffening, and stops the muscle around it from wasting away.

The muscle loss is the part owners underestimate. A dog that holds a leg up for two weeks loses a visible amount of thigh or shoulder muscle in that time, and every week it’s not used the dog relies more on the other three legs, which is how a right cruciate injury becomes a left cruciate injury a year later. Controlled exercise, which means exercise where you decide the speed, the surface, the duration and the movement, keeps the muscle and teaches the dog to trust the leg again. That control is the whole difference between rehab and a walk.

First, what kind of injury is it?

The exercises below apply to most soft-tissue and orthopaedic recoveries, but the timeline depends on what’s healing. A few of the common ones:

Injury	What it is	Typical recovery	Notes
Pulled muscle (strain)	Overstretched or torn muscle or tendon fibres, often from a sudden sprint or slip	Mild: 1 to 2 weeks. Moderate: 4 to 6 weeks	Rest, then gradual loading. Re-strain is common from going back too fast.
Sprained leg	Stretched or torn ligament around a joint, usually wrist, hock or toe	Mild: 2 to 3 weeks. Severe: 6 weeks or more, sometimes a splint	A dog still limping after 48 hours needs a vet to rule out a fracture or cruciate.
Cruciate (ACL) injury	Torn ligament inside the knee; the most common orthopaedic injury in dogs	Surgery: 12 to 16 weeks to full activity. Managed without surgery: longer	Covered in detail in our ACL surgery recovery guide.
Hip or elbow surgery	FHO, total hip replacement, elbow arthroscopy and similar	8 to 16 weeks depending on the procedure	Early movement matters a lot after FHO; follow the surgeon’s sheet exactly.
Fracture	Broken bone, plated, pinned or cast	6 to 12 weeks for bone, longer to rebuild muscle	Weight-bearing timeline is set by X-rays, not by how the dog looks.
Back (disc) injury	IVDD, common in Dachshunds, Corgis, Frenchies, Beagles	4 to 8 weeks of strict rest, then slow rehab	Different rules: no twisting, no sit pretty, no jumping ever again. Vet-directed only.

If the dog hasn’t seen a vet yet and is limping, do that first. A dog that won’t put the leg down at all, a leg that’s swollen or hot, a joint that looks the wrong shape, or a limp that’s still there after 48 hours of rest all need an exam. Soft-tissue injuries and cruciate tears look identical from the outside for the first week.

The four phases of recovery

Every recovery, whether it’s a strained shoulder or a plated femur, moves through the same four phases. The dates below are typical for an orthopaedic surgery; a minor strain compresses the whole thing into three or four weeks, and a complicated surgery stretches it out. Your vet or surgeon’s instructions set the actual dates for your dog, and when they conflict with anything here, they win.

Phase	Goal	What’s allowed	What’s not
1. Protect (days 1 to 14)	Let the repair take. Control pain and swelling. Keep joints from stiffening.	Leash potty trips only, 5 minutes, slow. Cold packs the first 72 hours, then warmth. Passive range of motion and massage once the vet says so. Brain games in the pen.	Everything else. No stairs, furniture, play, other dogs, slippery floors.
2. Move (weeks 2 to 6)	Get the limb bearing weight and moving through its full range. Stop muscle loss.	Slow leash walks building from 5 to 15 or 20 minutes. Weight shifts, cookie stretches, slow sit-to-stands, three-leg stands. Underwater treadmill if the incision is healed and the vet agrees.	Trotting, off leash, stairs, jumping, fetch, swimming (usually), any exercise on hard or slick floors.
3. Rebuild (weeks 6 to 12)	Put the muscle back. Restore balance and body awareness.	Walks to 30 or 40 minutes with gentle hills. Cavaletti, balance cushion work, backing up, figure-eights. Short controlled trotting late in the phase. Swimming once cleared.	Fetch, dog parks, rough play, jumping. Repetitive high-impact anything.
4. Return (week 12 on)	Back to normal life without a relapse.	Gradual off-leash time in a safe area, trotting, then running. Add one new activity a week. Keep two core sessions a week for life.	Going from leash walks to a dog park in one day. Ball launchers, probably ever, for a cruciate dog.

The 12 best exercises for a dog recovering from injury

Each exercise says which phase it belongs to. Don’t start one early because the dog seems ready; the tissue inside the leg heals on its own schedule regardless of how the dog acts. Everything happens on a non-slip surface, after a short warm-up walk, with the dog on a leash or harness so you control the speed. If the dog shows pain during any of these, stop and don’t try again until you’ve talked to the vet.

1. Controlled leash walks (phase 1 onward)

The foundation of every recovery and the exercise most people get wrong by going too far, too fast. In phase 1 a walk is a five-minute potty trip at a slow walk on a short leash. In phase 2 it builds by about five minutes a week, still at a pace where you can see the dog place the injured leg and push off it with every step. If the dog is skipping, hopping or carrying the leg, you’re going too fast; slow down until it uses the leg, even if that’s barely moving. Flat, even, soft surfaces at first: grass, dirt, short carpet. Use a harness rather than a collar so you’re not jerking the front end, and for a back-leg injury a rear support sling (or a towel under the belly) for the first week or two outside. The dog’s speed, not yours. Two or three short walks a day beat one long one.

2. Passive range of motion (phase 1, vet-approved)

Passive range of motion, or PROM, is you moving the dog’s joint through its normal range while the dog relaxes, so the joint stays mobile and the tissue around it doesn’t shorten while it isn’t being used. The dog lies on its side, injured leg up, on a soft surface. Support the leg above and below the joint and slowly flex it, hold two or three seconds, slowly extend it, hold again. Ten to fifteen cycles per joint, two or three times a day. Move only within the range the dog accepts comfortably; the moment there’s any resistance or the dog tenses, you’ve gone far enough. Never force it, never push through pain, and only do it after your vet or rehab therapist has shown you on your dog, because the joints that need it and the angles that are safe depend entirely on the injury. Done right, most dogs fall asleep during it.

3. Massage and warmth (phase 1 onward)

Five to ten minutes of slow, firm stroking along the muscles above and below the injury, always toward the heart, warms the tissue, eases the compensating muscles on the other three legs that are doing extra work, and gets a stiff dog ready to move. In the first 72 hours after an injury or surgery, the vet will usually have you use cold instead, a wrapped ice pack for 10 to 15 minutes to control swelling; after that, warmth before exercise (a warm damp towel or a heat pack with a cloth between it and the skin, 10 to 15 minutes) and cold after if anything is puffy. Stay away from the incision itself. Dogs that stretch on their own, like the one in the photo doing a back-leg stretch off the couch, are telling you the tissue is tight; that’s useful information, but don’t let a recovering dog do it from furniture. Our guide to whether dogs need to stretch covers the safe version.

4. Weight shifts (phase 2)

The first active exercise, and the one that teaches a dog to trust the injured leg again. With the dog standing square on a non-slip surface, place a hand on its hip or shoulder and very gently push it a centimetre or two toward the injured side, then release and let it push back. The dog has to load the injured leg to resist and recentre. Five to ten gentle pushes in each direction, twice a day. You can do the same thing with a treat: hold it just to the side of the dog’s nose so it leans toward the injured leg without stepping. This is subtle, and it’s enough: a dog that’s been avoiding a leg for two weeks will often start using it on walks within days of starting weight shifts.

5. Cookie stretches (phase 2)

Standing square, lure the dog’s nose slowly toward its hip on one side, hold two or three seconds, release, then the other side, then down between the front paws, then up. The feet stay still, so the dog bends the spine and shifts weight rather than stepping. Three rounds, once or twice a day. For a back-leg injury, the stretch toward the injured side loads that leg; for a front-leg injury, the stretch down and the stretch toward the opposite hip do. Gentle, slow, never to the point the dog steps or stiffens.

6. Sit-to-stand (phase 2, slow version)

A controlled squat that rebuilds the back end. The rules matter more in a recovering dog than in a healthy one: the sit must be square, with both back legs tucked evenly under the dog rather than flopped to one side (a dog with a sore leg will sit crooked to keep weight off it, and a crooked sit defeats the exercise), and the stand must come from the back legs pushing up, not the front legs pulling forward. Doing it in a corner or beside a wall on the injured side keeps the dog straight. Three to five reps to start, slowly, once a day, building to two sets of eight by the end of phase 2. If the dog can’t sit square yet, it isn’t ready for this one; stay on weight shifts another week. The full technique is in our core strength guide.

7. Three-leg stands (phase 2 to 3)

Lift one of the healthy legs an inch off the ground for three to five seconds so the dog has to carry more weight on the injured one. Start with the leg diagonally opposite the injury (for a right back leg, lift the left front), which shifts the least weight, and progress to lifting the healthy leg on the same end, which shifts the most. Three to five holds per session. The dog’s back should stay level; if it sags or the dog sits, shorten the hold.

8. Standing on a cushion (phase 3)

Once the dog is bearing weight evenly, an unstable surface makes every small stabilising muscle around the injured joint work. Start with just the injured end on a firm couch cushion or a lightly inflated balance disc, the other end on the floor, standing still for 10 seconds. Build to 30 seconds, then all four feet on the cushion, then add a cookie stretch while standing on it. Two or three holds a session. This is also where a professional rehab setup, like the one in the photo, earns its keep: the discs, peanuts and wobble boards let a therapist dial in exactly how much instability the dog can handle. At home, a cushion gets you most of the way. More in our guide to improving a dog’s balance.

9. Cavaletti poles (phase 3)

Four to six poles flat on the ground, about a body length apart, walked over slowly on a leash. Stepping over something forces the dog to flex and extend each leg deliberately, lift the injured limb higher than it would on a flat walk, and shift weight from leg to leg. Three to five passes each way. Keep the poles on the floor until late in phase 3; raising them to wrist height is a phase 4 progression. Slow is essential; a dog that trots over them gets none of the benefit.

10. Backing up (phase 3)

Walking backwards loads the back end in a way almost nothing else does, and it does it slowly, with no impact. Stand facing the dog and step gently toward it; most dogs step back. Mark and reward. Build to five steps, then ten, along a wall or hallway so the dog stays straight. For back-leg injuries this is one of the best muscle-builders in phase 3. Our guide to helping a dog with weak back legs covers how to build it up for a dog that struggles.

11. Gentle hills (phase 3)

Walking slowly up a gentle slope shifts weight onto the back legs and makes them push; walking slowly down shifts it onto the front and makes them brace. Pick a slope you’d barely notice walking yourself, go up and down it a few times at the end of a walk, on a leash, at a walk. Zigzagging across the slope adds a sideways weight shift. No hills in phase 2, and no steep ones until the dog is fully back; a steep downhill on a recovering front leg is a lot of load.

12. Underwater treadmill and swimming (phase 2 to 3, once cleared)

Water is the best rehab tool there is, for one reason: buoyancy takes weight off the joints while the resistance of the water makes the muscles work harder than they would on land. In an underwater treadmill, which is a treadmill inside a glass tank that fills to a chosen depth, water at the level of the dog’s hips removes well over half its body weight, so a dog that’s still limping on land can walk with a normal, even gait in the tank and rebuild muscle without loading the repair. A therapist sets the depth and speed, sessions run 10 to 20 minutes, usually once or twice a week, and most dogs can start a couple of weeks after surgery once the incision has fully closed. It’s the single thing we’d push hardest for any owner within driving distance of a clinic that has one.

Swimming is different and comes later. It’s non-weight-bearing, so it’s easy on the joints, but it’s much harder work than it looks, the dog controls the intensity rather than you, and the leg positions in a swimming stroke aren’t right for every injury, which is why most surgeons hold it until phase 3 and say no to it early after cruciate repair. When it’s cleared: a life jacket, calm shallow water, a ramp or gentle entry rather than a jump, two or three minutes to start, and you in the water or on a long line. Our guide to whether dogs are natural swimmers covers the introduction.

Setting up the house

More recoveries are undone on the kitchen floor than on walks. A recovering dog that scrabbles on tile, jumps off the couch when the doorbell goes, or takes the stairs because nobody was watching can reverse weeks of healing in a second. Before the dog comes home, or today if it’s already home: put rugs, runners or yoga mats on every slippery floor the dog uses, including the route to the door and the spot where it eats; block the stairs with a gate at the top and bottom; block access to the couch and bed, or set up a pen or crate in the room where the family spends time so the dog isn’t isolated but can’t jump; raise the food and water bowls slightly if the dog has a front-leg or neck injury; put a ramp or a lifting sling by the car; and keep a towel by the door to use as a sling under the belly for potty trips if the vet wants the back end supported. Dogs that are confined and bored chew, bark and bounce, which is its own injury risk, so plan the brain work too: stuffed food toys, lick mats, snuffle mats, scent games in the pen, and stationary training like chin rests and nose touches that keep the mind busy with the body still.

What to avoid until the dog is cleared

This list is short because it’s the same handful of things every time, and every one of them has sent a dog back to surgery.

• Fetch, frisbee and ball launchers. Sprint, stop, twist, jump. The exact loads a healing joint can’t take. For a dog recovering from a cruciate, we’d retire the ball launcher permanently.
• Stairs and furniture. Jumping down is a hard landing on the front legs; jumping up is a push off the back. Carry, ramp or gate.
• Off-leash time anywhere the dog might see a squirrel, another dog or a person it loves. One lunge is enough.
• Dog parks and play with other dogs. Not until phase 4, and then one calm dog at a time.
• Slippery floors. See above. The splits on tile is the classic re-injury.
• Trotting and running before the vet says so, including the “just a little jog” when the dog looks fine. Looking fine on pain medication is not fine.
• Long walks too early. Twenty minutes in week two is too much even at a walk. Build by five minutes a week.
• Swimming before clearance, and any swimming from a jump or dive.
• Human pain medication. Ibuprofen, acetaminophen and naproxen are toxic to dogs. Only what the vet prescribed, at the dose prescribed, and don’t stop early because the dog seems better.

The 48-hour rule and other ways to tell if you’re on track

The feedback loop in rehab is slow, which is why people overdo it: the dog is fine during the walk and sore the next morning. So use a two-day rule. After any new exercise, any increase in time or difficulty, or the first day of a new phase, do nothing else new for 48 hours and watch. If the dog is the same or better, keep going. If it’s limping more, stiffer getting up, licking the leg, or reluctant to do something it did happily two days ago, drop back to the previous level for a week and try again. On track looks like: the dog placing the injured leg evenly on walks, the sit getting squarer week by week, the muscle on the injured side slowly catching up with the other side (measure the thigh or upper arm with a tape measure every two weeks if you want a number), and a dog that’s keen rather than reluctant at the start of each session.

Call the vet, rather than waiting, if the dog stops using the leg altogether, if there’s new swelling, heat or discharge at an incision or joint, if the dog cries out or snaps when the area is touched, if it’s off its food or unusually quiet for more than a day, or if there’s no improvement at all over any two-week stretch. None of those are things to push through.

When to see a canine rehab professional

Everything above can be done at home for a routine recovery. A certified canine rehabilitation therapist (look for CCRT or CCRP after the name; many are vets or physiotherapists with extra training) is worth it when the injury is surgical, when the dog is large, older or overweight, when it’s a working or sporting dog you need back to full function, when progress has stalled, or when you simply want someone to show you the exercises on your dog and check your technique. They also have tools you don’t: the underwater treadmill, therapeutic laser, electrical muscle stimulation, and the eye to spot a compensating limp before it becomes a second injury. A single session early on, with a home programme to follow, is one of the best-value things in the whole recovery. If the dog is also carrying extra weight, that’s the other lever to pull, because every pound comes straight off the healing joint; our body condition guide and weight loss plan are built to run alongside a recovery.

A sample week in each phase

Illustrative, for a medium dog after an orthopaedic surgery with a normal recovery. Your vet’s sheet overrides anything here.

Phase	A typical day
Phase 1 week 1	Four 5-minute slow leash potty trips with sling support. Cold pack 10 minutes twice a day for 3 days, then warm pack. PROM 10 cycles per joint, three times a day once shown. 5 minutes of massage. Rest in pen with a stuffed food toy. Pain meds as prescribed.
Phase 2 week 4	Three 10 to 15-minute slow walks on grass. Warm pack before the main walk. Weight shifts, 10 each way, twice. Cookie stretches, 3 rounds. 5 slow sit-to-stands in a corner. Three-leg stands, 3 holds. Underwater treadmill once this week. Scent game in the evening.
Phase 3 week 9	Two 25 to 30-minute walks with a gentle hill at the end of one. Core session every other day: 8 sit-to-stands, cushion stand 30 seconds x3, cavaletti 4 passes each way, backing up 8 steps x3, figure-eights x5. Underwater treadmill or short swim once this week. One minute of controlled trotting on a leash at the end of the week if cleared.
Phase 4 week 13	Normal walks. 10 minutes off leash in a fenced, quiet area, building weekly. Trotting on walks. Core session twice a week, for life. One calm dog friend. Still no ball launcher.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best physical therapy exercises for dogs at home?

Slow controlled leash walks, passive range of motion, massage, weight shifts, cookie stretches, slow sit-to-stands and three-leg stands in the early weeks; standing on a cushion, cavaletti poles, backing up and gentle hills once the dog is bearing weight evenly. All on non-slip surfaces, all slow, all cleared by your vet first.

How soon after surgery can my dog exercise?

Short slow leash potty trips from day one, in most cases. Passive range of motion and massage within the first week once shown. Active exercises like sit-to-stands usually from week two or three. Underwater treadmill once the incision has healed, typically two weeks. Trotting, swimming and off-leash time are set by the surgeon, usually from week eight to twelve.

How do I know if my dog pulled a muscle or something worse?

You can’t tell reliably from outside. A mild strain improves noticeably within 48 hours of rest. A limp that’s still there after two days, a leg the dog won’t put down at all, swelling, heat or a joint that looks wrong needs a vet, because a cruciate tear or fracture looks the same at first.

How long does it take a dog to recover from a sprained leg?

A mild sprain, two to three weeks with rest and a gradual return. A severe one, six weeks or more and sometimes a splint. Going back to normal activity too early is the usual reason a sprain drags on for months.

What is passive range of motion for dogs?

Gently moving a dog’s joint through its normal range while the dog relaxes, to keep the joint mobile and the surrounding tissue from tightening while the leg isn’t being used. Ten to fifteen slow cycles per joint, two or three times a day, only within a comfortable range, and only after a vet or therapist has shown you on your dog.

Is the underwater treadmill worth it?

For almost any orthopaedic recovery, yes. Water at hip height takes more than half the dog’s weight off the joints, so it can walk normally and rebuild muscle weeks before it could on land. Sessions are usually once or twice a week for 10 to 20 minutes. It’s the first thing we’d book if there’s a clinic nearby.

Can my dog swim while recovering from an injury?

Usually not early. Swimming is non-weight-bearing but hard work, the dog controls the intensity, and the leg action isn’t right for every injury, so most surgeons hold it until the later phase and say no early after cruciate surgery. When cleared: life jacket, calm shallow water, ramp entry, a few minutes to start.

How do I keep my dog calm during recovery?

A pen or crate in the family room so it isn’t isolated, rugs on the floors so it can’t slip, and brain work instead of body work: stuffed food toys, lick mats, snuffle mats, scent games and stationary training. A tired brain settles a dog nearly as well as a tired body. Ask the vet about a calming medication if the dog is bouncing off the walls; a sedated dog that heals beats a lively one that re-injures.

My dog seems fine. Can I stop early?

No. Dogs on pain medication feel better than the tissue inside them is, and the ligament, bone or muscle is still remodelling for weeks after the limp disappears. Finish the phases. The re-injury rate for dogs let off early is the reason surgeons are strict about it.

Will my dog fully recover?

Most do, with a proper rehab programme. Dogs that were rested but never rebuilt the muscle, or that went back to full activity too soon, are the ones that stay a bit lame or hurt the other side. Two short core sessions a week for the rest of the dog’s life is cheap insurance; our senior dog exercise guide and arthritis exercise guide cover the long game.

Where this fits in your dog’s plan

A PetFitness recovery plan takes the vet’s timeline and turns it into a day-by-day programme: the right exercises for the phase the dog is in, the progression from one to the next, the house setup, and the weight and core work that stop the same injury happening on the other side. If you’d like the plan built for your dog’s recovery, build your dog’s plan here. If you’d rather start on your own tonight: put a rug on the slipperiest floor the dog walks on, block the stairs, and make tomorrow’s first walk five slow minutes where you watch the injured leg touch the ground on every step.