Why your exercises look like a game to her
From your dog's point of view, physiotherapy is deeply suspicious behaviour from her favourite person. You get down to her level, which in dog language is often how play begins, you roll, stretch, lift your legs and make effort noises, and you stay there long enough for her to investigate properly. Shouting from a leg raise will not explain the distinction, especially if you are laughing at the same time. She needs a different, clearly paid job to do in the same room while you get on with yours.
Protect the recovery first, then train
Your exercises exist to help an injury or a painful joint recover, and a dog bouncing onto a healing shoulder or a sore back can do real harm, so do not train through risk. For the early sessions, or on days when a particular exercise leaves you unable to move away quickly, settle her behind a gate or in another room with a chew and no guilt at all. Choose the gentle, low-movement parts of your programme for the shared training sessions, and keep anything involving weights, resistance bands or sudden movements for dog-free time.
Give her a mat, a chew and a clear position
Place her own mat or bed parallel to yours, close enough that she does not feel banished but far enough that a rolling stretch does not land on her. Teach the mat as a place cue away from your sessions first: reward her for stepping on it, lying down and staying there while you take one step back, then build to you kneeling and lying beside her on the floor. Pair the mat with something that lasts, such as a stuffed food toy she only gets during your exercises, so your routine predicts good things happening on her spot rather than chances to mug you. A dog with her mouth and brain occupied is far less interested in your moving ankles.
Build the difficulty in the order your body allows
Add your exercises one layer at a time, starting with the stillest work you do, such as breathing exercises or gentle holds, and reward her frequently for staying settled. Then introduce slow limb movements, pausing to reward calm watching before she has a chance to escalate into play. If she gets up to join in, calmly lead her back to the mat once, lower the difficulty, and shorten the session rather than repeating resets until you are both frustrated.
Handle the face-licking moments without making them funnier
The hardest moment is usually when your face is at her height and still, which to her is an open invitation. Pre-empt it by rewarding heavily just before you lower your head for those exercises, and keep a treat pouch within reach so a lick can be answered by guiding her nose back to her mat and paying her there instead. If she is persistently underfoot on a day when pain makes you short-tempered, that is information, not failure: use the gate that day and train again when you have the patience the exercise deserves.
Log the routine so helpers set her up identically
Physiotherapy often involves other people, a partner who prompts your exercises or a visiting therapist who needs the dog managed in a particular way. Write down where her mat goes, what chew she gets, which exercises she has learned to ignore and which still need her behind the gate, and keep that plan in KinsLe with Care Teams so everyone helping with your recovery gives her the same setup and the same cues.