Have you ever asked your dog if he wanted to work out? We have.

June 14, 2023

Tromplo Team

I have never been a very athletic person: always chosen last in the volleyball team (balls hurt people!), not able to catch my breath if I need to catch a bus (so I never bother to try anymore) and physically incapable to carry a pack of water bottle even if my life depended on it (thank you modern world and drinkable tap water!).

Despite my physical limitations, it never really bothered me until I became a dog trainer. Suddenly I had to be able to hold a pulling and raging 30kg dog while smiling and pretending all was under control – at that time I didn’t know better – or try to keep up while running an agility course. I quickly realized getting in shape was becoming a necessity. As I started to work out, I also became more aware of the benefits of fitness and proprioception for dogs. I think you noticed how in the last 5 years or so, proprioception courses have become more popular.

More and more pictures and videos are now shared on social media, we can see a lot of dogs doing “cool” things on bright and colorful pieces of equipment. But I couldn’t help to wonder how the dogs really felt about that. You see, as a former total sloth trying to become a graceful antelope, I came to realize that working out is hard! It can be uncomfortable, I might even hurt on the next days! But at least I know why I’m doing it, I chose to do it.

This is a voluntary decision to endure something necessary to improve my health and quality of life. So to me, it became evident that I needed to “ask” my dogs if they wanted to go through with this. I actually need to work on specific strengthening exercises with my toller Miette who has knee issues: either she works out or she could get injured just by running during our daily walks. Having her on a leash for the rest of her life was not an option for me (c’mon!), nor was letting her get hurt. So we “had to” exercise but I could still give her some room for decision making: