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Man’s best friend needs a fitness partner

Whether individuals are kick-starting a new exercise regimen or maintaining an old routine at the gym, fitness is often top of mind after the holidays.
Deanne Collinson
Deanne Collinson

Whether individuals are kick-starting a new exercise regimen or maintaining an old routine at the gym, fitness is often top of mind after the holidays.

Fluffy and Fido are unlikely to be putting paws to paper to draft any get-fit resolutions, so the onus lies with pet owners to ensure their four-legged companions are healthy and active.

What’s more, some specialized programs are focused on getting owners and pets to make fitness a team effort.

Deanne Collinson said she was in the best shape of her life and developed stronger bonds with her two Irish terriers, Madison and Hudson, after completing 6Legs to Fitness classes in the summer of 2008. And she discovered a new career in the process.

Collinson eventually left her work in the engineering field to train humans and canines, and she became a certified educator trainer leading 6Legs to Fitness classes in Calgary.

The outdoor fitness program for dogs and their owners, created by dog advocate and trainer Brad Pattison of the reality series At The End of My Leash, also includes obedience training and self defence.

As owners break a sweat doing push-ups, squats, tricep dips and kickboxing moves in the 90-minute classes, their pooches are right alongside.

“We’ll take the dogs up and over picnic benches, up and over park benches,” said Collinson, a certified personal trainer with Ascension Training.

“We’ll have them walk along some walls as we’re doing some lunges over some little mini concrete walls. So the dogs are really getting a mental workout as well as the physical workout over and above that.”

Collinson said while owners are bringing their dogs to classes primarily for obedience training, improving their own and their pets’ fitness levels, along with hanging out with their pooches, ranks second.

Helping pets avoid putting on excess weight could help prevent health problems that might crop up or be exacerbated as a result of packing on the pounds.

Obesity in pets is a risk factor for diabetes and can put extra weight on joints, causing joint, hip and knee problems, said Jennifer Febel, practice manager at Smith Veterinary Hospital in Thornhill, Ont.

“In certain breeds like dachshunds where they’re low to the ground, they can end up with severe belly rashes because they can actually drag on the floor,” she said.

There can be higher risks of heart disease and blood pressure issues in obese pets, said Dr. Doug Roberts, president-elect of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.

Smith Veterinary Hospital has created a Chub Club to offer support to owners of pets that need to lose weight. Febel said at this stage, it’s mostly nutritional counselling, but they are working with a pet food company to devise a website allowing clients to enter and graph the weight of their pets, and get access to tips.

Febel said the tricky part about pet obesity is that “it’s half the pet, half the pet owner.”

If pets aren’t feeling full, they’ll beg for more, and then it’s up to the owner to avoid giving them food when they do beg, which can be difficult, she said.

“A lot of people feel that if (they) don’t give them the treat it’s affecting their quality somehow, that,‘You know, I’d rather they be a little pudgy but enjoy their snacks,’ not realizing that the little bit of pudge is really a big deal.”

Roberts said modifying their diet can help pets lose excess weight or maintain their weight at a certain level. Many pets don’t need to have all the calories that some owners provide, he added.

“A lot of people will just leave a dish full of dry food for their dog,” he said from Kentville, N.S.

“Some dogs will eat free choice and maintain themselves at a good body weight, but other dogs will just eat and eat and eat and they don’t have the exercise to kind of balance that and they get obese.”

Roberts said one of the best indicators of a dog’s body condition is to rub down the side of their body.

“You should be able to feel the ribs,” he said. “Ribs shouldn’t be protruding, but you should feel that gentle washboard or rib impression.”

Using the ribcage as a marker also works for cats, he noted.

In most breeds of dogs, there should be a narrowing at the waist area and flaring out at the hips, Roberts said.

“Sometimes they don’t have this narrowing at the waist area anymore. They have these bulges on either side of the waist, and those are basically the dog’s equivalent of love handles.”

While many cats live strictly indoors, it’s still important to create activity for them, Roberts said.

“You can teach them to chase a small ball or crinkly toy and retrieve it, so you can do that back and forth for a couple 10-minute periods a day.”

Ideally, dog owners should aim to get their pet out for two to three good walks a day, Roberts said.

“Rather than saying, ‘I take my dog on a 5K walk twice a day,’ I would rather hear people tell me that they go for 15 or 20 minute brisk walks with the dog,” he said.