Working out alone can be hard work, not to mention boring. Best thing to do? Add your dog to your workout routine! Our four-legged friends keep us nice and active anyway, but who is to say you can’t do something like a HIIT workout with your pooch? Aka a dog workout! I’ve teamed up with my good friends at Pets at Home, to show you how to do just that, meaning both you and your dog get a good workout and burn that energy up!

I have a relatively small dog in the form of a Shih Tzu Poodle cross, however, she has heaps of energy and because she is young she is still in the early stages of learning commands… so she sometimes doesn’t abide by the rules! Which, if you watch the video version of the workout you’ll spot how sometimes the ball didn’t come back to me, and I was left squatting! Regardless, it’s all about having fun and getting that heart rate up – so here we go!

What you need –

1. A dog (!)
2. Cones/markers
3. Trainers and comfortable gym gear
4. Ball
5. Ball Chucker (optional)
6. Squeaky bone or toy
7. Tasty healthy treats(there are also adult ones)

How to do the workout –

Warm-up. 

Find a nice open space, (ideally outside) and make sure there are no stones or anything you can trip over on the floor. Start by jogging on the spot for a few seconds, then speed up your feet to do fast feet on the spot, repeat this for 45 seconds. An alternative is a power walk to an open field space with your dog – anything to get you feeling a little warmer and ready to go. If you can add in a good stretch before hand.

Side Shuffles

Place your cones to the distance you want to travel, keep it quite short to start with to see how your dog gets on. Pick up a dog toy and begin side shuffling (doing a crab like move) across from one cone, bending and touching the floor with the dog toy when you reach it, then changing the hand holding the dog toy and shuffle back to the other cone. In theory, your dog should be so mesmerized by the dog toy so they’ll run along with you! To make it harder you can always have the heaviest dog toy, have one in each hand or make the distance of your cones further apart.

Ice Skaters

A great option for a jolly good workout move is an ice skater on the spot. Putting a dog toy in your hand whilst you mimic an ice skater, skating along. The dog should again follow where their toy goes. This is a great work out for balance as well, especially if you’re working out in the garden or on a grassy terrain.

Ball Chuck and Squat 

One of my favourites to do is this one! You can either use a ball chucker if your throwing skills are not the best or if you want a bit of an arm workout, throw it yourself. Throw the ball for your dog, whilst they scamper off to fetch it, squat on the spot until they return the ball. Now, if like mine, the dog returns the ball when it feels like it, squat for 20, then stop retrieve the ball and start again. To make this harder, do a back lunge before you throw the ball.

Plyometric Lunges

Now, I’d normally suggest log jumps, but for me, my dog is too little for that. If your dog is bigger this would be a great exercise for you both to do. However, if like mine your dog is small, plyometric lunges are fantastic, but your dog may not join in. Mine? Just raced around me in a circle! My abs certainly got a good work out from all the laughing.

Cooldown and Stretch

Always give yourself a proper cooldown. I’d suggest it might be a slow leisurely walk home with your dog, or a few walks around the garden together. Follow this with a good stretch, particularly focusing on your legs as this workout is centered around your hamstrings and quad muscles. Then reward your pooch with a treat for doing so well – the great thing about working out with your dog is it not only gives you a chance to exercise, but it can help build on commands and obedience with them too.

Fancy giving this a go? If you like this – why not watch Winnie and I in action working out? Our Pets at Home workout video is below.

*Post and campaign in collaboration with Pets at Home