RUN DAWG specializes in dog workouts. Our goal is to provide the most effective exercise program for your dog that is available, using the dog’s health status, weight, age and other factors to determine the appropriate workout level. As the dog’s fitness level improves over time, the workout will become more intense and active, ultimately providing an ongoing development of health, muscle mass, weight control and mental stimulation. This means that we are continually evaluating the dog both before and during their workout to see exactly how much they are improving, and how much they can exercise on that particular day. Just like us, dogs have good and bad days physically. Sometimes they are sore or hurting, and just do not want to exercise very much that day. Other times they are full of energy and want to go faster and farther than they did in the past. The only way to provide the appropriate level of exercise is to evaluate them in real time while they are exercising. This is one of the main differentiators that separates RUN DAWG from most dog walkers, we act as fitness coaches and are continually engaged with your dog during their workout session. We are literally right in front of them the whole time, assessing how they are doing and seeing if they can go just a bit farther on that day.
Just like humans going to the gym, the idea of working out is to build better muscle structure and endurance. This is what a body needs in order to live a longer and healthier life. When we go to the gym, a leisurely workout may keep us at the same level we currently are in, but only through higher intensity exercise can we build our bodies. This is going to cause stress on our muscles and cause us to sweat. Dogs are exactly the same way, even if they sweat by panting and are generally much more willing to exercise than we are. One of the best developments in exercise in the last ten years is HIIT (high intensity interval training.) It was discovered that a more effective use of your workout time in order to build healthy muscle and stamina is to exercise in short and intense bursts, followed by longer resting periods where you are still moving but not exercising in an intense fashion. While long duration exercise is excellent at building stamina and endurance, we have taken into account that this is not the natural way that dogs use energy. Because animals in the wild need to not only burn consistent calories as they search for food, but also use short bursts of speed to catch their next meal, RUN DAWG realized that HIIT is actually a prefect simulation of the way dogs exercise in the wild. Our HIIT program for dogs involves a warm-up period where their muscles are slowly worked into a loose and limber state, followed by 10 to 15 minutes of high intensity interval training. During this period of the workout, we will encourage the dog to run at it’s fastest pace for short bursts of about 30 seconds, followed by a period of about one minute while they walk at a slower pace. We will keep this up for about 10 minutes, raising and lowering their heart rate and providing them with water as necessary. After their HIIT session, we cool them down for ten minutes with a slower and steady paced walk.
HIIT training for dogs is difficult in most situations, because it involves a lot of human interaction. The most effective HIIT training for dogs was done by having the dog chase you or something else for short bursts, however this method is keeping the dog at your pace and not it’s own. Only through non-motorized slatmill use can true HIIT sessions be achieved, where the dog can run at their full speed then immediately cool to a slower pace while in a completely controlled environment. Naturally, not all dogs are fit enough to do HIIT training, and many will be slowly progressing up to that point using more even-paced walks until the time that they start to be able to run for short bursts. Each dog is different, and will be evaluated in real time during the session. We will do small variations of HIIT training principals even with dogs that are at a lower fitness level, simply picking up the pace slightly and lowering it ongoing. This is what makes our workouts unique, and what makes RUN DAWG stand out.
If you are interested in fitness programs for your dog, contact RUN DAWG at 702-857-5755. We are the top mobile dog gym in Las Vegas.
