For those of you that know me at all, you know that I am a dog guy.
My Buddy Tanq
Big. Small. Male. Female. Doesn’t really matter. Sure, I’ve got my preferences, just like anyone else, but if the choice is dog or no dog I’ll take dog and not really worry about the details.
So, back in November when a man approached my First Friday booth and asked if I liked dogs, of course I said yes. I assumed (and you know what happens when you assume) that this guy was perhaps interested in working with me, but that he had a dog or two and wanted to make sure I was comfortable being in the house with his dogs.
Boy, how wrong I was.
It turns out that the guy that approached me was Sean Hawkins, who happens to be the CEO of SPCA Florida here in Lakeland. Sean told me that the SPCA was considering bringing this workout/dog training program from California to Lakeland, and that they would need to have a personal trainer that would be able to help with the program.
Photo by Jill Bowers via SPCA Florida
Fast forward to today. I’m proud and privileged to be a part of the Thank Dog! Bootcamp team and a partner with the SPCA Florida on this venture, and we are excited to be rolling out bootcamp this week to not only the shelter dogs, which we’ve been doing for a few weeks now, but also to anyone in town that wants to bring their dogs for a workout unlike any other.
Here is Thank Dog! Bootcamp in a nutshell. It’s an hour long, bootcamp style workout program that seamlessly combines physical exercise for the human with physical, mental, and obedience work with the dog.
Each person that participates in a bootcamp session will be working with one dog, and the format of the class alternates between 10 minute cardio sessions and 10 minute strength training sessions. During the cardio training portions, the person is working with their dog on commands including heel, sit, down, and stay. And the cardio sessions are more than just a steady run. We mix things up with different sprints, exercises, commands, and rules to keep things lively and interesting. And if you’re not quite a runner, no problem. Class can be completed at any pace you are comfortable with, from a walk to a sprint and everything in between! After the 10 minutes of cardio, the dogs get a bit of a break as we head to an area where the dogs have water and can lie down while the person participates in a series of strength training exercises. The strength training consists of body weight exercises, exercises using weights, and exercises using resistance bands. Again, each participant is encouraged to push themselves, but breaks during the strength training portion are allowed if you need it. We don’t want you to over do it, but we want everyone to get a great workout so we push hard and let you put the brakes on if needed.
And sometimes, the dog puts the brakes on instead.
Tanq Was Spent 3/4 of the Way Through His First Bootcamp–Photo by Jill Bowers
If you’d like to take part in this awesome program, I’d encourage you to give it a shot! After completing multiple classes during our training period, I almost wish I wasn’t a part of the team so I could just come and bring my dog for the classes!
Almost.
But I’m really stoked to be instructing the class and having the chance to work with multiple people and dogs instead of just focusing on Tanq and myself.
If you’d like some more info, please leave a question in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them. Or, even better, click on this link to the Thank Dog! Bootcamp page of SPCA Florida’s website for more details and information on signing up for classes.
If you like dogs, don’t mind getting a little sweaty, and are in the market for trying something different, I can’t encourage you enough to try our Thank Dog! Bootcamp program. I’m pretty confident that it is going to get pretty popular pretty quickly, so hop on the bandwagon now while there is still plenty of room!
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