Keeping fit can be fun. It sure was fun yesterday, when I celebrated the World Animal Day by doing pilates with puppies.
Yes, you read that right: I attended a pilates class with dogs, sharing the yoga mat with a handful of furry friends.
The event was held in De Pijp, one of Amsterdam’s hippest neighbourhoods, in a pop-up called Halo Top Happiness Gym. Happiness gym is a good name – most of the people started giggling as soon as the dogs arrived in the room. I filmed some clips during the events (check them out on my Instagram page here) and was amused to notice how funny my voice became when a puppy jumped on my lap.
I have to be honest with you: I didn’t get a lot of pilates done. When I was holding a puppy, I was too afraid of disturbing them if I moved too much. When I didn’t, most of my attention was on the animals anyway. It was simply too hard to focus much on the exercise with this much cuteness around! It didn’t matter, though: if sport releases the so-called happiness hormones, I’m sure that playing with puppies does just as well.
Sadly, this was just a one-off event, part of a pop-up celebrating the launch of a new ice cream brand. It’s a great marketing strategy: I’m pretty sure I’ll think of puppies whenever I spot the brand somewhere from now on, and that sure makes for a positive connotation :D.
Pilates with puppies in a nutshell
What I like: The puppies. I mean, who wouldn’t? The free ice cream on offer was lovely too.
What I don’t like quite as much: It’s a pop-up – meaning we can’t do this every week.
Note to self: I need to have more time with puppies.
Would I go back: Absolutely, if they organise another one!
Have you ever tried working out with pets? Would you like to give it a go?
To get notified of new posts, don’t forget to follow Studying the World on Instagram. Facebook and Bloglovin. Want to read more about Amsterdam? Find all my posts from the Netherlands here.