Starting out in fitness? What equipment do you need?

Some people are put off starting in canine fitness work because of all the expensive fancy gear that you 'need'.

Yes, my doggy gym has lots of fun stuff in it, but the reality is that I have slowly built this up over around 4 years, as my dogs became more competent, and my interest grew. I'm also the queen of DIY gear, because that's all I could afford to do for a long time.

Here's my recommendations if you are thinking of starting out

Beginner: this is if you have never formally trained any fitness work before. All dogs start off with exercises 'on the flat' meaning that there is no unstable surfaces like wobble cushions.

• Yoga mats (2). I like the $6 mats from Kmart. 
• Aerobic step covered with yoga mat to make it non slip. I use no more nails, and duct tape to stick the yoga mat down. You can get aerobic steps from Kmart, the warehouse, and online e.g. Trademe. 
• Two phone book-ish sized stable platforms, topped with yoga mat. Blocks of wood work really well! 

Slightly more than beginner: Above equipment, and then you can add:

• Foot pods (Hart Sports). 
• Wobble cushions. (Trademe, or occasionally on 1-day). 
• Cones / jump poles. You can buy sets of cones for a good price at Kmart. 

Getting into it: Above equipment, and then you can add:

• Peanut swiss ball ($10 at Kmart at the moment). 
• Fit bones (harder to find in NZ, I recently got some from Red Dog Rehabilitation). 
• Large wobble board. Mine is homemade. 

I'll post some information in later blogs about how you could use these pieces of equipment.