CHASING a ball, dashing around aimlessly, having a good old dig: it may sound like ideal walkies material for dogs, but for participants of new fitness bootcamp, it’s strictly humans doing the retrieving.

National pet charity, Blue Cross, has created the world’s first exercise class in which humans exercise exclusively like dogs.

All of the exercises in the 45-minute aerobic and conditioning workout for humans have either been adapted from a dog’s favourite exercises or have been directly inspired by man’s best friend, including fetch, tug-of-war and Frisbee.

The class was commissioned by the charity to raise awareness of how exercise keeps dogs healthy and happy, as high numbers of dogs arrive at the Blue Cross centres across the country due to behavioural needs stemmed from under-stimulus or lack of appropriate activities and exercise.

The Work Out Like A Dog class breakdown:-

WARM UP ( eight minutes): Consisting of agility, obstacle course and hurdle exercises.

TRICK CIRCUIT (ten minutes): Get up, down, rollover, sit and stay your way through squats, planks and more.

GAMES (15 minutes): A round of high intensity interval training, including ball fetch, Frisbee and tug-of-war.

COOL DOWN DOG (three- four mins): Stretch and end with a howl of happiness.

Sarah Dickinson from Blue Cross said: “Every year we take in high numbers of dogs with behavioural problems ranging from being mischievous to aggressiveness. While each case is unique and complex, in a number of them issues arise from the pet being under-stimulated or frustrated, and we can see improvements when they start getting the right amount of play and exercise.”