ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Oscar overcomes the UAE’s summer heat through education at a gym, hitting the treadmill two or three times a week. None of that, unless Oscar is a dog.
As the Gulf’s increasingly fierce temperatures become damaging to fitness amid fears about the speed of climate change, those who can’t paint outdoors under the scorching sun stay indoors with the air conditioner.
And for pampered puppy house owners who can spend money, an air-conditioned dog gym has a option.
“During the winters, I used to take him outside, in the summers he would stay isolated,” says Oscar’s owner, Mozalfa Khan, a Pakistani expat.
“Because every time I take him outside, he’s in poor health because of the heat. “
The resource-rich Gulf is among the regions most threatened by global warming, with some cities in danger of becoming uninhabitable by the end of the century.
Temperatures exceed forty-five degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in the UAE and can remain above 40 °C (104 °F) even after midnight.
The United Arab Emirates, like other Gulf countries, go into partial hibernation during its long, hot summers, and those that can remain cloistered in air-conditioned homes and workplaces.
Oscar, a Welsh Corgi, now works at Posh Pets Boutique and Spa in Abu Dhabi, a boutique and beauty salon offering what is advertised as the UAE’s first dog gym.
The staff conscientiously protects it with a harness on one of the two adapted racing machines before it starts operating, with glass barriers on all sides to prevent it from falling.
Instead of being set for express speeds, treadmills automatically adapt to the dog’s pace.
Oscar’s owner began taking him to the gym in the Emirati capital after a veterinarian begged him to object to taking him for a walk in the summer due to the threat of heat stroke.
“Last summer was complicated for me because there wasn’t a position like this,” Khan says.
With maximum heat and humidity, “we only walk two, 3 minutes and he is finished, he needs to walk more. “
Mansour al-Hammadi, the dog-loving owner of Posh Pets, charges a dirham (25 cents) per minute for treadmills, or $7. 5 for a 30-minute run.
Dogs get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, experts say.
“So believe it when you can only walk one or two minutes a day,” Hammadi told AFP.
“We studied the order a lot so that it was one hundred percent safe. All selected conscientiously and not randomly, to avoid long-term disorders and not harm dogs,” he adds.
Destiny, a seven-month-old German shepherd, is regular, popping into the gym and playing with the other dogs.
“For the dog’s health, he’s better to exercise and get tired,” says Destiny owner Fahed al-Monjed. “Using a treadmill in the gym is the solution. “
In fact, fate can tire you out. In a treadmill competition, he set the fastest speed.
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