Don't paws for breath! Podgy pooch put through her paces at fat camp to help her find a family

By DAMIEN GAYLE

Hot under the collar: Gloria the overweight Australian kelpie is put through her paces at doggy boot camp

There's no time to paws for breath for this podgy pooch.

Four-year-old Gloria should be out herding sheep, but instead she's being worked like a dog at a boot camp for heavyweight hounds.

The Australian kelpie is learning some new fight-fighting tricks to lose some weight before being put up for adoption.

Alongside the usual commands of 'sit' and 'stay', she has now learned a host of others, including 'fetch that dumbbell' and 'lift those legs'.


Paws for thought: Gloria prepares to take on an army-style assault course


She used to be a working dog, but Gloria has had some ruff breaks and ended up being abandoned.

To make matters worse, she has also been dogged by weight problems which have made it more difficult to find a family to take her on.

Now she's being put through her paces by fitness trainer Julie 'Hoffy' Hoffman, who hopes the workouts will give Gloria a new leash on life.


Barking mad: Gloria does press ups with her personal trainer Julie 'Hoffy' Hoffman


Rather than just donate money to Australian Working Dog Rescue, animal-loving Ms Hoffman decided to offer her services the charity.

She had initially planned to raffle a 10-session voucher to raise funds for the group.

'But when I heard about Gloria, I signed her up and hope to get her down from what is basically twice her ideal weight,' Ms Hoffman said.

'I thought I could do more by helping Gloria get fit so she looks more adoptable.'


Go mutts! Gloria takes a well-earned rest, surrounded by her friends from the boot camp team

source: dailymail