Puppies and Pilates event brings canine cardio to Savannah

13 dogs serve as ‘assistant instructors’ for workout session; all are available for adoption

Farrell Click works out as puppies run around at Woof Gang Bakery on Sunday during One Love Animal Rescue’s Puppies and Pilates event. For a donation to the non-profit, pilates beginners got the chance to learn the ropes with the help of 13 adorable assistant instructors. (Will Peebles/Savannah Morning News)

Breanna Newsome plays with a puppy at Woof Gang Bakery on Sunday during One Love Animal Rescue’s Puppies and Pilates event. For a donation to the non-profit, pilates beginners got the chance to learn the ropes with the help of 13 adorable assistant instructors. (Will Peebles/Savannah Morning News)

Adoptable puppies from One Love Animal Rescue smother Emily DePue at Woof Gang Bakery on Sunday during One Love Animal Rescue’s Puppies and Pilates event. For a donation to the non-profit, pilates beginners got the chance to learn the ropes with the help of 13 adorable assistant instructors. (Will Peebles/Savannah Morning News)

Ally Wesley cuddles two sleeping puppies at Woof Gang Bakery on Sunday during One Love Animal Rescue’s Puppies and Pilates event. For a donation to the non-profit, pilates beginners got the chance to learn the ropes with the help of 13 adorable assistant instructors. (Will Peebles/Savannah Morning News)

Pilates instructor and One Love Animal Rescue volunteer Stephanie Sons plays with puppies at Woof Gang Bakery on Sunday before One Love’s Puppies and Pilates event. For a donation to the non-profit, pilates beginners got the chance to learn the ropes from Sons and her 13 adorable assistant instructors. (Will Peebles/Savannah Morning News)

Stephanie Sons rolled out her yoga mat in the open space of Woof Gang Bakery’s Bull Street location Sunday morning.

As she was doing so, a pair of black and white puppies loped over to her and clumsily hopped up on her lap, licking her face and arms.

With an ear-to-ear smile, she turned to her pilates class.

“I don’t know how much pilates we’ll be doing today,” Sons said. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m here for the puppies.”

Luckily for Sons and the rest of the class, there were plenty of dogs to go around.

Sunday was the first installment of One Love Animal Rescue’s Puppies and Pilates event. For a donation of $15 and a bag of dog treats, pilates beginners got the chance to learn the ropes with the help of 13 adorable assistant instructors.

The puppies were free to run around inside the workout space while Sons instructed.

Some played with dog toys. Some found a nice yoga mat to lay on. A few found a nice human to lay on.

But the fun was not without good cause. Every dog “helping” with the workout session is for adoption at One Love, and all of the money raised on Sunday will be added to the non-profit’s funding.

The team at One Love saw a video on Facebook of a puppy-oriented pilates session and decided the event would be a good fit for Savannah.

Sons has been a Pilates instructor for 10 years. She only recently began volunteering at the non-profit, but her Pilates skills were promptly utilized.

“This came up, and I said, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m a certified Pilates instructor,’” Sons said.

It was a perfect match. The idea caught on, and the event sold out quickly.

Natalie Kloc drove down from Bluffton for a little canine cardio. She and a few of her coworkers from Faulkville Animal Hospital saw the event on Facebook and decided to check it out.

“I work at an animal hospital, so I love everything about puppies,” Kloc said.

The pups were excitable and active at first, but as the morning continued, their oversized feet grew heavy and sluggish. Two of the younger dogs were fast asleep on class member Ally Wesley’s lap by the end of the session.

One Love co-founders Dana Bertagnolli and Karrie Bulski were pleased with Sunday’s Puppies and Pilates session — enough to begin planning it as a monthly event. Bertagnolli also mentioned a cat yoga session.

“It was a success,” Bertagnolli said. “I think everybody had a great time, including the puppies. We saw this idea and we thought, this would be so much fun, and we have so many puppies. Let’s do this.

“We’ll probably start doing this monthly, we’ve been thinking about doing cat yoga too.”

This content was originally published here.