Make New York Post a Preferred Source He got pawsitive results.
A 15-year-old Golden Retriever who “abruptly” lost his mobility a few months ago went viral after a daily dose of Pilates helped put some pep back into his step.
Weasel, affectionately known as “the Pilates Dog” on his Instagram page @paw.lates, is now a spry senior living his best life, according to his mom, Jillian Loustaunau.
“I started doing Pilates with him in an attempt to keep the mobility he had left … but than three months later, he’s almost back to 100%” she marveled on Instagram.
View this post on Instagram When Loustaunau, who happens to be a Pilates instructor, took Weasel to a vet who specializes in acupuncture and physical therapy, she “noticed a lot of similarities with his rehab exercises and the movement I teach to humans every day,” she explained.
Loustaunau, who owns her own studio, Movmint Pilates, in Kailua, HI, then remembered that the founder of the fitness practice, Joseph Pilates, developed it by observing the movements of cats, and had a “lightbulb moment.”
“I brought him to my studios and started him on the reformer – then the Cadillac, Chair CoreAlign and ladder barrel and the rest is history! I’m still in awe of how much he enjoys using these machines and how much they are actually helping him,” she gushed in an Instagram post, which racked up 1.8 million views.
The devoted dog mom was so impressed with her pup’s progress that she started a virtual class, aptly named “Pawlates 101” to help other canines with the same issues.
Weasel’s followers loved watching the videos of him at the Pilates studio.
“A dog doing Pilates… ICONIC. Pilates is for everybody!!!” one said.
“Get him some lulu and a Stanley, he is the pawlates community,” another added.
View this post on Instagram Others praised the fur baby’s mom, for her TLC.
“This is how animals deserve to be treated!! You are an angel,” one said.
“As a mother of a senior lab, I’m sobbing,” another replied.
There were some naysayers, who poked fun at the idea of a mutt exercising inside like humans.
“The dog just wants to be in a field sniffing piss and chasing squirrels,” one quipped on Instagram, to which Jillian replied, “We don’t have squirrels in Hawaii, but we do this so he can run, fetch and swim at some of the best beaches in the world.”
