This year marks DogFit’s 10th anniversary, and with it we’re celebrating one of the most heartfelt and inspiring parts of our journey – our My Story series. Over the past decade, we’ve had the privilege of sharing powerful, personal accounts from members of our community whose lives have been transformed by Canicross. Each story is unique, but all are united by a common thread: the bond between human and dog, and the strength found in getting fitter together.

To mark this milestone, each month we’ll revisit one of these incredible stories. We’ll reflect on the impact it had, what it represents to us as a Canicross community, and invite you to re-read the original article. Whether you’re new to DogFit or have been with us from the start, we hope these stories continue to inspire and remind you of the power of putting one foot – and paw – in front of the other.

Bert and Vic’s Story – From Street dogs to Canicross dogs

In 2019, Alexis Fisher shared the heartwarming story of her two rescue dogs, Bert and Vic. The brothers had a tough start in life as strays on the streets of Spain before being rescued and eventually rehomed in the UK. While Bert settled reasonably well, Vic arrived withdrawn, fearful, and scarred from fights in the pound. Both dogs struggled with reactivity, making walks stressful and leaving Alexis and her husband unsure how best to help them adjust to life as family pets.

Everything changed when Alexis discovered Canicross through DogFit. What began as a tentative trial with a DogFit Trainer in their local park soon became a turning point. Running in a safe, structured group gave Bert and Vic the chance to build confidence, socialise, and channel their energy positively. Over time, the changes were remarkable: the dogs became calmer, more affectionate, and even began to cope better around joggers and cyclists. For Alexis, Canicross not only strengthened her bond with her dogs but also brought her the joy of exercise and connection with like-minded dog lovers.

Bert and Vic’s journey is a touching reminder of how Canicross can give rescue dogs a second chance – helping them overcome fear, build trust, channel excess energy and thrive alongside their humans.

Read Bert and Vic’s full story here

If you would like to join a Canicross class, find out more here.

The post Bert and Vic’s Story – From Street dogs to Canicross dogs appeared first on Dogfit Blog.

At DogFit, we welcome all dogs to our classes. In particular, we have witnessed first-hand the many benefits it brings to rescue dogs; as well as giving them much needed physical and mental stimulation, it helps expedite the bond with their new owner.

DogFit Trainer, Lara Trewin, has a rescue dog of her own, a beautiful GSP called Tilly. In this blog, she shares their story, from Tilly’s initial lack of socialisation skills and trust in people through to her complete transformation into a happy, active and loving dog…all as a result of plenty of love, guidance, time….and of course Canicross!

When Lara met Tilly

I’ve enjoyed running for over a decade, yet as family and work life took over, my runs had become short, infrequent and, quite honestly, not as enjoyable. It almost became another chore to tick off the list. This was not the running I knew and loved.

I couldn’t be further from those days now. Since I adopted our girl from Spain four years ago, my running has become regular and immensely enjoyable and fits perfectly into my day.

As a rescue dog who had only known life in a Spanish pound (she was born there), Tilly had many behavourial issues due to her lack of socialisation and her neglect in her early years. She was unable to look me in the eye for the first few months of being here and she was not food orientated at all. She had no idea how to play, so using toys or food to help with training was pretty much a no go and her socialisation skills were extremely limited.

Canicross enabled me to stimulate her mental as well as physical requirements and most importantly, start working on building trust and a cementing a bond together.

How Canicross helped transform Tilly’s life around

One of the biggest advantages of Canicross is that you can still exercise your dog without letting them off the lead. This was a huge reason why I started Canicross. It gave me the opportunity for Tilly to enjoy a good run and burn off some energy whilst supporting her growth in confidence and building a bond with me. She would have bolted in the first few weeks if I had let her off lead outside a secure area, so for us to explore more, I had to find a way to adventure together safely. This gave us that.

Canicross can transform the lives of many dogs (alongside their humans) because it ticks so many boxes for dogs who need the mental and physical stimulation the sport brings.

I started to see, quite quickly, that the bond we were forming was growing daily. Whilst she was in the Canicross harness and focused on a “job”, Tilly learnt to trust and to build confidence in her new surroundings. She also had very little muscle tone, so we took it slowly and trekked alongside running to build up her muscle. 

I enjoyed trail running and ran distances from 5k to ultras but nothing prepared me for how much I was going to enjoy the company of my canine athlete. The change it made to Tilly’s world was remarkable too. We have formed a very tight bond through working together and after years of training, I’ve even seen huge improvements in her recall and self-control and for a high-prey drive, nervous dog this has been a joy to see.

How you can get started 

The cost of the entire kit comes in at under the cost of a pair of trainers, which in my mind is a great investment. Not only do I run Tilly in the Canicross kit but I can also walk her hands-free with it (known as Canitrekking) for longer hikes or for stretches of coastal path near where we live. There are no limitations to where we can adventure as she is under my control throughout.

We now support others to get started on their Canicross adventures together. Alongside DogFit trainers all over the UK and beyond, we have regular face to face classes in addition to DogFit’s online coaching and courses. There really is no reason why you will ever have to run alone again!

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Canicrossing with rescue dogs has always been something that we have actively encouraged at DogFit. We run with rescue dogs ourselves and have supported thousands of new owners to take up the sport.

It’s rewarding to see how transformational it can be, and wanted to share a few stories about running with rescue dogs and how it has changed their lives.

LEON & TAYLA 

We donated some Canicross kit a while ago to Hermanus Animal Welfare Society. A number of the volunteers were able to take the dogs along to the local Canicross friendly event and exercise them there.

There was a dog Tayla at the rescue centre, who was so strong that volunteers were reluctant to take her for a walk during the week. However one volunteer, Leon Dube, absolutely loved Tayla, but was only able to get there at the weekends.

As you can imagine Tayla was very pleased to get out and run at that point. For Leon, being able to run in the DogFit Canicross kit meant they could run together in control and balance.

They ran a few times together at Hermanus 5K Parkrun and won in a fabulous time of 20:58 – a great achievement, especially as they had to start at the back. This was indeed a success story as Tayla then went on to be rehomed, thanks to the care of the rescue centre and the time Leon gave to exercise her.

MARIE & DIESEL

Another rescue dog to Canicross dog success story was with RSPCA Inspector Marie Hammerton, and Diesel.

Marie has been doing an amazing job taking rescue dogs along to the local Parkrun and had helped rehome over 20 dogs by running them there.

After reading about her great work, we got in contact as she had been running with just a lead and collar. It is not the most comfortable thing for either the runner or the dog, so we took along our Canicross equipment to show how much easier it is giving you better balance, control and hands-free running.

Marie arrived with Diesel, a lovely dog who had literally just arrived at the kennels the night before. He had lots of energy and raring to go, despite the heavy rain!

We ran through the kit with Marie and fitted Diesel with the correct size harness and started slowly at the back of the group. After the initial excitement at the start, Diesel settled into his stride and was a natural. We ran either side with our dogs and they all ran along happily together.

Here’s what Marie had to say about trying Canicross for the first time:

As part of our help with rescue dogs, we left Marie, with a Canicross kit and a selection of different harnesses, so that she can continue her amazing work.

If you are looking for Canicross Kit to start running at Parkrun, we have put together everything you need in our DogFit Canicross Starter kit, which you can find here.

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