Dogs run on a treadmill at the 'Posh Pets' boutique and spa in Abu Dhabi. AFP

They are oh-so-human, happy when the owner is happy, sad when he or she is gloomy. They understand feelings better perhaps than humans do. For a good number of households, they are therapy: they raise the feelgood feeling to the stratosphere.

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Nowadays, these canine creatures are pampered no end. There is a dog café in Dubai, even a spa for them to revel in, replete with manicuring, grooming facilities that give them a total makeover. Now the ultimate in style and luxury: there is even a gym for the dog to work out. The poor creature would have been frayed if it were to exercise in the searing heat outside, hence the gym is airconditioned.

For the owners of dogs who have loadsa cash, the airconditioned environs are an appealing option. Oscar is a dog owned by a Pakistani expat which uses the treadmill at a gym in Abu Dhabi.

Oscar, a Welsh Corgi, is owned by a Pakistani expat, Mozalfa Khan. It works out at Posh Pets Boutique and Spa in Abu Dhabi, a shop and grooming salon that offers what's billed as the UAE's first gym for dogs.

During the winter Khan would take him out for a stroll, but (in) summer that was not the case. Oscar would fall sick because of the heat.

A dog runs on a treadmill at the 'Posh Pets' boutique and spa in Abu Dhabi. AFP

Staff carefully secure Oscar with a harness on one of two adapted running machines before he begins to run, with glass barriers on either side to stop him from falling off.

The dogs need not worry about wearing themselves out on the machine. They are programmed to adjust to the speed of the animal.

Oscar's owner started bringing him to the gym in the UAE capital after a veterinarian warned him that his dog would develop a heat stroke if he were to take it out for a walk.

Last summer Khan had a tough time as there were no such airconditioned gyms.

Then Posh Pets opened, and now Khan is relieved.

The gym charges a dirham (25 US cents) a minute for use of the treadmills.

Dogs should have a thirty-minute exercise, experts say. So if you walk them for two or three minutes, they are grossly under-exercised.

Al Hammadi closely studied the project to make it 100 per cent safe, according to Agence France-Presse.

Everything was chosen with a lot of thought and caution to avoid any future issues and to keep the dogs safe.

Destiny, a seven-month-old German Shepherd, is another regular at the airconditioned haven, bursting into the gym and playing with the other dogs.

For the sake of preserving the dog’s health, it's better that she does some exercise and tires herself out, says Destiny's owner Fahed al-Monjed. A running machine in an indoor environment is the best solution.