Dog Daily News

Actress Rachel Leigh Cook and her dog Cooper at the Wii Fit Plus Fitness Club in West Hollywood. Run, Cooper, run! Or soon you may look like the dog in the picture below... (AP Photo/Nintendo, Casey Rodgers)

We dogs already dislike Wii Fit. Why? Because instead of our people taking us for  big long walks, they are jumping up and down in front of their TVs, huffing and puffing and getting fit without having to set foot outside to get some exercise with us. That means they are getting trim and happy while we are getting pudgy and bored.

So along comes Nintendo and really rubs salt in the wound. “Oh, you think you hate Wii Fit now, doggies? Just wait ’til you see the next generation of it!” OK, no one at Nintendo really said that, but they were probably thinking that.

The new Wii Fit is called Wii Fit Plus. (The marketing team was apparently asleep during the product-naming sessions, but that’s beside the point.) Nintendo is promoting Wii Fit Plus as dog-friendly. You can make an avatar for your dog. That’s kind of cute. But it’s the product’s sole other “dog-friendly” aspect that bothers us staffers:

A victim of Wii Fit Plus?

Wii Fit Plus will weigh your dog to monitor his progress. Progress? They should just come right out and say that it measures your dog’s increasing heft as he watches you and your avatar do calisthenics in front of your TV screen instead of taking him for a walk.

Dog Daily News gives this new Wii Fit our very uncoveted one-paw rating. We like the canine avatars. But the rest is just a giant step backward for us dogs, who appreciate just about any step in any direction these days, but would much rather step out the front door with our people in tow.