Yoga for Dogs. Nope, I'm Not Even Kidding.

You need to chill and relax. So maybe you do a little yoga. Chill the body and the mind. But for your DOG? Really? What could a dog really need yoga for? Maybe they're trying to get in touch with their inner dog lol. Here's a chick who really thinks that yoga is helping her dog.

Quote:

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When Ashley Storm wants to chill, she does yoga. And when she wants to help her Labrador mix relax, she has Loki join in.

Yes, a dog doing yoga. It’s called – what else? – doga. People help their dogs into yoga poses and then rub or nuzzle them while the dogs stretch or just hang out.

“They stretch naturally, like we do in our yoga poses,” says Storm, a yoga instructor and co-owner of Hot Yoga in Chevy Chase. “It just feels good to them. It feels good to us, too.”

Doga (pronounced DOE-guh) is popular in New York City and London, England. Washington-area kids are getting in on the act, too. Nathan Jester, 10, recently did doga with Dixie, a friend’s fox terrier mix, at Storm’s studio.

“It’s fun,” said Nathan, a fifth-grader at Chevy Chase Elementary School. “It’s really calming for both of us. She [Dixie] likes getting the attention because she’s getting played with at the same time.”

In doga poses, the dogs look a lot like they do when they loll about and appear to be happy. It’s no coincidence, Storm says, that a common yoga stretch for people is called “downward-facing dog.”

Hannah Mangel, 14, does the mountain pose with her dog Dixie.
In the chair pose, dogs sit on their hind legs with their front paws in the air while a person holds them from behind. In the chaturanga pose, dogs lie on their abdomens while someone strokes their backs. In the savasana relaxation pose, they lie on their backs while someone rubs their belly. Aaaaahhhhh.

If dogs don’t want to do doga, it’s fun to have them hang out on a mat while you do yoga, Storm says.

The most important part of doga is spending quality time together. Doga helps dogs and people bond, Storm says, because they have to focus on each other. No TV or video games. No homework worries. Just you and your dog stretching and relaxing.

The result: Busy, highly scheduled kids have to slow down, and couch-potato kids get up and do something.

Leah Enelow, 13, recently tried doga with her dogs, Chance and Sadie, at Storm’s studio. She liked it. “I love doing anything with my dogs and spending time with them,” said Leah, a seventh-grader at Westland Middle School in Bethesda.

Storm started doing doga with Loki about four years ago, shortly after a friend gave her a book about it.

Loki, a rescue dog who had been abused, used to get so stressed out around strangers that she would shake. But after hanging around the yoga studio and doing doga, she seems far more relaxed and happy.

“Everyone says she’s a different dog,” Storm says.

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So do you think that this is useful, a wasteful of time or just really different? Thoughts, questions, comments, please. And please don't do "thats weird" or "thats cool" posts. Actually discuss it or don't post it.

now, I think I've seen it all.
this is blasphemy
it's more like she is actually giving her dog attention now, so the dog is less hyperactivly trying to get it.

lmao doga ha ha ha!

kind of cute! Don't think I'd say it's a waste of time, but I'd have to agree with ochi gate, it's probably better now mainly cause their owners are giving them more attention. though yoga is relaxing, who knows it probably does have the same effect on dogs?

xD

if a dog can talk human, they'll probably say,"... and they call us stupid."

WTF? Dogs are cute in tutus, hats and frilly dresses. But this! THIS IS WRONG! What the heck has humanity come into to? Letting dogs go to Yoga? It's stupid and weird. Why do even people waste their time and money for this kind of things? Gosh, people this days...

i find it kinda strange..i mean really? a dog doing yoga, i guess i couldnt beleive it unless i see it....its too bizarre :confused:

i see no problem with it.

after all, they're spending time with their dogs and developing relationships with them. it may not be fetch, or tug-of-war, but it's a f*ck of a lot better than letting the dog rot in the backyard (which is what a lot of people do).

and it's like those programs where children read to dogs (Reading Assistance Education Dogs). the dogs don't really care what they're doing, as long as they get to spend time with their family. and the kids get the added benefits as well.

O.o it's really not worth such a freak out over.

That's stupid. Dogs don't need yoga. They run around and play for exercise. You can't force them to stretch and do yoga stuff...lol. Some ppl will think of anything. "Doga" wtf...