Have you ever considered practicing yoga with your lovable pet? From time immemorial, dogs have endured as the most faithful and lovable of human companions and they’re also emerging as ‘yoga assistants’ too – heart-warming eh? Doga is an emerging trend that involves doing yoga with your dog. Created by Suzi Teitelman, an American (Jacksonville) yoga teacher, Doga is increasing in popularity – intrigued? Read on for Doga: Doing Yoga with Your Pet Dog!
How To Practice Yoga With Your Pooch
Spending quality time with your dog should not only be confined to couch cuddles or walks. Invite him to the yoga mat and see how he responds. To find out more about dogs and all things related to them, visit https://www.pupped.com/. Meantime, consider getting your dog get involved in your yoga classes if you’d like them to get familiar with the new activity. You should never force your pup into yoga because it may turn him onto the offensive. Instead, observe and listen to his body language
Just start the practice with your dog nearby. Slowly he will become curious and then you can encourage him to participate. Try different poses considering his size and gently move to the challenging poses. Some of the poses you can start to try with your pup are:
Forward bend
It’s a traditional yoga move and is good for a small dog who can easily be lifted. In this exercise, you reach forward and at the end of the bend, you lift up the dog.
Downward dog
This is another traditional pose where the hands and feet remain flat on the ground, creating a V-shape with your body. Your pooch may lie around your lower back and seat bones.
Benefits of ‘Doga’ for Owners & Dogs
As most of you know the numerous health benefits of yoga, nothing more is needed to cite its importance in one’s life as part of a healthy lifestyle. Practicing doga or yoga with your dogs has all the same benefits since the poses and breathing exercises are pretty much the same. However, there are a lot of advantages other than it being merely a healthy exercise.
Doga improves bonding with your dog
Interestingly, it’s being proven by scientific research, that doga is undoubtedly an exceptional way to bond with your pooch. While doing yoga with your pet, you both are doing the poses as partners. This can improve the relationship with your dog and therefore strengthen its perceived bond with you. This improvement will most likely be reflected in everyday activities including training and behavioural correction.
Sense of humour & entertainment value
There are many people who find yoga boring and tedious.
Doga does bring with it a good degree of entertainment value when practicing yoga, especially for dog lovers. The whole session turns out to be interesting and fun when you are doing it with your pet. If you take any fun video footage to social media – it’s sure to bring out a genial sense of humour all round!
Helps injured dogs
Yoga which involves gentle stretching action can help your pet revive its lost strength because of perhaps, previous injuries or just due to the natural process of ageing.
Doga practitioners often claim that practicing yoga is a great way to heal a dog that is suffering from any sorts of injuries from accidents, canine arthritis, hip dysplasia or any other age or pain-related conditions. Yoga moves can relieve muscle tension and aches, and the relaxation and breathing exercises greatly contribute to help calm down an overactive dog. If your dog is stressed out like his owner, practicing yoga is a good idea – you both can unwind and chill out.
Socialization in yoga class
Practicing yoga with your dog is an opportunity; to meet other pets and pet owners in a class. Meeting new people and mingling with them can stimulate the mental health of your pooch too. It’s important for your dog to socialise to some extent, because it can improve his behavior on walks or elsewhere in public.
