baltimoresun.com

« Weekend dog doings | Main | Taking aim on Oprah »

April 4, 2008

Now that's a downward dog

dogyoga.jpg

From the Department of All Things Trendy comes the following -- doing yoga with your dog, or "doga."

In Bellevue, Wash., yoga instructor and licensed massage therapist Brenda Bryan -- that's her to the right -- began teaching a doga class in 2006 at the Seattle-King County Humane Society.

In recent weeks, doga has been featured on ABC's Nightline and in the Washington Post.

If this has hit Baltimore, somebody let me know, because Ace and I would like to give it a try.

Doga classes are available in New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, Jacksonville, Fla., Canada, and even Japan.

To say it's all the rage might be not be too much of a, well, stretch.

In a typical doga class, owners help their pups facilitate different poses, and do their own poses using the animals as props. Owners also perform doggy massage and acupressure to help soothe and relax their pets, according to the ABC News report.

The story features Kari Harendorf, who started doing yoga with her dog Charlie five years ago and now leads a monthly classes at Bideawee Animal Shelter in New York City.

"Every time I would get my mat out, Charlie would come lay on top of it," she explained. "I would go into [downward facing] dog and he would just lie under me and look up at me. He put his paw on my hand, and we started doing yoga together." 

Doga was also featured in this Washington Post piece about a class in Chevy Chase.

(Photo by Associated Press) 

Posted by John Woestendiek at 8:26 AM | | Comments (1)
        

Comments

I have been reading about this for a while and periodically check to see if it has come to Baltimore. I would be the first to sign up. Bimini would LOVE it.

He already gets massages every evening. I did it once and now I don't have a choice. He plops down on top of me, puts his paws on my chest, and if I do not start massaging fast enough, he takes my hand in his mouth and puts it on his leg. If I still do not start massaging, he noses my hand until I do.

I do have a sign that says "My dog is not spoiled, I am just well trained".

Post a comment

All comments must be approved by the blog author. Please do not resubmit comments if they do not immediately appear. You are not required to use your full name when posting, but you should use a real e-mail address. Comments may be republished in print, but we will not publish your e-mail address. Our full Terms of Service are available here.

Please enter the letter "w" in the field below:
About Jill Rosen
Jill Rosen is a reporter at The Baltimore Sun. During her nearly 20 years in journalism, she has covered news and features — including a surprising number of stories that involved animals. There were the dog Christmas carolers in State College, Pa. There were the hounds who toured with a production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The story of a preschool teacher at Baltimore’s Father Kolbe School who had to replace her class guinea pig, who died over the winter holiday. A harrowing tale of what it was like to make homemade pet food ...

Though her clean freak of a mother refused to allow her to get a dog, she has had a number of pets through the years, including goldfish named Bob and Fingle, a betta fish named Ichabod, a wild rat terrier named Wendel, who she shared with a roommate, and, currently, sweet, sweet kitties named Leo Sesame and Milo Pumpkin and a little rescued pup named Teddy Bean. She, Leo, Pumpkin and Teddy Bean live in Baltimore.
-- ADVERTISEMENT --

Your pet photos

More animal photos
Most Recent Comments
Stay connected