Dogs across Australia are leaving their leashes at home in favour of yoga mats.
Real Dog Yoga classes are being held where dogs learn more than 30 different yoga position, 15 actions and ten expressions all designed to reduce their anxiety.
Radica Raeves, who carries out dog yoga home visits in Sydney, Australia, says the animals are picking it up quickly.
‘Real dog yoga is where the dog is actually taught to take certain positions,’ says Radica Raeves who takes classes in Sydney
Lying down and crossing the paws is one of yoga moves the dogs learn during the sessions
The dogs learn 30 different yoga position, 15 actions and ten expressions all designed to reduce anxiety
She said: ‘The dog actually starts to learn “oh hang on, this actually feels good, this is relaxing. I could use this in a circumstance where I’m not feeling so confident and I need to de-stress”.’
‘Real dog yoga is where the dog is actually taught to take certain positions and to make certain movements and do certain facial expressions.’
It is about teaching dogs different yoga positions that help them stay calm in stressful situations.
Paws in the moment: Real Dog Yoga is about teaching the pooches to stay calm in stressful situations
Before the private session is held owners are asked to watch their pooches for 30 minutes to help them understand the dogs behaviour
Radica has been running the classes for seven months and gets the owners to sit and watch their dogs in silence for half an hour before the training begins.
Using treats and a dog training clicker they slowly teach each dog the various stretches.
Four one-hour sessions over a month will set the dog’s owner back $199.
Dog Yoga is becoming a fad with trainers across Europe, the U.S and Australia.
The real Downward dog: Trainers use treats and a clicker to teach the dogs the yoga moves
It helps dogs deal with separation anxiety, aggression on the lead and low self confidence
It was started in the UK by Jo-Rosie Haffenden, 31, an animal behaviorist who wrote the book Real Dog Yoga
It is meant to help with aggression on the lead, separation anxiety, low self-confidence and hostility towards other canines.
Like regular yoga each stretch has a name says Jo-Rosie Haffenden, 31, the animal behaviorist behind the book Real Dog Yoga.
‘Each instructor tends to train to different cues. For example the head in-between the paws is called “sad” in the book but lots of people call it “guilty” or “paws”,’ she says.
Real Dog Yoga goes one step above ‘force-free’ training, where there is no pain or fear involved, to actually give the dogs full control over the yoga session.
If they sit on the mat it signals that they’re ready for the stretch session and can end it at any time by walking off.
Jo-Rosie, who lives in the UK, developed the training after adopting her pit bull, Archie.
Namaste, pooches: Real Dog Yoga classes are being held across the U.S., Europe and Australia
Paws and stretch: Jo-Rosie, 31, developed the training after adopting her rescue dog
He had been mistreated, with his ears cut off and was emotionally distressed. Jo-Rosie had been in a car crash at 21 and used yoga as part of her recovery.
She saw a connection between the two and started teaching Archie stretches to help him.
‘I just thought, perhaps I’ll teach him to hold relaxed postures. So I trained him some of the body language I saw that he wasn’t practicing… And so yoga was born,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
She was spotted by a vet using the same technique on her other dog and they suggested she write a manual for owners. Instead she approached publishers and her book, Real Dog Yoga was picked up.
‘Real Dog Yoga empowers both you and your dog on a journey which increases the connection between you,’ it says in the book
It goes one step above force free training that means their is no pain of fear involved
The dogs have full control over the sessions. If they want to start they can hop on the mat and they can end it at any time by hoping off
The book says: ‘Yoga is defined as the stilling of the sense. It is a practice which involves people taking and holding specific postures, focusing on the present and working on physical stimulation as a pathway to still themselves mentally.’
‘Real dog Yoga shares the same aims, as well as improving focus, body consciousness and dog-human connection.’
‘Real Dog Yoga empowers both you and your dog on a journey which increases the connection between you, seeking to create a new, fluid inter-species dialogue with patience, compassion and respect at the heart.’
The yogi dogs and their owners normally go through a six-week class, mastering the stretches and learning to control their behaviour.