Playing fetch has always a good way to exercise, but if that gets tiresome there is always another form of working out... Doga.
Marcela Castro, 29, from San Jose, Costa Rica, has been running Dog-Yoga classes for three years after taking one of her six dogs to a yoga class with her.
It means that yoga devotees can do the downward facing dog manoeuvre with their pet alongside them.
Ms Castro holds doga classes in the park for between 30-100 participants and their dogs.
‘Doga benefits both the person and their dog: It helps the dog get lots of stretches. It stretches the dog’s back, legs and spine and helps calm them down.
Fans of the classes are taken through a number of positions including 'The Tree,' and other standing and seated stretches geared at stopping their tails from wagging.
‘Dogs with behavioural problems started to come and now are much more calm and better behaved,' Ms Castro explains.
‘One of my dogs, a rescue dog, used to be very nervous and urinate when people touched him. He doesn’t do that now after doing Doga.
‘It is also good for dogs to mix with other dogs’
Ms Castro charges in the region of £2 per session and donates the money to a dog rescue centre.
Doga is also extremely popular in New York where it first caught on.
Suzi Teitelman has been teaching doga in New York and Jacksonville, Florida, since 2002.
She started the classes after noticing that her cocker spaniel Coali liked to lie beneath her when she practised traditional yoga at home.
Yoga is an ancient Indian Hindu practice, dating back to 2500BC.
It is a combination of relaxation, breathing techniques and exercises which combats stress, helps circulation and movement of the joints.
Source : dailymail
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