I did yoga with my dog to improve our wellbeing
Two years of pandemic anxiety has weighed down on our pups just as much as us. Could downward-facing dog be the key to healthier welfare for all of us?
Nama-paw. I finish my yoga session with Misti, my white Kyi-Leo, lying on my lap. We both sit in each other’s presence, and although I can’t ask her how she’s feeling I can tell my furry companion is just as relaxed as I am.
It’s National Puppy Day on 23 March and after spending a lot more time with Misti over the past two years of lockdowns, it seemed fitting to nurture our relationship and focus on helping her wellbeing just as much as mine. ‘Doga’, that is yoga with your dog, seemed like the perfect way to do this.
"Doga is first and foremost human yoga. Your dog doesn't need yoga, you need yoga"
Mahny Djahanguiri
Doga is as simple as yoga that you do with your dog. It gained more traction after yoga instructor Mahny Djahanguiri auditioned for ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent with her pup Robbie in 2017. The now 48-year-old from Switzerland has become a leading figure in the realm of doga, teaching classes and workshops across the UK and internationally. She even wrote a book about it called, Doga: Yoga for You and Your Dog.
“Doga is first and foremost human yoga. Your dog doesn’t need yoga, you need yoga,” explains Djahanguiri. She says the 'Instagram age' has caused doga to become a bit of a trend and something people do just to snap a photo of and share online. Her passion is to show that there is a power in doga that lies much deeper than being a meaningless fad for social media.
It isn’t as easy as doing some poses with your dog either. “Doga is one of the hardest forms of yoga,” Djahanguiri tells me. “You're focusing inwardly on yourself and making a connection with yourself. That energy then manifests something in the dog.”
Forming this connection between pet and owner might be exactly what dogs need after the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Veterinary surgeon Dr Robert Elliott from Oxfordshire has been helping domestic animals for around 50 years. He has seen more struggling owners throughout the pandemic than in previous years.
“We’ve had several dogs with difficult problems in lockdown days,” Dr Elliott explains. “Food guarding, house guarding, lack of socialisation with other dogs, problems with children. It’s very sad and it’s more common than I think we know.”
These behavioural problems have often resulted in trust issues. Dr Elliott is one of many vets who has had trouble in recent years getting near anxious and aggressive dogs to treat them.
A lack of proper care for new puppies has also been an issue throughout the pandemic. Dr Elliott witnessed new owners purchasing dogs and not being prepared for the responsibility of care required. Neglect and mistreatment resulted in the RSPCA investigating 56,563 incidents of dog cruelty in 2020 alone.
Dr Lee Boyes, lecturer of Animal Welfare at Abingdon and Witney College, is an expert in hydrotherapy, another practice used to help the wellbeing of dogs. During the therapy, dogs are placed in a warm pool and do exercises.
“The main aim is to build up muscles, coordination and balance after surgery or help conditions they have, to lose weight, and just to have fun,” Dr Boyes explains.
He tells me therapy practices like this support dog welfare and improve the bond they have with their owner. “It has an effect on mental health. It helps to burn off excess energy so that surplus isn’t going to be redirected into undesirable behaviours,” Dr Boyes explains.
Dr Boyes suggests yoga has a similar effect on wellbeing for both dog and owner.
As someone who has taken yoga classes before, I'm familiar with the serene feeling that comes over you with the final exhale. Adding a dog into the mix, however, seemed a little more more challenging. Nevertheless, I dived into doing doga with Misti to see what it would do for our relationship and wellbeing.
Stage 1: Grounding
I spent some time studying doga online with tutorials. It was clear doga is not something you can start doing straight away, you must first do some grounding work to get in the right headspace.
Djahanguiri explains that this stage “requires the dog to roam around freely to do at their heart’s content what they want. It doesn’t work any other way.”
I lay in corpse pose, my back flat on the ground, my arms on either side of me, legs relaxed, and focused on deep breaths. Misti was free to do as she pleased, whether it was to sniff around me with curiosity or not take any notice of me.
She chose the latter.
Soon enough though, she began to take interest and came to sit next to me. I’m not sure if it was out of concern for the fact I was lying on the floor or if the sound of me inhaling and exhaling genuinely attracted her attention, but she was happy for me to pick her up and have some cuddles.
Now in contact with each other, it was time to focus more closely on breathing. I sat cross-legged while she comfortably lay in my lap. Inhale, exhale. I was surprised at how quickly we seemed to fall into a space of connection. We were both solely focused on each other.
I began some stretches and bends to start some movement. She didn’t seem too interested in what I was doing but still sat with me quite content.
This grounding stage is vital, Djahanguiri tells me. “The most important thing is that you’re coming into a space with your dog where you can appreciate each other.
“It’s actually being together present in a moment’s state,” she says. It certainly felt like that.
Stage 2: Poses
Trying some yoga poses with your dog is all about patience and accepting that they may not want to get involved with everything. Most importantly, don’t force them to participate because it will be ineffective.
Djahanguiri has been practising doga with Robbie for nine years and it has led to an understanding between them. “He just loves it. He likes sitting with me and putting his head back and hanging in my arms, he’s very comfortable,” she says.
Djahanguiri believes dogs are creatures of habit and doing doga regularly will lead to them recognising the practice. “Through two years of lockdown I had a daily yoga practice at home on the same spot on the same mat and he would watch me from the sofa. He knew before I wriggled my toes that my relaxation was over,” she says.
As newcomers to the doga scene, I wasn’t expecting Misti to want to get involved with the yoga poses right away.
We started easy with what Djahanguiri calls ‘sail away’, an adaptation of the boat yoga position. I sat with Misti on my lap facing me and gave her lots of strokes. She returned the favour with a lick on the nose which I took as a signal that she was quite happy. As I lifted my legs and my body was in a v-position, she stared at me in confusion but still stayed. She probably thought it was an odd way of cuddling.
I moved into warrior lunge to see if we could try a more challenging pose. In this position, Misti sat on my knee facing me. I was a bit wobbly at first and trying to hold the position while balancing with her took a few tries to succeed. I think she was just happy to be getting back massages during this pose.
Face-to-face poses like these provided the strongest connection. Having eye contact with me engaged her and seeing her little face was a good distraction for me from the slight pain I experienced from holding my body in this way.
Less successful poses included the bridge and triangular pose. She didn’t seem to be as interested and took it upon herself to lie down, walk away, or simply get distracted. By this point she was quite floppy though, and it was easier to pick her up and move her around. Perhaps the doga was having a tranquilising effect on her.
Stage 3: Flowing
Having nailed some poses, it was now time to move onto a flow. I used Djahanguiri’s ‘Dawn of the Dog’ tutorial on her YouTube channel.
It felt like a scene out of The Lion King lifting Misti in the air as I inhaled. I exhaled and lowered her to the ground, followed by some petting.
I found it beneficial to have the weight of her body added to a yoga flow. It felt more physically challenging. It was also clear Misti enjoyed lying with her back flat on the mat, relaxed and docile.
My calmness seemed to have rubbed off on her, something Djahanguiri has witnessed Robbie benefit from for years.
Stage 4: Cool down
It’s always important to finish off a yoga session with a cool down. When a dog is involved, this requires puppy massages. After all, Misti deserves a reward for her hard work of being stroked, lifted, and cuddled.
My experience doing doga was beneficial even for a first go. It’s apparent to me now that, ironically, doga has nothing to do with the dog at all. You don’t force your dog into yoga positions, you simply do yoga and let your dog join you if they are happy to.
While she was a little more hesitant and confused in the beginning, Misti got used to the practice and was enjoying the attention in the process. We were both calmer, enjoyed lots of cuddles together, and I felt as though our bond was closer from spending this focused time together.
I can only imagine what regular doga would do for your relationship with your dog if this was the result of a first time trying it.
Djahanguiri believes doga is a great way to strengthen a pet-owner bond. “You will go to another level if you’re willing, you will have telepathic communication with your dog, you will not need a lead anymore, you don’t have to worry about anything anymore because you will be in sync with your dog,” she says.
We’re probably far from that, especially considering Misti is 13 years old and has never been successfully trained off-lead, but I definitely felt a closer connection of trust between us and it was clear we both felt comforted.
Djahanguiri tells me the benefits of doga are endless if you embrace them, but just remember it’s OK if things don’t go to plan either. Dogs have minds of their own and they might spend half the time walking away from you.
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