The latest yoga fad entails using a pooch for an exercise buddy
Forget yoga, the latest fad is “doga” and it involves using your pooch for an exercise buddy. Do you have a photogenic pooch? Enter it into The Daily Telegraph’s Bow Wow 100 now.
NSW
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Forget yoga, the latest fad is “doga” and it involves using your pooch for an exercise buddy.
Yoga teacher and TrustedHousesitters dog sitter Ann Olsen has practised doga — a series of yoga moves you can practice with your dog — for a number of years, to “connect” with the four-legged friends she pet sits.
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“I work for a Danish company and travel the world house sitting animals. It’s a good way to connect with new animal and really attune to their energy,” Ms Olsen said.
“The dogs when they meditate are able to calm and sit down and I also use it as a way to get to know the animals.”
And while some of the dogs may be a little confused the first time, they eventually “warm up” to the idea of meditation and stretching.
“When I do yoga, some of the dogs don’t want to join in while others do. But what I found is after a while they all join in and become attached,” Ms Olsen said:
“As long as I don’t force it, it’s so much fun and there are so many benefits. Dogs become more connected to you especially when people these days are so busy.”
Dog owners are also encouraged to put down their phones when they’re with their furry friends because they “can feel you’re not connected”.
“They’re like children. When you practice yoga you’re in the moment and you’re with them. That’s what attracts then to feel like you have an open heart,” Ms Olsen said.
“We could learn a lot from animals because they live in the moment while we are too busy with other things. Just take break, even if it’s just half an hour each day.”
The Daily Telegraph has launched the Bow Wow 100 to catalogue the state’s most powerful and loved pooches.
Is your hound a stand out? Snap and share the cutest photo of your dog and tell us, in 75 words or less, why they should feature in The Daily Telegraph’s Bow Wow 100. Upload your photo at bit.ly/BowWow100.
The Bow-Wow 100 will be revealed later this month.