Bonding with your pooch or barking mad? We test drive Doga

THE latest yoga fad entails using a pooch for an exercise buddy. Our new columnist Emma Markezic couldn’t wait to give it a go.

Emma Markezic

2 min read

February 24, 2016 - 4:08PM

dog doing yoga on a carpet isolated on white background

I SHOULD probably preface this review by saying I’m not a yogi. In fact, I’m not exactly, how do you say, an “enthusiast of exercise” in any shape, form or Lycra-clad package.

So on to doga. Which is – you guessed it – dog yoga.

There are classes peppered around the country but I go straight to the source and get the at-home DVD from Suzi Teitelman, the founder of this fitness mash-up.

I don’t have a pooch so it’s over to my mum’s to borrow Frank, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel.

This breed’s ancestors were reared to be lapdogs in the court of King Charles II – they’re basically the lump of canine putty you need for this exercise.

We get settled and class starts with a peppy introduction.

“It’s yoga, doggie style!” Straight off the bat, I feel she could have thought that phrase through more.

I’m almost sure that’s what my flatmates said they were doing when I caught them in the shower together back in ’97. It didn’t fly then and it isn’t sitting pretty now. I’d have gone with Yoga Mutt: for those who like it “ruff”. But each to their own.

“It’s yoga, doggie style!” Straight off the bat, I feel she could have thought that phrase through more.

The idea, as Suzi explains it, is you work through poses together to strengthen your bond and, one can only imagine, live happily ever after with mutually flexible sinews.

The first few minutes equate to giving your dog a massage – Frank enjoys this immensely.

Then it’s onto the warrior pose. I have to hold Frank up like he’s some manner of sacrifice. “The ciiiircle of liiiiiife,” I sing to his mango-sized butt cheeks. He doesn’t seem the least bit amused. He just hangs there, limp.

It’s more of the same until the last pose. I’m instructed to position Frank behind me as I lean into downward dog.

At this point, I’m wearing Frank as a saddle. I imagine a tiny person riding the Frank saddle that’s now straddling the beast I have become. How did we get here exactly? As a society, I mean?

And with that, our bonding hour is over. I did have the odd sensation of wanting to share a cigarette and cuddle on the couch, so I guess you could say it worked.

We’d allied on a level I actually found quite enchanting.

And it was in that quiet, perfect moment of reflection I couldn’t help but think, how on earth do I get him down from there?

THE LOWDOWN

WHAT: Doga

HOW MUCH: $42

WHERE: dogadog.org

I LOVED: Getting some solid new stand-up comedy material from an exercise class.

I QUESTION: What the dog is really getting out of this … other than hip dysplasia.

Originally published as Bonding with your pooch or barking mad? We test drive Doga