Dog Yoga Blog

I’ve been lucky to have two really mellow dogs…Honey and Gus.  Then along came Nelson: “Hi I’m Nelson, 2 year old pit bull terrier, I love food, runs, tennis balls and tearing up soft household items like pillows and duvets.”  And, yes he get’s walks, runs and play time everyday.  We buy toys that he will destroy within the hour, except his kong, that’s a good one.

 I’m trying to view my living room pillows with detachment, they are just pillows after all.  3 duvets and duvet covers later, I’m getting used to it..and hey I’m learning , no more feathers, he loves the feather filling and the mess is quite spectacular, so foam filling from now on, a little easier to clean up and I can patch the holes with out losing too much stuffing.     He’s so fast, if I forget about him for 5 minutes that could be the death of another pillow.  I just have to remember to make sure he’s in the same room with me all the time. 

While this isn’t a daily occurance and since my glass is always half full, I’m grateful he doesn’t go after  my shoes, since my shoe collection is quite immense and lovely (ah shoes! how I love thee almost as much as dogs!).

 What’s kinda weird though, is he doesn’t do anything to my yoga room where he  stays when I’m not at home. It’s weird because there are pillows and other items that he could easily get into and have at, but he doesn’t.. Ha! he just climbed up in my lap. all 49 pounds of him., guess he wants to help me write. 

 Anyway, maybe when he’s out in the whole house his world feels too big and he freaks out, or the opposite, maybe when he’s out of the yoga room around the family he’s relaxed enough to get into trouble.  There is probably some sort of lesson on dog behaviour in here somewhere,  I have to think about it a little more, and usually the lesson is more about human behaviour anyway.  I just know that he’s part of the family now and despite his love of the pillow, he’s a sweet boy and he tries to be good.  So  until I figure it out, guess I’ll just continue to do my best as his caretaker and just watch the sales for duvets and pillows and stay vigilante around my shoes.

Come help Gus and I whittle our waists’ at Bootcamp Doga tonight at 7:00!

Although in the the world of  Yoga we use the Sanskrit word asana to mean pose, the literal translation is acually seat or sit.  The word asana is tacked on to the end of almost every yoga pose in Sanskrit.  Downward Facing Dog in the ancient yogic language of Sanskrit is Adho Mukha Svanasana, the word for forward bend in Sanskrit is Uttanasana,  Cobra Pose is Bhujangasana…  you get the the picture.

The reason the word asana is so prevalent in our traditional yoga practice is because the whole purpose of yoga is to still the fluctuations of the mind allowing us to sit peacefully in meditation.  Asana, seat, sit.  Sit.  Since most people don’t spend as much time thinking about, writing about and spending time with dogs like I do,  you probably didn’t have the same eureka moment that I did when I realized that ”sit” is the first trick most dogs learn.   How cool is it that we teach our dogs to be in their asana?

After they learn sit we often teach then to stay in their seat.  I often use sit to divert my dog’s attention away from potential drama  (squirrel, cat,ect).  This takes some practice and focus of attention, just as our meditiation seat takes practice. 

When we teach our dog to stay in their seat, we start by just taking a couple of steps away from them and we work up to keeping them in the sit/ stay as we lengthen the time and distance . 

 In doga class I can usually put Gus and/or Honey in a stay on the doga mat, using a hand signal so I can move around the class room If I need to.  Of course this is’nt fail proof, sometimes they can’t resist the temptation to get off the mat.  But for the most part they are pretty good in their seat.

  It’s just like when we meditate, some days,  we are right there and other days it’s tough to focus the mind and the breath and to sit still.   Just remember be patient with yourself like you are with your dog when teaching him a  trick..  And just like teaching our dogs,  learning anything new takes practice and consistency.

Here is a post about Nelson’s progress at The Bully Playgroup:

http://www.bullyroundup.org/blog/?p=20

Also, Nelson ran with us at Bootcamp Doga and he did great, no anxiety issues during the run/walk with the other dogs at all!  Yay Nels!  I’m glad others get to see what a great dog he is.