Puppies in the yoga classes will be about 5 weeks old.
Using animals such as bunnies and goats to interact with practitioners during yoga is not new, but inviting puppies into yoga class is a particularly innovative and fun idea, causing many laughs when puppies are coupled with the well-known “downward dog” pose in yoga.
The first puppy yoga classes in the Prescott area will debut toward the end of August when Quad-City Puppy Yoga classes will be offered to the public.
The classes are sponsored by Calizona Labs, a breeder in Yavapai County for 21 years that will be supplying all the purebred Labrador puppies for the yoga classes. The breeding business has specialized in providing animals to special needs families and veterans with PTSD, but has recently broadened its market.
“We’ve opened it up in the last few years to all families, not just special needs families,” said Trish DeHamer, who operates Calizona Labs with her husband and their children at their six-acre property in Chino Valley.
According to the Calizona Labs website, “The Labrador is even-tempered, easily trained and well behaved around young children and the elderly.”
Yoga instructors at Quad-City Puppy Yoga classes will be local, mostly from Prescott, and will include some teachers from the Breathe Play Love Yoga Collective, which is located in Prescott and other studio and outdoor locations in Yavapai County.
“We are so excited to bring this to the Quad Cities area!” said Candace Lea, a yoga instructor and director of marketing at the collective who will be teaching at the puppy yoga classes. Classes will be offered in three consecutive weeks, with each class lasting 90 minutes. The cost is $50 per person, per class. There will also be free puppy play classes on Mondays for veterans and special needs families.
“We’re telling people that this is about the experience of it, enjoying that atmosphere,” DeHamer explained. “Our classes are much longer, with 45 minutes of yoga with puppies in the room, and 45 minutes just playing with the puppies.”
Puppies in the yoga classes will be about 5 weeks old. The three-week window with the yoga classes will synchronize with the 5- to 8-week age range that is the most appropriate period for socialization to begin for puppies, she added.
Current plans call for eight yoga participants with eight puppies in each class, she said.
Timing of the upcoming classes will depend on when litters are born and when they reach the right age of 5 weeks to join yoga practitioners.
“We typically have litters several times a year, which will allow us to maintain a pretty regular yoga class schedule with short lulls when we don’t have puppies or are waiting for them to be of appropriate age for yoga,” DeHamer explained.
There are currently 29 puppies at Calizona Labs, with “seven breeding girls” in reproductive cycles. “We breed all colors of lab – black, yellow, chocolate, charcoal, brindle, silver, red fox and champagne – all DNA tested and purebred,” she added.
DeHamer said they are advising yoga teachers to “Just be flexible to what happens during class. Puppies walk around and do their puppy thing. Some people might be happy to just do their routine; other people might want to just play with the puppies.”
Experiences with puppy yoga classes across the country have documented many mental health benefits. The mood often becomes more relaxing ,with the antics of puppies adding an unpredictable element as they frolic from mat to mat with practitioners and even pull off their socks. Puppies also play together as they learn important social skills.
“There is a great deal of evidence showing therapy with dogs is very beneficial,” DeHamer said. “It is actually super beneficial to the puppies as well as the people who take the class.”
Lea agreed that pairing puppies and yoga is a win-win for all participants. “It’s good for the puppies because it helps them to be socialized and get used to being held and cuddled,” she said. “It’s good for people because it helps us to give love to animals and to open our hearts to animals.”
Lea said several of her fellow yoga teachers from the collective will be part of the diverse group of teachers conducting the puppy yoga sessions. “We started the collective one year ago,” said Lea, who has lived in Prescott for eight years. “We just had our second annual Yoga & Health Fair. We’re all about helping the non-profits in the area raise money.”
The fair featured meditation, qi gong, freestyle yoga slow, moon salutations, live music and sound healing. Lea said the yoga festival raised about $2,500 for Adult Care Services, the management company for Margaret T. Morris Assisted Living Center, as well as the Susan J. Rheem Adult Care Program. QCBN
By Betsey Bruner, QCBN
For information about Breathe Play Love Yoga, visit the collective website at www.breatheplayloveyoga.com. For more information and the class schedule for upcoming Quad-City Puppy Yoga classes, email Calizonalabs@gmail.com or visit Calizona Labs on Facebook.
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