In puppy yoga, downward facing dog takes on a whole new meaning.
“It's like animal-assisted therapy combined with yoga, whether it’s a goat or a puppy,” said Danielle Kerr, owner of Goat Yoga Chicago in South Barrington.
Kerr started offering goat yoga classes in 2015 and expanded to puppy yoga after she got a call from the founder of Second City Canine Rescue, which has an adoption center in Palatine.
“These are brand new babies. They don't know anything. They've never seen a human get down on the floor and play with them and so this is exposing them to all the things that they're going to need for when they join a forever family,” said Christina Morrison, Development Director for Second City Canine Rescue.
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All of the puppies that participate in the yoga classes are rescues up for adoption, which is why puppy yoga classes don’t have a regular weekly schedule.
“It is all over the place because we wait for a transport of puppies to come in. And to be honest, sometimes those puppies are suffering from, you know, different things that they need to be treated for before they come into puppy yoga,” Kerr said.
Once they are cleared for adoption, the yoga studio sends out a newsletter with the puppy yoga class times and dates. You can sign up for the updates here.
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“You can do the yoga and pet a puppy or you can just sit there and pet a puppy. We don't care. It just brightens everyone's day. I never see anyone leaving here still stressed out or unhappy,” Morrison said.
The American Heart Association cites research that shows just playing with a dog can raise feel-good chemicals in the brain and lower blood pressure.
“And just to know that you're doing something good, so the puppies get socialized, and they get to go to good homes after that. And then you know that you played a part in that which is pretty cool too,” Kerr too.
