Help high strung dogs chill out with dog yoga

http://www.wbir.com/news/watercooler/story.aspx?storyid=61523&catid=141

"Her name is Coco, but her nickname is 'The Beast,' and I want to get rid of her nickname," Maria Brewer said with a laugh about her slightly high strung chow. She thought some yoga might do the trick, but not for her, for her dog!

Doga, or yoga for dogs, is gaining in popularity across the country. Yoga instructors with dogs discovered they could make a deeper connection with their pets by including them in their daily yoga workout.

About 20 dog owners gathered at The Mix at Southbridge to center their chakras and see if doga was the thing for their posing pooches. Jeanne Reagan has done yoga before and is curious to see her poodle, Curly, can focus enough to relax.

"It centers you with your body and your being; and if they can do that with a dog, I think that's pretty cool," Reagan said. After 45 minutes of mountain posing, table top pose and, of course, downward facing dog, some owners were satisfied they had found another way to get their pets to calm down.

"It's one other thing besides going to the dog park, or going for a walk, or something like that to kind of wind down," Jessica Somers said.