Controversial trend: yoga with puppies

Exercise together, cuddle, and relieve stress. It seems like a win-win situation for people and animals. During “Downward Facing Dog” in the yoga studio, you not only feel the stretch, but you also feel the cute puppies around you, which is the motto of “Puppy Yoga.”

Keranjot Kaur and Tanya Singh have been successfully offering dog yoga classes in Bratislava for some time. They have now also applied in Vienna and would like to offer yoga classes in the 13th district in the future.

Providers are waiting for a response

“We were actually told verbally that it probably wouldn't work, and we were told several times that we should withdraw the application, but we didn't,” Kaur says in an interview with Wien Today.

“The applicants were told that the dogs were too small, and if the participants then took the dogs, it would not be good,” the yoga instructor continued. According to the veterinary office, an official decision should be available within a few weeks. Verbal refusal is unknown.

The veterinary office is studying the request

“We as an authority are completely open about this matter, we always examine the individual concept and make sure, especially now in the case of 'puppy yoga', that the puppies are not stressed,” said the official Vienna veterinarian. Veterinary Office, Susan Wood Turner.

The veterinary office is not currently willing to provide any information about the ongoing procedure. When it comes to consent, animal protection law is the main focus. However, according to the animal welfare officer, this is not adhered to in puppy yoga.

Puppies 'very stressful'

Indra Klei-Schoenich, from Vienna's Animal Welfare Ombudsman, criticizes that the puppies, who are between eight and ten weeks old, “feel very stressed” when exposed to such a situation.

“You have to imagine that not only are they brought there by the breeder, but they are separated from their mother, and perhaps from their siblings, and they come into a completely unknown environment.”

Maybe a business start-up model

It is also unclear whether Puppy Yoga is a potential startup model for the business. In other words, the animals are then sold.

“It's simply important that I decide whether I want to spend the next 10 or 15 years with a dog, a partner, or a family member. You can't make that decision in a 45-minute yoga session when I'm with someone else,” notes Klee Shunish. It's “I meet little dogs.”