Dog Mom Yoga Tutorial Explained
An Analysis of Our Yoga/Training Tutorial from May 27th 2020
Since self-isolation began, we’ve been noticing differences in Adelaide. One of the biggest new challenges is what to do when Adelaide wants to interrupt at-home yoga sessions. We decided to capture this challenge LIVE on instagram so that you can witness the mayhem and learn alongside us how to train Adelaide not to eat us alive during yoga practice/workouts.
To start off, we prepared for the LIVE video by making sure Adelaide’s behaviour would be most representative of her usual state during at-home yoga/workouts - energized! We made sure she was not too tired from going to the dog park or a long walk because her bad behaviour usually happens when she has a little bit too much energy. We wanted you to see it as it is... hair pulls and all.
What are the problems we discovered?
Our biggest observation: A lack of attention or eye-contact with Adelaide inspires her to act out.
When you are practicing yoga/doing a workout, you are not paying attention to your pup. Maybe you’re upside down and your pup can’t see your face. Adelaide reacts to this lack of attention by searching for ways to get your attention back. Every pup is different. Maybe your pup doesn’t struggle with this at all. We are highlighting our experience with Adelaide in an effort to help anyone that can relate to our struggles with our pup. We say that Adelaide wants to “eat you alive” during workouts because in her efforts to get your attention, she might be pulling at your clothing or hair, which can be both distracting and scary in the moment.
When Adelaide wants your attention she:
Bites (clothing, hair, scrunchies, hair ties, fingers)
Jumps (jumps both up on your legs or on top of you if you’re on the floor)
Wants to Play (brings you a toy so you will play with her)
To combat this we will use the skills we learned in dog training to keep her focussed. Adelaide is extremely treat-motivated, so we’ve found the use of treats to be an effective way to get her attention.
Skills we use:
-Sit: One of the very first tricks she ever learned. Verbal cue: “sit”. Physical cue: with your first two fingers and thumb pinched together, flip palm towards yourself (as if you are holding a treat). When her butt hits the floor, we say “yes” and give a treat. If we can get her to sit, it’s more likely she will be calm enough to listen to us and focus on the task at hand - not eating mom alive.
-Stay: We use this after we have her attention, whether she is in a sit or down position. We’ve found it helpful to say “stay” to keep her focussed. As a part of her training we use stay to mean both “stay” for a certain amount of time and “stay” for stay in place.
-Look at me: We use this when Adelaide’s focus is somewhere else. Usually she is already a bit calm when this is used just because if she’s too energized, sometimes she can’t even hear the command. We give a treat the moment she gives full eye-contact.
-Leave it: this is used when Adelaide is reaching for something she shouldn’t get. We use this preemptively in an effort to stop the bad behaviour before it happens. If she is successful in “leaving it” then we say “yes” and give her a treat. Over time, Adelaide has become really good at this but sometimes in the moment, she is so excited she seemingly can’t control herself.
-Drop it: This is what we say once she has already gotten a hold of something she shouldn’t have and won’t let go of it. Ex: If Adelaide manages to get a scrunchie out of mom’s hair, we say “drop it” and more times than not she will drop it. She has learned that when we say “drop it” she gets a treat.
-Touch: We have a verbal and physical cue for this one. Verbal cue: “Touch” which we say at the same time as our physical cue. Physical Cue: we show the open, flat palm of our hand and she comes to put her nose on it. When she makes contact with the hand, we say “yes” and give a treat. We use it in an effort to lure her away from something she shouldn’t be getting into. We use it sometimes to call her attention and get her to come to our call. We have found it more effective than simple “come”.
-Go to bed: Verbal Cue: “Bed”. Physical Cue: we stand beside her pen and point towards the open door. This is our very last resort if we cannot manage getting her to relax during yoga/workouts. Using a high value treat for these situations gives the best results (Greenie, Cod Skins, roast chicken pieces etc).
Other than using our training skills, we have found other ways to distract Adelaide and keep her occupied.
Other tactics we use:
-Chew Toys: We give Adelaide natural chews such as a bully stick or pig’s ears that can sometimes deter her from interrupting your practice/workout.
-Puzzle Toys: We use treats in a puzzle toy to occupy Adelaide and depending how fast she goes through it, it can be a useful distraction for a little while.
*NOTE: in the very beginning of the video, Ryan accidentally dropped treats everywhere. While this worked as a distraction, we wouldn’t recommend it as a solution because it would take far too many treats to help distract your pup for an entire session.
Now let’s discuss the different postures Jess explored and the trouble areas for Adelaide.
Sun Salutations:
Sun Salutations are one of the most common and popular posture sequences you will see in a yoga practice. Each movement coincides with either an exhale or inhale. There are moments where you are standing (Mountain Pose, standing tall), inverted (Downward-Facing Dog, with your face hidden from your pup), and moments making connection to the ground (Chaturanga to Upward-Facing Dog, with focus to the ground as you move through plank to push-up, to an upward-facing extension in your spine). Here, we will break down each movement and the problems that arise for Adelaide along the way:
1. Inhale, sweep the arms up. Adelaide gets excited by movement, so the action of lifting your arms up overhead is both exciting to her and also leaves you vulnerable to little bites on your leggings or whatever clothing you are wearing.
2. Exhale, swan dive forward. By hinging at the hips and diving forward, you are losing eye-contact with your dog as well as exposing your hair to puppy jumps and bites.
3. Inhale, halfway lift and lengthen the spine. Your focus is still towards the ground so the same risks apply here with loss of eye-contact and exposure of your hair to your furry friend.
4. Exhale to plank and chaturanga. You are getting even closer to the ground, which for small dogs is very exciting. Adelaide sometimes pounces on top of you in these moments because you are so close to the floor and there’s nothing to stop her from getting to you, your hair and clothes.
5. Inhale, upward-facing dog. While you can make eye-contact with your pup here, both of your hands are supporting your weight, so there isn’t much you can do to stop your pup again. You are close to the ground and once again vulnerable to puppy pounces.
6. Exhale, downward-facing dog. Stay for 5 breaths. This is personally one of the toughest moments of a sun salutation for me because you are close to the ground, hair and clothing are exposed, and focus is very specific. Adelaide goes for my hair in this posture and you cannot hold the pose and physically signal for any tricks like sit, stay or down. Lightly hop or step your feet through. Same challenges with your dog and this action of stepping or hopping creates extra movement on your mat, which can be enticing to your dog. Sometimes I feel that Adelaide comes to participate in the action but when she arrives she doesn’t understand why it is not a game for her.
7. Inhale, halfway lift and lengthen the spine. Being hinged at the hips and lengthening your spine, your focus is entirely on the ground. I personally find challenge with this pose and Adelaide because I feel like I am dangling my hair in front of her to eat and she enjoys the game.
8. Exhale, forward fold. Again, a loss of eye-contact with your dog plus exposed hair and clothing is a recipe for doggy disaster.
9. Inhale, sweep the arms up and come to stand. This big movement is exciting for your pup and Adelaide often jumps up trying to get to my hands or clothing.
10. Exhale, hands to heart centre. This is the end of your sun salutation, often a moment of reflection where you can close your eyes and focus on a mantra or theme you set for your practice. Adelaide often dislikes even the moments of stillness, so she jumps up and tries to get your attention here yet again.
Tips for training your dog while practicing Sun Salutations:
HAVE AN ASSISTANT TO START
If your pup is like Adelaide, you will probably need an assistant to help train her while you move. Once your pup is really confident, your assistant can try and leave the room to test your dog’s ability to focus away from the movement. Ultimate goal (we haven’t gotten there yet) is to practice with your dog alone and not have to worry about her eating you alive.
PRACTICE BOTH SLOWLY AND WORK UP TO NORMAL SPEED
Sometimes Adelaide pounces when you have continuous motion. If you are practicing slowly with no trouble, take it to the next level and practice your sun salutation continuously. If troubles arise, use your dog training skills and perhaps an assistant to help train her while you move. Don’t be afraid to take it one posture, one step at a time.
PRACTICE POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
If your dog is focussed and successful, periodically “treat” your dog while the yogi moves. You are reinforcing the good behaviour and this is what you want to keep doing until your pup is focussed enough for your assistant to leave the room or to eliminate the assistant altogether.
TAKE NOTE
Notice what are you trouble areas with your dog. What habits does she repeat and what postures does she struggle to behave around? This way you’ll be able to tackle your biggest challenges together, knowing when to use your tricks or distraction tools.
After Sun Salutations we continued on in our tutorial to explore more postures and exercises where Adelaide was continuing her behaviour. Just like plank and chaturanga, anything that is close to the floor will entice your little pup to hop on top and potentially grab your hair or clothing.
We’ll explore more tips and tricks to get your puppy calm and focussed during your at-home yoga practice so that you can both relax.
If you have any questions about the postures or the training tips, let us know. We are excited to try this again very soon to see if Adelaide makes any progress.