Stretching Out Your Dog

Runs this week have been rough.  The weather is A LOT hotter, the humidity is up, and early mornings don't make me particularly happy.  On top of all that, my legs have not been happy.  I've been loving the runs, but my legs have been tight and sore.  Today they were so bad that, after my shower, I came down stairs and immediately put some ice on my shins.  The runs have only been 3 miles at a time, so it shouldn't be so terrible, but this week has not been pleasant for some reason.  I knew I had to do something, and I knew yoga would do the trick.

After Hans went to work, I pulled out the vacuum.  No way am I going to do yoga on this floor without vacuuming up some of the dog hair!  Then I went and got my yoga mat.  I have couple of yoga DVDs, but I decided to do a YouTube search for "yoga for runners."  I found a great 10 minute video and decided to give it a shot.  There was one thing I forgot, though.  I forgot just how much Cody loves that yoga mat.  I don't think he noticed it until I was on it, but once he did my yoga routine changed a little.  Downward dog meant London Bridge.  Warrior pose became a new practice in balance as Cody rubbed up against me.  Actually, I did substitute Cody for one of my blocks at one point, and that worked surprisingly well.  Still, I knew he needed a little more attention.

Once my short video was done (and my legs felt 1000 times better), I grabbed a different DVD.  I grabbed my Doga DVD.  Yes.  That's right.  Doga is yoga for dogs.

I use doga quite a bit after our runs to help Cody stretch out, but it's rare that I do a whole sequence.  Normally I just stretch his legs some.  I love doing Doga, though, because Cody seems to love it.  It does not take long for my playful, high-energy boy to become putty in my hands.  Generally within the first 30 seconds Cody will lie down (more like collapse) and let me maneuver him into any position I need.  In fact, the hardest positions are the ones that involve him standing, because he simply is too relaxed.

We only did Doga for about 15 minutes, but that was enough.  Cody was relaxed and happy.  We finished with me lying on my back and Cody stretched out on top of me (a rare occurrence for my 60 pound pup).  Before I sat back up, Cody stretched his head out, laid it on my shoulder, and gave me a kiss.  Surely this is the sign of a happy pup!

Yes, I do believe we'll be doing Doga again!