Doga for Senior Dogis

Two of my favorite seniors: Handsome Harry (14 years) and my Beautiful Princess Honey at almost 11 years.

With Honey growing older, I think a lot about her care and well being. Just writing this makes me tear up at the thought of her leaving me. I think about how to make her senior years more comfortable. I think she'll be around for a while, but in the meantime I'll do my best to keep her in good shape.

Doga is fairly new so we haven't been able to really see how it can benefit older or aging dogs. I do know that regular stretching and massage from doga has really helped Honey's hips. She used to have a wonky right hip that would bother her after long walks. She would often limp for a few days after. Since we've been doing doga, she hasn't limped after walks for at least a year or more.

We don't do doga everyday, just like most people don't do yoga everyday, but a few times a week we take a few moments to stretch together and I'll massage her hips. I also often meditate with her next to me or in my lap, I think the calm breath and energy is relaxing to her. During this time, I'll put my hands on her and focus on her and breath with her for some time. She really seems to like this and it also helps me to feel more grounded before meditating.

I like the idea of having dogs of all ages in my classes. I think at every age doga can be beneficial. For young dogs it can help them learn to be touched and learn to be with you and focused. For senior dogis it can help keep the joints and muscles flexible. For all dogs the attention, the time spent and the deeper connection is beneficial.

I'll be working more on what we can do for our Senior Dogis, so stay tuned and I'll share with you what I learn. Feed back is always appreciated and I've changed my blog settings so it's much easier to leave comments.

Here's a link to an interesting article on making older dogs more comfortable as they age:

http://blogs.dogster.com/good-dog/dealing-with-an-aging-dog/2008/10/12/