“DOGA” RETREAT

Holidays in a floating house (more information here), holidays in a tree hut (click here) andholidays in a cottage to attend a country music festival (and also click here). These have been Colette’s holiday destinations in France in the last years. Do you want to know what has Colette been doing this summer? Keep on reading this post to find out because we assure that it will surprise you and you will love it ^_^
This summer we have stayed in Spain and we have traveled to the North, more specifically to Galicia. The original thing in this holidays hasn’t been the beautiful destination with green landscapes, mountains and waterfalls, but the purpose of this trip: making a “doga” retreat with Patricia Guerrero, better known as “Pat dog educator”, of whom we have already talked in this blog, both for the face-to-face canine education course (click here to remember it), and for the expedition through the Sierra de Madrid (more information here), to which we attended with her.
The word “doga”, coined by Suzi Teitelman, is the union between yoga + dog, and it consists in sharing with our pets movements based in yoga and relaxing massages adapted to them, respecting their natural movements, their time and space.
As Pat says, doga is a fantastic activity for them to get used to caresses, to stretching and to the presence of other dogs, in a funny and relaxing way. In addition, they get used to being manipulated and less stressed during the visits to the vet or to the dog hairdresser. If you want to know more about “doga”, you can find more information on Pat’s website, and even sign up for her interesting online course, like the one we did.
We were lucky to share this “doga” retreat with Bowie, Chloe, Ori, Maya and Nico, the adorable “furry students” of the course and their friendly humans. As I have let you know on other occasions, Colette is shy “doggy speaking” and a lover of peace and quiet, and even though it was difficult for her to join the games of her mates and keep pace with them on excursions, she enjoyed better than anyone the “zen” moments of stretching and massage with essential oils on the yoga mat.
In my experience, these little holidays have helped us to create links with each other, and if we incorporate the “doga” practice into our daily routine, I am sure that Colette and I will strengthen the bond between us <3
And you, what do you think of doga? Would you like to do a doga retreat with your dog?
We are curious to know about them and we are looking forward to reading your comments below.