Bryan calls it "partner yoga," because the class encourages both the human and the dog to increase their awareness of each other.
"Magnet and I were just in this little bubble," said Emily Keegans afterward.
She said her dog really loves getting the one-on-one attention he receives in yoga class and she likes having another opportunity to both exercise and spend time with her dog.
"I love doing yoga and I'm just really busy. Just to spend time with him and be with him is great," added Keegans.
She said she was doing dog massage at a Humane Society fundraiser — a dog fashion show — when during a conversation with the agency director she mentioned that she is also a yoga instructor. And the idea for doggie yoga was born.
"It was really just a marriage of all the things I love," Bryan said.
She said she hopes the class will open up yoga to a variety of people — and dogs — who have never done this kind of exercise before.
"We've been having a lot of fun with this," said Bryan, adding that her own dogs rush to the mat as soon as she unrolls it at home, whether or not she was planning to involve them.
Both the humans and the canines seemed to enjoy themselves before, during and after a recent doggie class at the Humane Society.
Shadow visited every mat during the class and made a complete circuit of shoe sniffing toward the end. Beans seemed a lot more interested in making new friends than relaxing, as his owner predicted before the class.
"He likes to nap. He is a cuddle bug, but playing is so much more important," Anderson said.
Nearly every dog in the group took at least one break to sniff a canine or human or both, but Bryan seemed pleased with how the class was going and was neither outwardly amused nor flustered when Honey and Shadow crowded onto the mat with her and Gus.
Although her voice was yoga calm, her words showed she shared the other humans' amusement.
"Everyone is being so good — and the dogs too."
