Charity reveals the dark truth behind puppy yoga

Participants pet puppies during a 'puppy yoga' class. Picture: Omar Marques/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Cute, wriggling puppies snuggle up to yoga students performing downward dogs and sun salutations on yoga mats in increasingly common social media posts advertising puppy yoga.

But the saccharine images can conceal a darker reality involving animal cruelty, exploitation, and negligence — with exhausted, overwhelmed, dehydrated puppies often unwittingly abused while rewarding unscrupulous breeders and businesses with cash.

Puppy yoga will encourage unethical breeding at puppy farms, the proliferation of which is already fueling an animal welfare crisis in Ireland, My Lovely Horse Rescue charity has claimed.

Martina Kenny, of My Lovely Horse Rescue charity

So when the practice came to Ireland, Martina Kenny, co-founder of My Lovely Horse Rescue, decided to investigate.

“It was all over Instagram. This puppy yoga company had come to Ireland," Ms Kenny said. 

"Even my own cousin tagged me in a post, suggesting this was something MLHR could get involved with — she thought the puppies were bred ethically."

Undercover investigation

An undercover investigation by MLHR volunteers pretending to be puppy breeders revealed a money-focused enterprise with no consideration for the animals, Ms Kenny said.

Undercover volunteers contacted a puppy yoga company and offered them puppies that were only five weeks old.

Puppies generally still feed from their mothers and should not be separated from them until after eight weeks.

Removing a puppy from its mother before eight weeks can cause long-term behavioural and health problems.

“But they still said: ‘Bring them along’ — they were so desperate for puppies," Ms Kenny said. 

"And they asked if the puppies could do the four classes that day.” 

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There were no background checks, no vaccination records, and puppies barely weaned would be accepted, MLHR found.

They were offered some €200 to €300 in cash to rent the puppies for one session, Ms Kenny said.

And such ‘easy money’ would be a blatant encouragement to unscrupulous breeders to keep a stock of puppies, she said.

“And we already have a big problem with puppy farms in Ireland," she added.

“They were taking €45 off people [per class]. And people went thinking: ‘Oh my god, this is so cute’. But they didn't know where those puppies came from or how old they were.

“You’d have people coming in from the street with all sorts of things on their shoes or disease or whatever. And these puppies wouldn’t even have been vaccinated.

“Ireland is in the middle of a dog crisis — what will happen when these puppies grow too big, once again lining the pockets of irresponsible breeders?"

MLHR reported the operation to the Department of Agriculture and financial authorities.

The business has since closed down in Ireland, Ms Kenny said. Its online profile has been removed.

'You don’t need puppies for this'

But MLHR has helped with ‘doga’ classes since, lending dogs that were once shelter rescues to yoga classes, showing people that rescue dogs — and less popular breeds like lurchers — can be really great, affectionate pets.

“And it shows people that you don’t need puppies for this,” Ms Kenny said.

Last year, Italy moved to ban puppy yoga on animal welfare grounds, saying only adult dogs should take part.

Italian dog expert Giusy D'Angelo welcomed the ban, saying it was a "physically and mentally stressful experience" for puppies.

An ITV investigation into the practice in the UK found that puppies were not given water, even in very warm yoga rooms, because "it might make them pee more".

Although claims are often made that the "socialisation" during classes is good for the puppies, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in the UK refuted this, saying that it was actually a potentially damaging environment for young dogs.

Analysis of some puppy yoga classes in the UK found that when exhausted puppies fell asleep, they were woken, picked up and moved around the room. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture. 

Rooms were often too loud and too bright with lots of people — an overwhelming, uncontrolled environment for the puppies. And they often had nowhere to retreat to if they needed a break.

'Too much breeding, too many dogs'

Puppy yoga is also a concern for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA).

ISPCA chief inspector Conor Dowling said he has heard of thousands of euros being offered to rent puppies for yoga, which can encourage unscrupulous breeders.

ISPCA chief inspector Conor Dowling.

“It creates demand for puppies of a certain age," Mr Dowling said.

“It does encourage people to produce puppies and keep producing them if they're going to get that sort of money to rent them out.

“And most of our dog welfare issues in this country stem from too much breeding, too many dogs." 

Although Ireland is often branded the ‘puppy farming capital of Europe’, the practice has been lessening, and countries in eastern Europe now produce more puppies than Ireland, Mr Dowling said.

But high demand for puppies in the UK continues to drive excess breeding in Ireland.

And while rescues are now packed with “disproportionate” numbers of lurchers and bully breeds, the market has grown for ‘designer’ crossbreeds.

Mr Dowling said that there are additional welfare concerns for any puppies used in puppy yoga classes. 

“We would question whether it's good for the puppies," he said. "There have been reports that they're subjected to long periods of involvement, which can be quite exhausting for young puppies.

“I would hope that it [puppy yoga] is a fad and will pass quickly.”