Puppy yoga is everything that is wrong in the wellness industry

A portion of the wellness industry now thrives on increasingly absurd and fleeting trends, which gain popularity on social media and create short-lived phenomena useful only for Instagram Stories. It's the worst part, one that lives on hype and lacks substance, having no grasp of how everyday life truly functions for normal people, getting lost in gimmicks that retain almost nothing of wellness, and twisting ancient disciplines into something unrecognizable, useless except for convincing us that if we don't participate, we're not cool enough and not keeping up with the times. An example? Puppy yoga, which has just been banned in Italy.

What is puppy yoga?

Puppy yoga is a form of yoga that involves interacting with puppies during the practice, often allowing them to roam freely among the participants. During a typical session of this brand-new discipline, participants engage in poses while the dogs interact with them, jumping, playing, and keeping them company. The presence of puppies, as one might imagine, helps entertain those involved, calm and reduce stress, distract and relax, bringing a sense of joy and tenderness. Some gyms have gone further, tying these sessions to adoption programs or collaborating with shelters, associations or refuges, turning them into events to help puppies find homes. So, what's the problem?

Is puppy yoga ethical? Italy decides

In a statement on April 29, the Italian Ministry of Health decided to ban puppy yoga, citing reasons: "Animal-assisted interventions cannot involve puppies but only adult subjects, a necessary condition to protect their health and well-being," says the official note. The Head of the One Health Department, Giovanni Leonardi, further clarifies, specifying that yoga sessions with dogs fall under Animal-Assisted Interventions, a categorization that excludes the use of puppies and requires the use of adult animals. The animal rights association Lndc Animal Protection -from which the report to the Milan prosecutor originated - fully agrees: "It's" President Piera Rosati stated, "exploitation for commercial purposes that disregards the well-being and psycho-physical health of creatures still too fragile to be treated this way. At that age, puppies shouldn't be subjected to travel and stress but should stay in a calm and protected environment under the guidance and care of their mother, who can teach them to socialize correctly and face the outside world with confidence, as well as provide them with adequate nutrition for their growth."

What are the alternatives to puppy yoga?

So the answer to the question couldn't be clearer than this: only adult animals can be involved in this type of activity. Not everyone agrees in the comments to the news. Let's try to understand together, then, what viable alternatives to puppy yoga exist. Naturally, there's the option to volunteer at shelters, associations, and refuges, to spend time with puppies without removing them from their natural environment. Furthermore, one could practice regular yoga, relaxing the body and mind with a proven psychophysical benefit. Finally, one could (perhaps) involve adult animals, which, although less Instagrammable, handle the stress of a new environment better and are more capable of handling socialization.