Italy\u2019s Ministry of Health has banned the popular wellness trend of \u201cpuppy yoga\u201d amid concerns that the puppies used in the practice could be exploited and mistreated. <\/p>\n
Typically, sessions involve puppies roaming around a yoga class and sometimes being incorporated in poses. <\/p>\n
Giovanni Leonardi, head of the One Health department of Italy\u2019s health ministry, ruled Tuesday <\/strong>that the use of dogs during exercise sessions falls under Italy\u2019s Animal Assisted Interventions act. This means that only adult dogs can now be used in yoga sessions to \u201cprotect the health and well-being of the animals, as well as the safety of users.\u201d <\/p>\n The ruling comes following an investigation in March by the popular Italian news show \u201cStriscia la Notizia,\u201d which alleged that puppies were mistreated\u00a0at various yoga centers\u00a0and kept in pens between\u00a0sessions. <\/p>\n The puppies used in the sessions were transported in boxes or plastic bags, were used for long hours covering multiple sessions, and were not provided water or food to \u201cprevent the dogs from doing their business in the gym,\u201d LNDC alleged, noting that the Striscia la Notizia investigation found that many of the puppies were only 42 days old. <\/p>\n \u201cGiven their age, it is highly likely that these puppies had not even completed their vaccination prophylaxis,\u201d the LNDC complaint suggested. <\/p>\n LNDC\u2019s President Piera Rosati called the practice \u201cexploitation for commercial purposes that takes no account of the well-being and psychophysical health of creatures who are still too fragile to be treated in this way.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cAt that age, puppies should not have to face travel and stress, but stay in a calm and protected environment under the guidance and care of their mother who can teach them to socialize correctly and to face the outside world with confidence,\u201d Rosati continued. <\/p>\n Allen called the practice \u201ca sales gimmick designed to promote the breeding of \u2018pedigree\u2019 dogs \u2013 who are prone to severe physical problems later in life \u2013 and which violates the fundamental principle of yoga: ahimsa, or doing no harm.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWhile governments around the world should take heed, we must not wait to do the right thing: PETA urges yogis to stay away from this cheap ploy that uses sensitive animals as props to their detriment,\u201d Allen said. <\/p>\n\n Italy\u2019s Ministry of Health has banned the popular wellness trend of \u201cpuppy yoga\u201d amid concerns that the puppies used in the practice could be exploited and mistreated. Typically, sessions involve puppies roaming around a yoga class and sometimes being incorporated in poses. Giovanni Leonardi, head of the One Health department of Italy\u2019s health ministry, ruled <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":18694,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}