How Yoga Helped Me Save My Dog – and Perhaps Myself, Too

Until recently, our dog was something of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: two distinct personalities in one being.

When we were at home, he was—and still is—the model of model dog behavior. He sat when we told him to sit. Perfectly house-trained, he never had an “accident” inside. He has always been sweet and friendly with adults and children. If we knew that we’d rescue such a well-behaved dog, we would have done it much sooner.

But outside our house, the story was entirely different. He didn’t—and still doesn’t—get along with other dogs. The sight of a squirrel or a cat would drive him insane. He would bark, leap, and pull so hard on his leash it took superhuman strength to keep him from dragging us with him. Just a few weeks into welcoming him home, we were stressed out.

Nunuk, a gorgeous Alaskan Malamute, has been rescued twice and experts tell us that at seven and a half years old, we can alter some of his behavior but it’s unlikely he’ll change completely. While some people would see that as reason enough to return him to a shelter or re-home him, that was not an option for us. Doing that would mean we had failed this innocent creature. We decided instead to make a more concerted effort toward helping Nunuk feel more comfortable outside home.

Initially, our efforts showed moderate results. We used the tips and tricks we had learned from experts, but there were still too many occasions when we’d come across a particularly unfriendly dog where it was hard to tell who was freaking out more: us, or Nunuk. We began to wonder if anything was going to really work. I began to wonder if we were putting our faith solely into the techniques we had learned. Maybe we were missing something vital.

And then it hit me: yoga.

So much of what I learned on the yoga mat—breathing, proper posture, focusing on my intention, being in the moment—I somehow knew I could apply to my relationship with Nunuk. In retrospect, I now think that when I first walked Nunuk I often had my mind on other things: deadlines, pesky clients, completing errands, money, annoying in-laws, and so on. I probably approached walking the dog as just another task to cross off in the course of the day. And I’m sure the dog sensed that.