Italy bans puppy yoga

Italy's health ministry has banned puppies from participating in yoga classes, though adult dogs may continue.

Puppy yoga typically involves puppies roaming freely around a yoga class and sometimes being incorporated in yoga poses, or a yoga class followed by playtime with the puppies.The ministry asked regional authorities to carry out checks to ensure puppy yoga classes do not take place.

Whatever next? Goat yoga? Capybara yoga? The device used to prohibit puppy yoga is its classifiation as 'animal assisted therapy,' which may only involve adult animals. The real-world problem is the supposed physical danger to the puppies. And this:

Dog expert Giusy D'Angelo … also said that attendees risked getting carried away and adopting the animals. 'People are overtaken by a wave of emotion after experiencing sensations of well-being from the close proximity to the puppies,' Ms D'Angelo said.'This can lead them to make a decision without really thinking through the implications and the consequences.'

The implication is that they're fronting puppy mills, which seems a reasonable thing to knock out, but for some reason it ends up here as vague criticism of people who experience unauthorized sensations of well-being.

Previously: Prison yoga made inmates restive and disturbed
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