Month: February 2019

US Researchers Look for Long-Lasting Ebola Vaccine

Posted on by Cosc

South Sudan is vaccinating health workers against Ebola in case the virus crosses the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ebola has stricken more than 700 people in the DRC and killed more than 400. The World Health Organization said the death rate is 59 percent. 

Half a world away in Ohio, U.S. researchers are racing to develop a new, long-lasting vaccine against Ebola. At Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Dr. Paul Spearman is leading a clinical trial that tests two experimental Ebola vaccines.

“Researchers are looking for new ways to stop these outbreaks and to treat people who become infected and develop Ebola virus disease. The development of preventive vaccines for Ebola is a top global public health priority,” said Spearman, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Cincinnati Children’s and the lead investigator in the trial.

Volunteers first receive one of the vaccines. A week later, they get the other one. Spearman said this one-two shot is promising and could provide rapid protection against Ebola.

These are weakened live-vector vaccines that cannot grow in human cells, but they produce strong immune responses to Ebola virus proteins.

Karnail Singh, Ph.D., also at Cincinnati Children’s, heads the program that tests volunteers’ blood samples. The researchers test the samples collected before the volunteers are injected with the experimental vaccines and again afterward.

Singh said that way, researchers can compare the samples and see if the vaccines provide immunity. The researchers also plan to take blood samples six months after the first two injections. If the vaccine is still effective, they hope to repeat the process six months later. These intensive lab studies and the rapid prime-boost schedule have not been done before in developing a vaccine against Ebola.

In Congo, health workers are using a vaccine developed during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa that raged from 2013 until 2016. It protects the Zaire strain of Ebola circulating in Congo. But there are two other deadly strains of Ebola. Health officials want vaccines that protect against all of them. 

The vaccine being tested at Cincinnati Children’s has not yet been compared to the one being used in Congo, but it may protect against at least one other strain of Ebola. The goal is to produce a vaccine that is safe, effective and long-lasting.

The researchers in Cincinnati hope their work will improve the understanding of how to build immunity to other viruses or bacteria that can cause disease.
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Robust Job Gain in January Shows US Economy’s Durability

Posted on by Coeco

U.S. employers shrugged off last month’s partial shutdown of the government and engaged in a burst of hiring in January, adding 304,000 jobs, the most in nearly a year.

The healthy gain the government reported Friday illustrated the job market’s resilience nearly a decade into the economic expansion. The U.S. has now added jobs for 100 straight months, the longest such period on record.

The unemployment rate did rise in January to 4 percent from 3.9 percent, the Labor Department said, but mostly for a technical reason: The number of people counted as temporarily unemployed jumped 175,000, with most of that increase consisting of federal workers and contractors affected by the shutdown.

The government on Friday also sharply revised down its estimates of job growth in November and December. Still, hiring has accelerated since last summer, a development that has surprised economists because hiring typically slows when unemployment is so low.

“The overwhelming conclusion from today’s numbers is that the U.S. labor market remained incredibly strong at the start of 2019,” said Leslie Preston, senior economist at TD Economics.

Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, said that many federal workers and contractors likely went out and found part-time work during the 35-day shutdown. The ability of many of them to do so is itself a sign of the job market’s strength, Swonk said.

Last month’s healthy job gain will assuage some concerns that had arisen about the U.S. economy. Global growth is weakening, the Trump administration is engaged in a trade war with China and higher mortgage rates have slowed home sales. Those factors have led many economists to forecast slower growth this year compared with 2018.

Yet strong hiring should boost household incomes, fueling more consumer spending, which would help drive economic growth.

Most sectors of the economy reported solid hiring gains in January. Education and health care added 55,000 jobs, retailers nearly 21,000 and professional and business services, which includes such higher-paying positions as engineers and architects, 30,000. 

Rising pay

The ongoing demand for workers is leading some businesses to offer higher pay to attract and keep staff. Average hourly wages rose 3.2 percent in January from a year earlier. That’s just below the annual gain of 3.3 percent in December, which matched October and November for the fastest increase since April 2009.

Teresa Carroll, an executive at the staffing firm Kelly Services, said her company has explained to many clients that they have to pay more to find the workers they need. Some employers are still reluctant to offer higher pay, which has made it harder for them to find and keep workers, she said.

“They’ve enjoyed two decades of minimal pay growth in general,” she said. “It’s our job to educate our clients about the labor market.”

On a monthly basis, from December to January, wages barely rose, though. That’s likely to keep the Federal Reserve unlikely to raise interest rates in the coming months, economists said. Chairman Jerome Powell said earlier this week that the case for raising the Fed’s benchmark rate had weakened. Many economists and investors took that as a sign that a rate increase is unlikely any time in the coming months.

Swonk cautioned that some quirks likely inflated last month’s job gain. For example, some of the furloughed federal workers and contractors who took part-time jobs during the 35-day government shutdown might have been counted as having two jobs during January. Now that the shutdown has ended, these people will go back to being counted as having just one job beginning in February.

And for most of January, the weather was relatively warm in much of the United States, which likely boosted construction employment. Builders added 52,000 jobs, the most in nearly a year.

The strong job market, though, is encouraging more people who weren’t working to begin looking. The proportion of Americans who either have a job or are seeking one — which had been unusually low since the recession ended a decade ago — reached 63.2 percent in January, the highest level in more than five years.

Jessica Jacumin began a permanent job a month ago as a cook at an assisted living facility in Augusta, Georgia, after working there as a paid intern. Before that, she had been out of work and mostly not looking while she spent 18 months studying culinary arts at Helms College, a career school sponsored by Goodwill Industries.

Though Jacumin, 42, and her husband both have Navy pensions, her new job has provided much-needed income and health insurance. That, in turn, has allowed their family to spend a bit more freely.

“I am right now planning our first family vacation in three years,” she said.

Jacumin, her husband and three children will head to Hilton Head in South Carolina in July.

Impact of shutdown

The partial government shutdown caused 800,000 workers to miss two paychecks. But because these workers will eventually receive back pay, they were counted as employed in the survey of businesses that produces the monthly job gain.

But in a separate survey of households that is used to calculate the unemployment rate, some of these people were counted as temporarily jobless. That’s a key reason why the unemployment rate rose despite the healthy job gain.

Most economists have forecast that the shutdown will likely slow economic growth for the first three months of this year. But some say that even businesses that lost income from the shutdown likely held onto their staffs, knowing that the shutdown would only be temporary.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the shutdown slowed annual growth for the January-March quarter by about 0.4 percentage point, to a rate of 2.1 percent, though that loss should lead to a bounce-back later this year.

The partial government shutdown has delayed the release of a range of government data about the economy, including statistics on housing, factory orders, and fourth-quarter growth.

The reports that have been released have been mixed. The Federal Reserve’s industrial production report showed that manufacturing output rose in December by the most in nearly a year, boosted by auto production. But consumer confidence fell in January for a third straight month.
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Expedition Will Gauge Health of Seychelles Reef Systems

Posted on by Cosc

One of the important aspects of gauging the damage being done to the world’s ecosystems by climate change is knowing the current status of those systems. So a Britain-based charity is about to embark on a seven-week expedition to gauge the health of one of the world’s few remaining pristine reefs. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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EPA Taps Climate Skeptic for Science Advisory Panel

Posted on by Cosc

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added eight members on Thursday to its scientific advisory board tasked with providing independent input for agency policy, a list that includes at least one vocal climate-change doubter.

The EPA said John Christy, an atmospheric science professor at the University of Alabama, was among the new appointees to the advisory body, which now numbers 45 people and includes several appointees from past administrations.

Christy has downplayed the threat of climate change in congressional hearings and media appearances, arguing that scientific models overestimate warming, and that major steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions are not warranted.

Those views place him outside the mainstream scientific consensus, including from U.S. federal agencies, that global warming will have devastating consequences if not urgently addressed. But they dovetail with President Donald Trump’s policy of rolling back Obama-era climate-change regulations to free up more drilling and mining.

Christy did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

New appointees

Other new appointees include Hugh Barton, a toxicology and risk assessment consultant who formerly worked for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc, and Richard Williams, an economics and benefit-cost analysis consultant who previously worked for the Food and Drug Administration.

“In a fair, open, and transparent fashion, EPA reviewed hundreds of qualified applicants nominated for this committee,” acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement. They “include experts from a wide variety of scientific disciplines who reflect the geographic diversity needed to represent all 10 EPA regions.”

Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, has said he believes climate change is occurring, but told senators at his confirmation hearing earlier this month that he did not see it as an urgent problem.

Trump downplays climate change

Trump has also repeatedly downplayed the threat of climate change, and announced his intention shortly after taking office in January 2017 to pull the United States from a global accord to fight it.

The science advisory board was created by Congress to serve as a check on EPA policies and research.

The EPA in 2017 barred scientists who have won agency-awarded grants from serving on the panel, a move the administration said was aimed at reducing conflicts of interest, but which environmental groups said would keep qualified scientists out of contention.
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EPA Taps Climate Skeptic for Science Advisory Panel

Posted on by Cosc

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added eight members on Thursday to its scientific advisory board tasked with providing independent input for agency policy, a list that includes at least one vocal climate-change doubter.

The EPA said John Christy, an atmospheric science professor at the University of Alabama, was among the new appointees to the advisory body, which now numbers 45 people and includes several appointees from past administrations.

Christy has downplayed the threat of climate change in congressional hearings and media appearances, arguing that scientific models overestimate warming, and that major steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions are not warranted.

Those views place him outside the mainstream scientific consensus, including from U.S. federal agencies, that global warming will have devastating consequences if not urgently addressed. But they dovetail with President Donald Trump’s policy of rolling back Obama-era climate-change regulations to free up more drilling and mining.

Christy did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

New appointees

Other new appointees include Hugh Barton, a toxicology and risk assessment consultant who formerly worked for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc, and Richard Williams, an economics and benefit-cost analysis consultant who previously worked for the Food and Drug Administration.

“In a fair, open, and transparent fashion, EPA reviewed hundreds of qualified applicants nominated for this committee,” acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement. They “include experts from a wide variety of scientific disciplines who reflect the geographic diversity needed to represent all 10 EPA regions.”

Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, has said he believes climate change is occurring, but told senators at his confirmation hearing earlier this month that he did not see it as an urgent problem.

Trump downplays climate change

Trump has also repeatedly downplayed the threat of climate change, and announced his intention shortly after taking office in January 2017 to pull the United States from a global accord to fight it.

The science advisory board was created by Congress to serve as a check on EPA policies and research.

The EPA in 2017 barred scientists who have won agency-awarded grants from serving on the panel, a move the administration said was aimed at reducing conflicts of interest, but which environmental groups said would keep qualified scientists out of contention.
…

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Snowboarder Revives Goal of Representing Uganda at Olympics

Posted on by Corts

It’s always in the back of Brolin Mawejje’s mind, whether he’s soaring over the snow or fine-tuning his rail technique: What more can he do to become an Olympic contender in snowboarding?

The 26-year-old hopes to enter the record books as the first African competing in his sport at the highest echelon on behalf of his native Uganda. He was close to qualifying for the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea when a medical condition threw him off course.

“It’s a life circumstance,” he said matter of factly.

The setback arose last February at the Winter University Games in Kazakhstan, where he fell ill during practice. Medical tests revealed arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat that can be fatal.

Mawejje packed up his gear and headed back to Utah. After consulting with his coaches and doctors, Mawejje shifted his focus to the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

“My goal has not changed or wavered. My goal is to still represent my home nation of Uganda at the world games,” Mawejje said during an interview last year at Westminster College in Pennsylvania.

WATCH: Brolin Mawejje Talks About Snowboarding

Video courtesy of Brolin Mawejje’s Instagram account.

Mountains provide a spectacular backdrop for the liberal arts college, where Mawejje is completing a master’s degree in public health, emphasizing epidemiology.

Mawejje has been back on the slopes since shortly after his diagnosis; the Mayo Clinic lists regular exercise among protective factors for his condition. He trains in Park City, Utah, and Jackson, Wyo., near the home of the American family that took him in. He also runs, lifts weights and bounces on a trampoline to improve his balance for the jumps, flips and twists of freestyle snowboarding.

“I have not won any major trophies this year,” Mawejje acknowledged in an email. But he’ll have a home advantage for his next competition: The FIS World Championships open this weekend in Park City. Athletes earn points at events sanctioned by the FIS, short for International Ski Federation, which countries consider when they pick athletes to represent them at the Olympics.

Unusual path

Mawejje took an unlikely trail to snowboarding. He never saw snow until he was 12, when he moved from his family home outside Uganda’s capital, Kampala, to a suburb of Boston, Mass. His mother had relocated there when he was a toddler.

“I came to the U.S. for more opportunities and better education,” he said.

At 14, an after-school program introduced him to skiing and snowboarding.

“I wanted to have friends, so I joined in,” Mawejje said.

Through close pal Philip Hessler, he got a second family, moving with them to Jackson Hole, Wyo., in 2009. Both boys later enrolled at Westminster College.

Hessler traced Mawejje’s development as a snowboarder and young man growing up in a foreign land in the 2014 documentary Far From Home, shot while both were students. Hessler went on to co-found the video production agency WZRD Media and works as a filmmaker.

Hessler regards Mawejje “as my brother and one of my best friends,” he told VOA, lauding Mawejje’s perseverance and ability “to thrive in new circumstances. … He is able to straddle being a part of many worlds.”

That includes Uganda. Mawejje says his mother gave him the opportunity and “understanding that I need to go back home and give back to my people and to my community.” He’s concentrating now on the Olympics, but aims to later attend medical school to become a doctor.

“To have a career that impacts a lot of people … is greater than sports,” he said.

Kaye Stackpole, a Westminster official who’s among Mawejje’s mentors, expands on his point.

“He has personally experienced great medical care and average-to-low medical care,” she said. “He wants to elevate education and medical care, especially in his country of Uganda. … I think that every step he takes is toward his goal of helping others.”

Charity work

Meanwhile, Mawejje works with charities such as the Kampala-based advocacy group Joy for Children on “initiatives that empower the youth and future of Uganda,” he said.

The athlete travels to Uganda and to snowboarding events around the world as a goodwill ambassador for Visa financial services. On Instagram, he tags that company and other corporate sponsors. He also has worked since he was in high school, as a lab analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital and as an instructor at snowboarding camps, among other jobs.

While in Kampala recently, Mawejje participated in a charity event and met with Uganda’s Olympic Committee president to “discuss the path to the Olympics with their support,” he said.

The committee has provided verbal encouragement but, to date, no “tangible support,” Mawejje said. Economic growth slowed in the East African country in the last few years, the World Bank has reported, noting that roughly a fifth of its 40 million residents live in poverty.

Mawejje hopes to get support from Uganda, the African continent and the diaspora. He says his Olympic quest is not just for himself.

“I am just the face going through the journey. … A lot of people in Africa go, ‘Why help him?’ … You are not helping me, you are helping the idea of all of us. It’s really the Olympic goal.”

He cites the three Nigerian women who last February made up the first African bobsled team at the Olympics. Though they placed last, “I am proud just to hear of the ladies of Nigeria,” Mawejje said. “And I just want East Africa to have the same representation.”
…

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Snowboarder Revives Goal of Representing Uganda at Olympics

Posted on by Corts

It’s always in the back of Brolin Mawejje’s mind, whether he’s soaring over the snow or fine-tuning his rail technique: What more can he do to become an Olympic contender in snowboarding?

The 26-year-old hopes to enter the record books as the first African competing in his sport at the highest echelon on behalf of his native Uganda. He was close to qualifying for the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea when a medical condition threw him off course.

“It’s a life circumstance,” he said matter of factly.

The setback arose last February at the Winter University Games in Kazakhstan, where he fell ill during practice. Medical tests revealed arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat that can be fatal.

Mawejje packed up his gear and headed back to Utah. After consulting with his coaches and doctors, Mawejje shifted his focus to the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

“My goal has not changed or wavered. My goal is to still represent my home nation of Uganda at the world games,” Mawejje said during an interview last year at Westminster College in Pennsylvania.

WATCH: Brolin Mawejje Talks About Snowboarding

Video courtesy of Brolin Mawejje’s Instagram account.

Mountains provide a spectacular backdrop for the liberal arts college, where Mawejje is completing a master’s degree in public health, emphasizing epidemiology.

Mawejje has been back on the slopes since shortly after his diagnosis; the Mayo Clinic lists regular exercise among protective factors for his condition. He trains in Park City, Utah, and Jackson, Wyo., near the home of the American family that took him in. He also runs, lifts weights and bounces on a trampoline to improve his balance for the jumps, flips and twists of freestyle snowboarding.

“I have not won any major trophies this year,” Mawejje acknowledged in an email. But he’ll have a home advantage for his next competition: The FIS World Championships open this weekend in Park City. Athletes earn points at events sanctioned by the FIS, short for International Ski Federation, which countries consider when they pick athletes to represent them at the Olympics.

Unusual path

Mawejje took an unlikely trail to snowboarding. He never saw snow until he was 12, when he moved from his family home outside Uganda’s capital, Kampala, to a suburb of Boston, Mass. His mother had relocated there when he was a toddler.

“I came to the U.S. for more opportunities and better education,” he said.

At 14, an after-school program introduced him to skiing and snowboarding.

“I wanted to have friends, so I joined in,” Mawejje said.

Through close pal Philip Hessler, he got a second family, moving with them to Jackson Hole, Wyo., in 2009. Both boys later enrolled at Westminster College.

Hessler traced Mawejje’s development as a snowboarder and young man growing up in a foreign land in the 2014 documentary Far From Home, shot while both were students. Hessler went on to co-found the video production agency WZRD Media and works as a filmmaker.

Hessler regards Mawejje “as my brother and one of my best friends,” he told VOA, lauding Mawejje’s perseverance and ability “to thrive in new circumstances. … He is able to straddle being a part of many worlds.”

That includes Uganda. Mawejje says his mother gave him the opportunity and “understanding that I need to go back home and give back to my people and to my community.” He’s concentrating now on the Olympics, but aims to later attend medical school to become a doctor.

“To have a career that impacts a lot of people … is greater than sports,” he said.

Kaye Stackpole, a Westminster official who’s among Mawejje’s mentors, expands on his point.

“He has personally experienced great medical care and average-to-low medical care,” she said. “He wants to elevate education and medical care, especially in his country of Uganda. … I think that every step he takes is toward his goal of helping others.”

Charity work

Meanwhile, Mawejje works with charities such as the Kampala-based advocacy group Joy for Children on “initiatives that empower the youth and future of Uganda,” he said.

The athlete travels to Uganda and to snowboarding events around the world as a goodwill ambassador for Visa financial services. On Instagram, he tags that company and other corporate sponsors. He also has worked since he was in high school, as a lab analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital and as an instructor at snowboarding camps, among other jobs.

While in Kampala recently, Mawejje participated in a charity event and met with Uganda’s Olympic Committee president to “discuss the path to the Olympics with their support,” he said.

The committee has provided verbal encouragement but, to date, no “tangible support,” Mawejje said. Economic growth slowed in the East African country in the last few years, the World Bank has reported, noting that roughly a fifth of its 40 million residents live in poverty.

Mawejje hopes to get support from Uganda, the African continent and the diaspora. He says his Olympic quest is not just for himself.

“I am just the face going through the journey. … A lot of people in Africa go, ‘Why help him?’ … You are not helping me, you are helping the idea of all of us. It’s really the Olympic goal.”

He cites the three Nigerian women who last February made up the first African bobsled team at the Olympics. Though they placed last, “I am proud just to hear of the ladies of Nigeria,” Mawejje said. “And I just want East Africa to have the same representation.”
…

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UAE Senior Diplomat Denies Hacking Americans

Posted on by Cobiz

A United Arab Emirates senior diplomat denied Thursday the country had targeted “friendly countries” or American citizens in a cyberspying program that a Reuters report said involved a hacking team of U.S. mercenaries.

The Reuters investigation published Wednesday found that the UAE used a group of American intelligence contractors to help hack rival governments, dissidents and human rights activists. The contractors, former U.S. intelligence operatives, formed a core part of UAE’s cyber hacking program called Project Raven.

Project Raven also targeted Americans, and the Apple Inc iPhones of embassy staff for France, Australia and the United Kingdom, according to former operatives and program documents reviewed by Reuters.

Apple has declined to comment and did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

When asked about Project Raven by reporters at a briefing in New York, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash acknowledged the country has a “cyber capability,” but denied targeting U.S. citizens or countries with which it has good relations.

“We live in a very difficult part of the world. We have to protect ourselves,” Gargash said. “We don’t target friendly countries and we don’t target American citizens.”

The French and U.K. embassies in Washington have declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Australian ministry of foreign affairs has declined to comment. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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UAE Senior Diplomat Denies Hacking Americans

Posted on by Cobiz

A United Arab Emirates senior diplomat denied Thursday the country had targeted “friendly countries” or American citizens in a cyberspying program that a Reuters report said involved a hacking team of U.S. mercenaries.

The Reuters investigation published Wednesday found that the UAE used a group of American intelligence contractors to help hack rival governments, dissidents and human rights activists. The contractors, former U.S. intelligence operatives, formed a core part of UAE’s cyber hacking program called Project Raven.

Project Raven also targeted Americans, and the Apple Inc iPhones of embassy staff for France, Australia and the United Kingdom, according to former operatives and program documents reviewed by Reuters.

Apple has declined to comment and did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

When asked about Project Raven by reporters at a briefing in New York, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash acknowledged the country has a “cyber capability,” but denied targeting U.S. citizens or countries with which it has good relations.

“We live in a very difficult part of the world. We have to protect ourselves,” Gargash said. “We don’t target friendly countries and we don’t target American citizens.”

The French and U.K. embassies in Washington have declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Australian ministry of foreign affairs has declined to comment. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
…

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Doga — Yoga with Your Dog

Posted on by Cosc

The pet parents do yoga poses, like downward-facing dog, as their pups walk around the room and socialize, sniffing each other and the people on their yoga mats. This is doga, a fun, relaxing way to connect with your pet while getting some exercise.

At EMMAvet in Alexandria, Va., owner and veterinarian Veronica Jarvinin decided to begin doga classes a few months ago. She does a bending pose as she pets Emma, her beloved dog whose name is on the sign at the emergency pet care practice.

“Everybody giggles the whole time, and dogs roam from person to person,” she said. “I think it just brings everybody a lot of joy.”

Doga was started by an American fitness coach more than 15 years ago. Some of the poses the dogs do naturally take time for the humans to learn.

“You can do puppy pose where your hips stay up and everything else kind of stays the same,” instructor Ashley Stewart told the group. She is a yoga teacher and dog lover who decided to give teaching doga a try.

“It’s definitely less focused on the human yoga practitioner and more focused on the human and the dog connecting,” she explained. The dogs start to emulate what the humans are doing,” she said, as a black Labrador rested next to its owner who was doing a yoga pose flat on the floor.  But the class also expects unusual distractions, Stewart said with a laugh. “We often have accidents that we are cleaning up or dogs that are barking.”

Doga helps create a stronger bond between the pet parent and pup.

Wendy Kuo, a veterinarian in Maryland, brought her two dogs to her first doga class. “Dogs have so much love to give, and I felt that when I was practicing with them,” she said.

Stewart cuddled a cute little gray poodle that licked her face as she asked the group members to lean over to their ankles. 

Mike Salinas, who has been taking yoga for some time, said the best part of doga is snuggling with the dogs. “All dogs want our affection and attention,” he said. “It’s relaxing. Doga also provides a good workout.”

Stewart pushes the class members to reach up high with their right arms. “We’re just going to hold here for a second,” she said.

Doga newbie Celina Williams found the poses challenging, since she had not taken a yoga class before. She signed up for the class because her dog could come with her, which she thought was great.

College student Beth Barrett arrived without a dog since she can’t fit one in her life right now. “I love dogs and I love yoga,” she said, “so it’s a perfect combination of both.”

As the class ended with the resting pose, both the people and dogs were ready to relax, including Marieka Johnson and her best friend, a sweet terrier mix named Chewy.

“Maybe doga is a little crazy,” she said, “but it brings more of the peace aspect of yoga to you and the animal, and also helps with the bond you create.”

Stewart thanked the class for coming. “The dog lover in me, honors the dog lover in you. Good job, dogs,” she said enthusiastically.
…

your ads here!

Doga — Yoga with Your Dog

Posted on by Cosc

The pet parents do yoga poses, like downward-facing dog, as their pups walk around the room and socialize, sniffing each other and the people on their yoga mats. This is doga, a fun, relaxing way to connect with your pet while getting some exercise.

At EMMAvet in Alexandria, Va., owner and veterinarian Veronica Jarvinin decided to begin doga classes a few months ago. She does a bending pose as she pets Emma, her beloved dog whose name is on the sign at the emergency pet care practice.

“Everybody giggles the whole time, and dogs roam from person to person,” she said. “I think it just brings everybody a lot of joy.”

Doga was started by an American fitness coach more than 15 years ago. Some of the poses the dogs do naturally take time for the humans to learn.

“You can do puppy pose where your hips stay up and everything else kind of stays the same,” instructor Ashley Stewart told the group. She is a yoga teacher and dog lover who decided to give teaching doga a try.

“It’s definitely less focused on the human yoga practitioner and more focused on the human and the dog connecting,” she explained. The dogs start to emulate what the humans are doing,” she said, as a black Labrador rested next to its owner who was doing a yoga pose flat on the floor.  But the class also expects unusual distractions, Stewart said with a laugh. “We often have accidents that we are cleaning up or dogs that are barking.”

Doga helps create a stronger bond between the pet parent and pup.

Wendy Kuo, a veterinarian in Maryland, brought her two dogs to her first doga class. “Dogs have so much love to give, and I felt that when I was practicing with them,” she said.

Stewart cuddled a cute little gray poodle that licked her face as she asked the group members to lean over to their ankles. 

Mike Salinas, who has been taking yoga for some time, said the best part of doga is snuggling with the dogs. “All dogs want our affection and attention,” he said. “It’s relaxing. Doga also provides a good workout.”

Stewart pushes the class members to reach up high with their right arms. “We’re just going to hold here for a second,” she said.

Doga newbie Celina Williams found the poses challenging, since she had not taken a yoga class before. She signed up for the class because her dog could come with her, which she thought was great.

College student Beth Barrett arrived without a dog since she can’t fit one in her life right now. “I love dogs and I love yoga,” she said, “so it’s a perfect combination of both.”

As the class ended with the resting pose, both the people and dogs were ready to relax, including Marieka Johnson and her best friend, a sweet terrier mix named Chewy.

“Maybe doga is a little crazy,” she said, “but it brings more of the peace aspect of yoga to you and the animal, and also helps with the bond you create.”

Stewart thanked the class for coming. “The dog lover in me, honors the dog lover in you. Good job, dogs,” she said enthusiastically.
…

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