Sarah Chapman holds a puppy during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
One white, scraggly mutt named Lambchop won over the crowd at a Northwest Austin puppy yoga class — until he relieved himself on someone’s sweater.
Across the room, another puppy named Winston repeatedly interrupted the instructor, prancing around the studio as attendees tried to focus on their butterfly pose.
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Caroline Schaeffer holds a puppy during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Monica Pellegrino, manager and instructor at Inner Diva Studios, brings a puppy in for a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Maria Freemyer, a volunteer and foster with Forgotten Friends, carries a puppy into a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Elif Yegenoglu hugs a puppy during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Karina Vidal holds a puppy during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Karina Vidal holds a puppy during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Fable Avalon pets a puppy during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Luis Abrego, left, and Fable Avalon, right, take a photo with a puppy during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Puppies play during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Puppies play during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Karina Vidal pets puppies during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Caroline Schaeffer holds a puppy during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
MJ Cuevas, a fitness professional, leads a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
“Did you get the message about being zen and calm?” the instructor asked the pooch, smiling.
The chaos is part of the appeal.
But behind Austin’s booming puppy yoga trend, a debate is emerging over where the dogs come from, who profits from the classes and whether some events put animal welfare at risk.
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While the class hosting Lambchop and Winston partners with rescues and shelters, many for-profit puppy yoga companies popping up across Austin work primarily with breeders — a model rescue advocates say can pose health risks and divert support from shelters.
Rescue-based classes say for-profit competition hurts adoptions
Caroline Schaeffer is licked by a puppy during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
At Inner Diva Studios in Northwest Austin, owner Stacey Scantlin and her team have hosted puppy yoga for years.
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Since 2017, Scantlin has partnered with rescues and shelters weekly to support adoption and foster programs, putting animals in Austin homes one class at a time. It’s a socialization exercise for the dogs and an opportunity for community members to find a forever companion.
Scantlin said in the early days, the studio’s weekend puppy yoga classes would sell out, with around 30% of puppies receiving adoption applications after a class. Inner Diva donates the majority of class profits to its partner rescues and shelters, and at its peak, would hand over close to $1,000 after a sold-out weekend.
But Scantlin said the recent arrival of heavily marketed, for-profit puppy yoga companies has hurt her business, and in turn, hurt the rescues, shelters and puppies that the classes used to support.
“I want to say in June or July, last summer, we saw the first for-profit studio pop up,” Scantlin said. “We immediately saw a decline in our attendance at puppy yoga at Inner Diva.”
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Unlike rescue-focused events, many for-profit classes feature purebred puppies that are already spoken for and generate revenue that stays with the business. Those companies typically charge around $69 per class and don’t donate their proceeds. The American-Statesman reached out to multiple Austin-area shelters and rescues, and none said they had received donations or support from any for-profit puppy yoga company.
Instead, they use their revenue to finance extensive advertising campaigns on social media featuring influencers, purebred puppies and smiling attendees.
Scantlin said Inner Diva struggles to compete with the advertising budgets of national companies. Inner Diva takes a small cut for credit card fees, instructor costs and a small studio space rental, but on average, for every $1,250 raised, $1,000 is donated.
Donating so much leaves little money available for high-visibility marketing.
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“We work with so many foster-based rescues, we worked with Austin Pets Alive, Austin Humane Society,” Scantlin said. “We had so much exposure and didn’t have to do a lot of advertising because it was a word-of-mouth thing. Now the amount of marketing that (for-profit studios) do has squashed us in the Google listings and on social media. That has translated to our classes.”
Rescue groups raise health concerns
Puppies roam the studio during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
The for-profit companies behind many puppy yoga classes popping up around town are transparent about their in-studio cleaning standards, but rarely offer insight into the practices of the breeders making it all possible.
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Those unknowns pose a threat to the health of puppies and attendees alike, said Lindsay O’Gan, instructional design manager at Austin Pets Alive and longtime veterinary professional.
When APA previously participated in puppy yoga events, strict cleaning protocols were enforced from start to finish, O’Gan said. Puppies were required to be at least 8 weeks old with up-to-date vaccinations, and even if those boxes were checked, the shelter wouldn’t involve the puppies in a class unless they were strong enough for it.
O’Gan said her primary concern is that attendees at breeder-supported events often don’t know how the dogs are being cared for, what health protocols they have undergone or what illnesses they may be carrying.
She said shelters closely manage vaccine schedules through veterinary teams and typically vaccinate animals as early as possible, while some breeders administer vaccines themselves, delay vaccinations until puppies are older or oppose vaccination altogether.
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For attendees with pets at home, O’Gan said understanding where the animals come from and how they are cared for is especially important.
“Animals might be sick anywhere,” she said. “I would encourage people to look at where those animals are coming from and make sure that they’re ethically sourced animals, and ideally that they would come from someone with experience like an animal shelter, where you can look up their protocols and how they care for their animals.”
Dallas parvovirus outbreak highlights risks
Luis Abrego pets puppies during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Puppies are more susceptible to disease than other age groups, especially to highly contagious diseases like parvovirus. If left untreated, parvo has a mortality rate of about 90%. It can survive on surfaces for months and requires a specialized cleaning regimen to entirely remove it from the environment.
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In summer 2025, at least five Dalmatian puppies from a litter of nine died after a parvovirus-related incident connected to a Puppies & Yoga event in Dallas, according to reporting by the Dallas Observer.
At the time, the company said it maintained strict cleaning protocols and attributed the outbreak to health practices of a partner breeder. The breeder denied the company’s characterization of events but told the Observer that she was not required to submit medical records to Puppies & Yoga before bringing her animals into the class.
“This has been the only parvo-related incident we’ve encountered after hosting over 10,000 puppies from more than 1,500 breeders and rescues across 39 studio locations,” the company said in a 2025 statement.
Puppies & Yoga, which charges $69 per class, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Statesman.
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Companies find success in Austin
Puppies roam the studio during a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Puppies & Yoga entered the Austin market in February 2026, but has operated in Dallas since 2024. In just a few years, Puppies & Yoga has grown to almost 60 studios nationwide, offering multiple 45-minute yoga classes followed by 30 minutes of puppy playtime.
Puppies & Yoga Austin doesn’t have a permanent studio. Instead, the company rents space from Creative Collective, a community hub at 2505 E. Sixth St., mirroring the pop-up model it uses in most cities.
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A local instructor affiliated with the company, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, said instructors are not involved in breeder-selection decisions and receive little information about partner breeders. Business cards are available at the front of each class with contact information for the partner breeder, and attendees are invited to do their own research.
Puppies & Yoga’s website provides little information about its ownership or operations. No headquarters location is listed, and public records reviewed by the Statesman show few details about its U.S. leadership. The company was given a D+ rating and remains unaccredited by the Better Business Bureau based on its “failure to respond” to a complaint, the website shows.
Puppies & Yoga Austin has maintained a five-star Google rating based on more than 100 reviews at the time of publication. The company frequently responds to reviews with a $5 discount code.
The company previously told the Dallas Observer that it deletes critical social media comments.
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Puppy Yoga Club, another for-profit company offering puppy yoga in Austin, also has locations around the country.
Its Chicago location was subject to multiple citations by the city for operating without a business license, failing to display its license, lacking an animal care license and for advertising “the retail sale of animals,” according to reporting by Block Club Chicago.
The city’s investigation also found Puppy Yoga Club Chicago used a breeder that was twice listed in The Humane Society’s “Horrible 100 Puppy Mill Report,” an annual list of puppy breeders and their alleged violations.
The company does not operate a Google reviews listing.
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Puppy Yoga Club did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Customers weigh rescue-focused alternatives
Jodi Raffaele, a foster parent with Forgotten Friends, brings a puppy in for a puppy yoga class at Inner Diva Studios on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Austin. About 30 people signed up for a yoga class featuring loose puppies that can be adopted or fostered through the Forgotten Friends mixed breed rescue. Part of the class registration fees also went to the rescue.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
As for-profit yoga companies expand into Austin, some customers say the difference in how classes source puppies has influenced where they spend their money.
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Gwen Riggs first discovered puppy yoga while scrolling Instagram. Targeted ads for a for-profit puppy yoga flooded her social media feeds with bright colors, wagging tails and breed-specific classes. They worked; the ads caught her attention.
Ultimately, she chose to attend a rescue-based class at Inner Diva instead.
“I looked into this one, and it looked way better, especially using shelter dogs,” she said. “The other one looked like it was all for profit, with the cute purebred puppies. I don’t want that.”
At a recent Inner Diva class held in partnership with Forgotten Friends Mixed Breed Rescue, about 30 attendees shared the room with 10 adoptable puppies living in foster homes.
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Monica Pellegrino, the studio’s manager, said even though Inner Diva has been hurting from the newfound competition, she and the other instructors are doing their best to make up the difference. Pellegrino said she volunteers her time as a yoga instructor if numbers are down so that a higher portion of the profits can be donated to the rescues and shelters they partner with.
On those days, she gets to show off her expertise. After all, she’s been working with owner Stacey Scantlin since Inner Diva first started offering puppy yoga — by now, she said, she has a few tricks up her sleeve.
“I’ve done this for so long that I even know the poses to put people in where the dogs will engage and jump on them,” Pellegrino said. “It makes for a whole interactive experience.”
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Scantlin said she’s trying to keep her head up even as for-profit companies start taking up space in the puppy yoga sphere, but she can’t help but feel dismayed at how things have played out.
“As someone who has devoted a lot of time and has a huge passion for animal welfare, it’s kind of disheartening to see these companies exploit the animals,” Scantlin said.