4 August 14 - 20, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents K atie Ortega was just starting to get over the funk of losing a pet — her corgi of 11 years died last October — when she met Pogue the Dalmatian. A friend had gifted her a class at Puppies & Yoga, the Dallas yoga studio that merges “the calming effects of yoga with the de- lightful presence of cute puppies.” Ortega, a 28-year-old Dallas native, had been re- searching what breed of dog would best complement her lifestyle for a few weeks, and Dalmatians topped the list. Puppies & Yoga doesn’t announce what breed of dog will be featured on a particular weekend until a few days prior to the classes, so Ortega just picked a weekend date that worked for her. She figured the ex- perience would be reminiscent of the ador- able social media posts she’d seen advertising the concept. When she arrived at the class on June 7, she was one of around 20 yogis. Squishy pink mats were strewn across the Design District studio, and a litter of eight Dalma- tian puppies ran throughout the room. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I think this is a sign,’” Ortega said. There was a male pup at the event that Ortega “bonded with instantly.” When the class ended, she approached Hailey Lange, a pet groomer and small-scale Dalmatian breeder who lives in Springtown, around 25 miles northwest of Fort Worth, who was sit- ting off to the studio’s side. Lange told Ortega that a few of the Dalmatians at the event had already been purchased and would be going to their new homes in a few days. The male puppy she’d fallen in love with, though, was still available. Ortega was able to pick up the dog from Lange on June 13. She named the 8-week- old dog Pogue, inspired by the Netflix show Outer Banks. Three days after bringing Pogue home, though, he became sick. He was lethargic and vomiting. As a former veterinary technician, Ortega recognized the symptoms of parvovirus right away. If left untreated, parvo has a mortality rate of 90%. “Once [puppies] start showing symp- toms, the death rate is super high, typically within the first 48 hours. If you don’t do medical intervention, they’re goners,” she said. “I knew I had to act very quickly as soon as I saw his demeanor.” Within the next week, nearly all of Pogue’s brothers and sisters, as well as his mother, a 4-year-old Dalmatian named Jew- els, would die from the unforgiving virus. Ortega, distraught at the idea of losing a sec- ond dog within a year, opened a new credit card and spent $1,677 to nurse Pogue back to health. One of the tragedies of parvovirus is how pervasive the disease is. It can seep into sur- faces and live for months, and attempting to truly nail down where the Dalmatian pup- pies contracted the illness is an impossible task. That hasn’t stopped the parties in- volved, Lange, Ortega and the Puppies & Yoga management, from casting blame, though. Lange and Ortega believe that the dogs caught the disease while attending the Dal- las yoga class because they had not been ex- posed to any other environment outside of Lange’s home and the vet. When Lange tried to warn the yoga studio, she was stunned by what she felt was a lackluster response. Both women feel that Puppies & Yoga lacked ac- countability in the wake of the outbreak, which is indicative of a larger culture of carelessness and negligence. In hindsight, both women admitted that a number of red flags were ignored by the breeder and class attendees alike. Lange and Ortega say they have both attempted to post about their ex- periences with Puppies & Yoga online through Instagram comments and Google reviews, only for the warnings to disappear. Puppies & Yoga, on the other hand, says the outbreak was the company’s first brush with parvovirus at any of its locations, and that Lange’s career as a pet groomer could have exposed the puppies “to a high risk of cross-contamination from the many outside dogs she comes into contact with.” An email signed “Puppies & Yoga Management Team” also stated that “contrary to our team’s advice,” Lange was seen by staff members allowing the puppies to relieve themselves outdoors prior to their first Fri- day class, which could have exposed them to outdoor pathogens. Lange denies that this happened. “When we expressed our concerns about her grooming activity over the phone, she assured us that it would not expose the pup- pies significantly,” a Puppies & Yoga state- ment provided to the Observer said. “However, this assurance is now doubtful, as it may have contributed to the puppies’ ex- posure and the tragic outcome of them con- tracting parvo.” Downward Dog J une was the second time that Lange, who has been breeding Dalmatians for three years, brought a litter of dogs to Puppies & Yoga. She first attended a class last fall and was impressed by what she saw as a transparent process and a unique op- portunity for her pups, still too young to go outside and risk being exposed to viruses, to be socialized. She said Puppies & Yoga approached her about the opportunity; she thinks they found her online. A weekend of Friday, Sat- urday, and Sunday classes came with a $1,300 paycheck. On the weekends, the stu- dio offers up to five classes a day, with short breaks between each class that allow the puppies to rest. “[The first time I went] they said that they disinfected with these specific prod- ucts, they said the puppies needed to be up to date on shots,” Lange explained. “We went through all that, and it was very thor- ough.” The company’s Dallas expansion started in summer 2024, and at the time Lange first attended a class, the company was operating in only seven other U.S. cities. Now it’s up to nearly 40 cities, and a second studio in Plano opened in mid-July. For $69 a person, yogis of any level can sign up for a 75-minute ses- sion that includes 45 minutes dedicated to yoga exercises as the dogs roam the studio, followed by 30 minutes for “cuddles, pic- tures and playtime.” “I didn’t realize how big of a business this was. I thought it was just in Dallas,” Ortega said. Because her first experience was a pleas- ant one, Lange reached back out once she had another litter of puppies ready to be so- cialized. This time, a few red flags presented themselves, but she said she ignored them at the time. She hadn’t been asked to provide any medical records for the dogs, she said, which she figured was because she’d worked with the studio before. When she arrived, someone was burning incense in the studio. When she mentioned that the smoke can be problematic for pets, she felt shrugged off. When she tried to ask what types of cleaning products were being used in the studio, she felt ignored. “I still felt OK,” she said. “I’d raised my concerns, but like I said, the time I had be- fore [had been positive]. I just didn’t think anything of it.” Puppies & Yoga told the Observer that “strict veterinary cleaning protocols” are taken between each class, and that cleaners use disinfectants such as KennelSol and Per- formacide, which can kill parvovirus. The management team also said that the operation relocated to a studio in Deep El- lum on July 4 after being notified that Lange’s puppies had fallen ill, and | UNFAIR PARK | Illustration by Daniel Fishel Bending the Blame Puppy yoga promises a wholesome, Instagrammable workout experience. But the death of a litter of Dalmatians that attended a Dallas class has left all parties involved pointing fingers. By Emma Ruby >> p6
