Body Language

In order to safely and effectively massage dogs, you have to speak their language. There are many subtle ways to tell if a dog is comfortable or on the verge of biting you. Here's a great article that can help you understand what your dog is trying to say to you!

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/9_4/features/Dog_Socialization_15798-1.html

Can't help but massage

On Sunday I went to Rosemary Farm, a sanctuary and rescue for horses in the Catskills of New York. It's one of my favorite places to be. It's very zen hanging out with the horses and I love to photograph them. My daughter and I try to lend a hand to help out while we're there too.

Dawn runs the sanctuary, volunteering full time to make sure that the horses are happy and healthy. When the sun went down and temperatures dropped, the chores were still not done yet. I knew that if we tried to help, we'd only slow her down and given how cold it was, waiting inside next to the fire was much more appealing. So while we waited, I of course was interacting with her pets.

Her dogs are getting up there in age and I was able to massage them all to some degree. Sadie is the queen bee of the household and once she figured out what that massage stuff was all about, she claimed me as her own! The other dogs weren't allowed to come near me as she kept offering me places to massage.

I wish I lived closer so I could keep giving Sadie the relief she was looking for! I'm glad that even though I couldn't help my friend get done with her chores any faster, I was able to help her dog.

Thixotrophic

I learned a new word today - "Thixotrophic". Isn't it a mouthful? It's an important word for those of you who have some tension in your muscles and want to relax.

"Thixotropy - The property exhibited by certain gels of becoming fluid when stirred or shaken and returning to the semisolid state upon standing."

Fascia is that stuff that is under your skin and connects it to your body. It also wraps around absolutely everything in your body as well - your muscles, your organs,etc. Turns out that it's thixotrophic, which makes so much sense!

So when you get a massage, it's like your working a piece of clay. It's resistant at first, but pretty soon the muscles start to loosen up. You've heard people decribe massage as "being like putty in someone's hands" or a feeling of melting. Well, that's why!

Fascia softens when pressure and friction are applied. Massage is pressure and friction. Fascia is present in every part of your body and it's all connected. So massage can soften the fascia throughout your body.

Animals are made the same way. Something as simple as massage can really make an impact!

Puppies!I

I donate my time to photograph dogs and cats for many rescue groups. Right now I'm working on photographing a litter of puppies once a week for The Fitchburg Shelter. Their momma needed to be taken from a kill shelter while very pregnant and the folks in Fitchburg welcomed her with open arms.

So today was the puppies' week four photo shoot. I got to pick them out one at a time, snuggle them, photograph them, snuggle them and repeat. I did a little bit of massage on them too, I just can't help myself.

Their fascia is amazing. I know, I just lost most of you! Fascia is the tissue in your body that is just under the skin and also connects just about everything (I'll get deeper into this later.)

As we age going through physical and mental stress, our fascia develops restrictions. We feel those as knots or tension areas.

Feeling that puppy skin with all the free rolling wrinkles was great - a clean slate. I hope that they get to have a great life and get to stay loose!

Taking your dog for a walk on the beach or in the snow is not only fun, but it can tell you a lot about how your dog moves.

If your pet has an awkward gait, or seems a bit off at certain speeds, it can be a sign of a problem. It can be hard to watch your dogs legs/feet as they're moving, especially when they're going fast.

Today when I was out for a walk, I noticed these prints in the snow, and the animal that made them was definitely was not lifting a foot up all the way.

Massage can help improve range of motion and may help this animal feel more comfortable.

So if you get the chance, walk your pet where you can see paw prints and see what the patterns tell you. Photograph them to share with your veterinarian and massage therapist.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to use this blog!

I had intended to document my massage internship and graduation, but it was so busy and went by in a flash! I massaged over 40 dogs on top of my school work and had to keep up with my family. Life was busy for awhile. When I graduated, busy season for photography popped up and now that it's January I have some time to breathe again.

On January 1st I rang in the New Year by massaging and photographing Sully. He's available through The Fitchburg Shelter and being fostered by Suzie Sunshine (best facebook name ever!)

His foster mom has noticed that his gait is off at times and the vet couldn't find a problem with his knees. The shelter manager wanted my opinion on it. I want to stress that massage therapists can't diagnose conditions or prescribe treatments, but if it was a matter of some tension or knots, I knew I could give the dog relief.

Sully is a sweetheart with a long rescue story of his own. He's been in multiple homes, multiple rescues and was scheduled to be put down. Luckily our friends at Animal Rescue Konnection stepped in and got him to safety in Fitchburg. So who knows what could be wrong with Sully. The stress could have given him tension knots or he could have an old injury that limits his mobility.

Sully was a willing participant. I started with a general massage around his shoulders and he immediately became my buddy. I was able to start working over his topline and when I got to his back end, he turned around and pushed his tushie into my hands. He was telling me where to work!

I did a lot of work on his back end and did a general massage over most of his body. I did find a knot in his shoulder which is common in dogs with back end issues. They compensate for the pain and bear more weight on the front than they should and knots can form.

I wasn't able to do as much work on his back legs. He clearly told me that he didn't want me to work on that area. He never growled, but he would get nervous when I'd work down his back legs and would sometimes put his mouth on my hand. I understood.

My suggestion is to do some more massage after a more thorough vet exam. Hopefully I can build some more trust with him and be able to work his back legs and give him some relief. But I do know that I can work on his sore shoulders and give him relief in his rump muscles.

The biggest thing I want to stress is that to look at Sully you don't see him as a dog that would be in pain. He's happy, he's active and loves to run and jump. He's good with the kids that he lives with, but luckily his foster mom knows the subtle signs of a dog that could be approaching a problem with his cruciate ligaments and wants to make sure that he stays healthy. Massage can help prevent further injury in a lot of these cases.

Most dogs who do have a cruciate injury will tear the other one within a year. Massage has been shown to help in those cases!

Here's a picture of Sully after his massage. I want to be able to keep dogs loose enough to keep acting like this!

Internships

As part of my schooling, I have to complete 40 massages before I can graduate and some of them have to be done while interning at a local business. I've set up two internships and plan to continue to offer massages there after graduation.

The first is Country Dogs Dog Daycare in Bolton and the other is at Preppy Pets in Fitchburg. I'm really excited about both places!

On Friday I met with Courtney at Preppy Pets to set up the details of the internship and to massage her dog Olivia. Olivia absolutely LOVED her massage. She melted in my hands. In fact, she was so cute that Courtney got her cell phone out to take pictures of the puddle that her dog had become.

I was introduced to Preppy Pets because of my volunteer work with the Fitchburg Animal Shelter. Preppy Pets donates supplies and grooming to the shelter and a lot of the alumni go to daycare there. So after my meeting I headed on up to the shelter to meet Molly, the director's Mastiff/St. Bernard mix who is suspected to have hip dysplasia and she was eager to see if massage can help her feel more comfortable.

Molly(pictured above)was in a new place and her mom wasn't in the room with us and Molly wanted to be with her mom. I'm sure my Lexi and I would have the same separation anxiety going on too! It took Molly awhile to settle down and enjoy her massage. I definitely noticed that there was a difference in her hips both in muscle tone and how she responded to massage. I found a few knots and worked on those and next time we'll make sure that Mom stays for the session to help keep her calm and so I can show her some things to do at home.

I was also eager to massage one of the shelter dogs, but first we wanted to get their photo sessions out of the way. I've been volunteering to take their petfinder.com photos since the shelter started a year ago. As I looked at the dogs, I was debating if I wanted to work on one of the pitties who had been there for awhile or one of the newcomers.

I got to meet Pogo, who is absolutely sweet and adorable.

Then I got to photograph a little pittie puppy who had nice loose fascia being so young.

But when I met Rex, I knew I wanted to work with him. You see, I love pathetic dogs and he was so unsure of what we were doing during the photo shoot that I wanted to give him a really positive experience.

Supposedly he had a young owner who didn't have time for him and he hadn't had the opportunity to be exposed to a lot of things, so the last week has been a bit overwhelming for him. Luckily he has some other little friends at the shelter and is discovering that he likes to play!

I started massaging him slowly with long smooth strokes that resemble petting. I like to think of effleurage as "petting with a purpose". It's something that they're used to, but they can tell that it's different too. Once he started to relax, I palpated for knots and found that that poor little guy was just full of them. I worked on as many as I could and I hope that I get to work on him again before he goes to a foster home.