Massage and My Dogs

Here are my dogs Jimmy & Lexi. They mean the world to me and are just as important to me as my human kids.

Like most good dog owners, I feel like I do the best for my fur-kids as I can. I researched their diet and feed a homemade raw diet to my dogs and cats. I made sure that the fence was Jimmy-proof which was no easy feat. I researched vaccinations and worked with a vet to have a schedule that works best for them. I notice subtle differences in their behavior and gait. I'm very aware of what's going on with my dogs.

I planned to massage my dogs because of all of the benefits that massage brings, but I didn't think they "needed" it. I just thought they'd be lucky dogs because Mom knows something new and needed practice. We bring our dogs to school to learn our techniques and I was shocked to find out that both of my dogs' backs are full of tension!

My poor Lexi-Lou even winced in pain as the instructor showed me one of her worst areas! Needless to say that she's gotten a lot of massage time since then and is doing much better!

Animals mask their pain, it's part of their survival instinct. When we were learning to look for problems in an animal's gait, Lexi showed no problems at all.

Jimmy had a lot of areas of tension as well, but that didn't surprise me quite as much. He's my little rambunctious clown and gets himself into trouble. He's been to the vet for various limps and bumps and once he probably dislocated his shoulder, but it had popped back in by the time we threw him in the car and got to the vet.

Now my puppies will get massaged regularly to relieve the tension and help all areas of their bodies function better!