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!