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.

Bentley's Butt

Ok, so I know you're looking at this picture and after seeing the odd thing sewn into Bentley's neck and the interesting contraption that he's wearing, you're wondering what happened to him and you can't imagine what could possibly be wrong with this poor horse's butt!

The good news is that Bentley is going to be just fine. He had a large growth on his neck that was removed, but he keeps bumping it open. He's a big, athletic guy and he's doing the best he can on stall rest. The contraption that he's wearing is the horse equivalent to the "cone of shame" and it keeps him from lowering his head too much and straining his stitches.

Tonight poor Bentley was rubbing his butt against the back of his stall. I overheard the barn's medical guru talking to the trainer, trying to figure out what to do for him. His tail didn't seem to be itchy and he enjoyed a cold hosing, but when he was put back in his stall, he went right back to rubbing his butt on the wall. She said that it almost seemed like he was trying to put pressure on a sore spot.

I offered to massage him and got taken up on that on the spot! I left my daughter's lesson and went to work.

The big guy was confused at first and didn't understand the pressure, he thought I was asking him to move over! So I warmed him up with some long light strokes and gradually increased the pressure. He got the hang of it. I found spots that he really loved and he leaned back into me. He really liked getting a massage around his harness.

When I moved around to his left side, he was more "ouchy" and let me know areas that he didn't want to be touched. I backed off to let him know that I wasn't going to pressure him. I went back to the area around the harness that was itchy and got him to lick and chew - a sign that he was releasing tension and enjoying himself. Then I moved back to the ouchy area.

He was generally tight in his glutes, but I hadn't felt anything unusual yet. I slowly worked the area, getting closer to the ouchy place. I tried a couple of stroke techniques while working my way to the muscles on the inside of his thighs. That's when I felt a big "ropey" area. It's like a really long knot. I worked it very gently and gradually added more pressure to it. He let out a really long big sigh and I was just as relieved as he was!

When he was put back in his stall he went straight to his hay and didn't seem to be thinking about his butt. And that's the whole point, to get us to focus on what's important in life and not think about our pain.

I was so happy that I now have the skills to help out. That's why I'm doing this, why I'm back in school and getting ready to work in a career that most people will not understand. It's enough that Bentley understood. And luckily for Bentley, I'll be back at the barn tomorrow.

I massaged a cat - and we liked it!

I am the proud owner of a few cats yet I've held off practicing massage on them because they're, well, cats!

I knew that my dogs would accept any attention or touch that I gave them and even with a few ouchy spots that they've told me about, the dogs have loved their massages. Even when I was brand new and had no idea if I was doing it right.

I wanted to have more confidence before I massaged a cat because I knew that if I didn't do it right I might not get another chance. I'm proud to say I'm confident enough in my technique that I tried it out on my kitty Maria.

Maria was an obvious choice for my "crash test kitty" because she's so very mellow and is almost dog-like in her love of attention. Maria is one of those kitties that drools when she's happy and was a limp purring slobber-ball when I was done with her. She quickly figured out that I wasn't just petting her and she was excited. She rolled her body strategically so that I could get to all of her parts. I wasn't sure how much pressure to use on a cat, she seemed so small and fragile compared to my big dogs. I found that I intuitively knew how much to press and where to do my strokes.

I know Maria and I are both looking forward to our next session!

Find the Knot

In class yesterday it felt like we were playing a game called "Find the Knot." We practiced finding areas of tension on each other and each other's dogs and people would get almost giddy when they found a big one. I had a huge knot in my shoulder - perhaps I should go get a massage?

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!

30-Second Commercial

In sales, one is supposed to have a 30 second commercial ready to go so that when you're in an elevator and someone asks you what you do, you'll be prepared and sound intelligent. When I sold Creative Memories scrapbooking supplies my commercial sounded like "I help people get their photos organized into albums that are safe and meaningful."

I haven't written my commercial about massage yet. I really need to because while I believe in it with all my heart (and a sizable chunk of my money invested in tuition) I was not able to articulate anything about my passion while under the gun this weekend.

I was hanging out with a new friend and someone mentioned that I was back in school. I almost didn't want to tell her what I was doing because I knew that she wasn't going to understand. She's a lot of fun to hang out with because we both have very sarcastic and irreverent senses of humor so I should not have been surprised when she actually laughed out loud when I told her I was learning animal massage.

I babbled a few things about it being one of the oldest therapies and it's still in use today because it works. I tried to use some specific examples of ailments that can be helped with massage but it was falling on deaf ears. She seemed somewhat impressed with all the schooling involved and the anatomy that we cover, but in the end I put a funny spin on things making her laugh.

I'm going to have to do better if I want people to take me seriously and not think this is a joke.

I'm enrolled in an animal massage school. Sometimes that statement elicits a startled reaction (really people do that?) Some people mask it better than others and politely engage in a conversation to cover their confusion, but there are those who "get it" and think that my choice is perfect for me.

I've always had a connection with animals of all kinds and a few years ago Amy at Muddpuppies brought up the topic of animal massage and although I'd never heard of it, it made sense to me right away. I've had amazing results when being massaged and couldn't wait to give that gift to my furry friends. Personally massage has cured my tension headaches by getting the knots out of my back and neck, helped me in physical therapy and of course help me relax. Animals need to be massaged for those and many more reasons too!

Things have changed in my life with living in a new state and deciding what I want to be when I grow up. When my husband got laid off this year, I realized that despite my college education and a resume filled with volunteer work, there was no way that I'd be able to earn enough money to support my family without going back to school. I didn't want to be stuck in an office and have to get dressed up to go to work, and I knew I wanted to work with animals. Luckily I discovered there was an amazing animal massage school in my county!

I'm two months into the program and I've done a lot of studying. I had a lot of biology & anatomy in school so it wasn't like learning a foreign language, but I did have to memorize many names/parts that I'd never heard of before. In order to understand what we're massaging, it's important that we understand what's going on beneath the skin. By memorizing muscles and their locations (origins and insertions) I'll be able to have a better understanding of which muscles to massage in different situations. We've studied animal behavior, first aid and learned about business. Now we're finally getting to the good stuff - learning how to actually use our hands!

Hands isn't quite the right way to put it. We're learning how to use our entire bodies when we massage. How do we know we're doing it right? Instead of practicing on dogs, we've been practicing on each other. I know it's rough letting someone use you for a massage guinea pig, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice to help my classmates' learn! My family volunteered to help me study for my first practical exam (which I passed with flying colors!)

After passing my hands-on exam, I had more confidence to start trying my techniques out on some four-leggers. I made my dog Jimmy quite happy and he was like jello in my hands. I also did a little work on a couple of horses at the barn and I could tell that they were enjoying it. I even found a spot that was tight on one of the horses and worked the area and felt the muscle relax.

At that moment I knew that I'd made the right choice. I felt like that would never get old - I felt home. I can't wait to graduate and start my new life in earnest!

The problem with doing photography for rescues, is coming home empty-handed. If I had the means, I'd have two colts! Rosemary Farm has many amazing equines available for adoption.