Jonathan’s Helpful Hints

 Anatomy of a successful trade show booth and show  To Market, To Market Summertime, and the livin’ is easy. Now is the perfect time to market your canine massage. There are all kinds of venues from agility competitions to county fairs; the opportunities are abundant.   Canine massage is becoming ever more popular. Most dog…

Marking Territory: Signs, Signals, Methods, and Value Added Marking Territory, Signs, Signals, Methods As a species we have found that we need to leave a mark to show where we’ve been. Apollo astronauts left an American flag on the moon. “We’ve been here,” it says. The flag is a symbol of accomplishment, exploration, discovery, dominance,…

With Puppies, Keep Expectations and Protocols in Check Puppies get PetMassageTM Last weekend, I had the opportunity to PetMassageTM several 4 week young Old English Sheep Dog puppies from a litter of eight. The sessions were brief and simple. Small words and short sentences. One responded well to rocking, another, to skin rolling, another to…

Foundation Level Students Loved the Workshop Experience Students shared their feelings    We just finished another Foundation level workshop. While all classes are great, this class was a real joy and privilege to facilitate. There were 6 students. Everyone was focused on her own intent and completely supportive and accepting of everyone else. Everyone came…

Listening as an Act of Love Interview “On Being” hosted by Krista Tippett Sunday mornings in our house involves the ritual of gathering around the radio, waiting until 5 minutes after 10 AM, when the dreadful news is over, and listening with eager anticipation to the NPR program, “On Being” hosted by Krista Tippett. I have gotten…

Dousing: Muscle Testing in PetMassageTM Limited uses for muscle testing While the muscle testing techniques described last week are good for personal dilemmas, like whether to order the cheesecake or the chocolate lava with ice cream, whether to lease a BMW or a Lexus, or choosing between two brands of supplements, or selecting the best…

Muscle testing   Natural remedies Anastasia and I were in a natural medicine shop looking for some natural type remedies that could enhance my life. I looked around at all the shelves and daunting rows of similar sized and shaped bottles with names I didn’t recognize. I must have given her my look of dizzy…

All aboard  Last weekend I witnessed joy. My 12 year old granddaughter Lydia, on stage, playing Annie, spread her little arms, lifted her face to the front lights, and sang out loud and true, “Tomorrow, tomorrow I love ya tomorrow. You’re only a daaaaay a-waaaaaaaaaay …” She was absolutely in the zone. She had found…

Acts of Kindness, Paid Forward: Random and Planned Randomness Gifted Recently, Anastasia and I were having dinner at one of the restaurants that is described in the travel books as $$. When we asked for our check at the end of the meal, we were informed that someone who we did not know had already…

Upgrading the public image Last month, I had 2 articles published in Massage Magazine print version and online. https://www.massagemag.com/6-essentials-for-equine-massage-marketing-success-34781/ https://www.massagemag.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/238lr-spread.pdf I noted with a bit of shaken ego that the photo I had provided for their Contributors Page was a fuzzy, discolored, cropped image of a larger photo that we’d taken with an iPhone. It…

Lola says “Oh Look: Squirrel,” and then… Easter Sunday Perfect Spring like weather. Sun shining in a pale blue cloudless sky. New green leaves of the forsythia dance in the breeze. Tiny white crocus flowers randomly dot the mulch. New orange buds on the tree branches are ready to burst. The morning temperature is cool,…

Perfection Rainbow Eagle I recently had an opportunity to reconnect with a friend of mine who also happens to be a powerful resource of ancient Native American wisdom. He is an Elder of the Oklahoma Choctaw Nation who travels the world, teaching, learning and integrating the information that is shared with him. He has been…

Puppy PetMassageTM demonstration video Foundation Level class at Toledo/Northwest Ohio Area Humane Society On the final day of each Foundation Level class we go to the Toledo/Northwest Ohio Area Humane Society and give complimentary PetMassageTM sessions to the dogs who are there as temporary residents. It is a great experience for the students. It is…

Time flies like an arrow Daylight Saving Time This weekend we will be having our semiannual time change to Daylight Saving Time. For those of us who live in cooler climates of the United States, it is spring, so we reset our clocks one hour ahead and spring forward. Dog time; it’s a good time…

Dogs need to scale the utmost height and catch the gleam of glory bright Higher ground advantage Over 2500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote in his military treatise, the Art of War, “When the enemy occupies high ground, do not confront him. If he attacks downhill, do not oppose him.” The one who takes the higher…

Just do it, already.  Have you been reading these weekly newsletters for awhile? Every workshop, we ask people why they chose to take their training in canine massage with PetMassageTM. They tell us that they have been reading these weekly newsletters for years and have just been waiting for the right time to take their…

Your PetMassage practice began long ago. Your PetMassageTM Way back when you were still in your pre-preverbal mode, you made the choice to help dogs enhance the quality of their lives. You decided to have the experiences and the quality of thought, and do all the things that would eventually position you to learn PetMassageTM…

RVTs and Veterinarians PetMassageTM Dr. Marty Becker has been encouraging you to strive to make your veterinary practice more “fear-free.” You’ve tried kneeling on the floor with your patients, greeting them at their level when they enter your clinic. You’ve tried changing your apparel so that it doesn’t have the “white coat” effect on staff,…

Pearly Gaits: You and Dogs Moving Balanced and Confident Confidence and balance There is a connection between the confidence and balance of the handler/PetMassageTM practitioner and the confidence and balance of dog. In the show ring, the handler and dog must have a strong bond to be successful. If the handler is sick, nervous, unsure,…

6th chakra: the sensory chakra The traditional set of chakras for humans does not include this chakra. This energy field is significant for all of us: people and dogs. It is unrecognized in the human chakra organization that we have learned. We’ve been taught that there are seven major chakras. And that is correct for…

Moving to the beat of the heart Chakras 1-3 and 4 Last week we discussed the lower three chakras. The lower three are the foundation for maintaining life. As we move up your dog’s chakras, the higher we go, they become more and more connected and responsive to cognitive, reasoned and spiritually intuitive function. The…

Chakras in your PetMassageTM practice: Releasing Creativity Lower 3 chakras The lower 3 chakras are the foundation for the life force and healthfulness. If they are not fully functioning, balance, harmony, ease of movement, aka wellness cannot happen above them. Your body’s energy mechanics are a projection, a manifestation, of your creativity. Your energetic position…

Going to a Happy Place I’m requested to meditate. During a recent Reflexology session I was asked to go to a happy place; that is, to meditate, while I was being grounded out. We all have happy places. Events, snapshots of times when we felt loved, protected, on purpose, one with everything. In times past…

In the New Year, take control; take leadership of the journey The PetMassageTM lessons help you understand and take control of yourself so that you can develop a confidence, comfort and strength. From this platform, you can control the world. Leadership Developing and maintaining leadership is all about 1 Controlling and developing awareness to foster…

News flash: Hokkaido Garden The news we are told Oh, the weather outside is frightful… It is so easy to be lured into the lurid and scary mass media hysteria. It is easy to believe what we’re told is happening in the world. It’s sometimes difficult to turn off and tune out the negativity set…

Outlines, an experience in contrasts We ran into a dilemma while creating the rolling titles for a new YouTube that will be downloadable from the website in January. The font I chose for the titles is Arial and its color is white. And while it shows up nicely when it is rolling over a dark…

PetMassageTM Assessment strokes and touches are opportunities for travel and adventure. Assess your dog’s body Assessment strokes and touches are some of the ways we assess our dog’s body. When we PetMassageTM our dogs, our awareness moves with our hands. Hands and presence begin their journeys on the coat and are soon drawn to sink…

Shadows and shinies Soften your eyes to know where to focus – or if you don’t look, you are probably missing a lot. Hold your hand in front of your face with your thumb up. Focus on your thumbnail and notice how everything behind it is out of focus. Now, lower your hand keeping your…

Mission Statement One of your greatest resources is your business. So, this is the time to look at your Mission Statement to make sure that you are still on the right track. If you are not, rewrite it. Make it your declaration of who you see yourself being. Make it your declaration of what you…

Thanksgiving is a time for being grateful. In her book, How of Happiness , Sonja Lyubomirsky shares research that shows that maintaining a physical, written gratitude list lightens up your life. http://www.amazon.com/The-How-Happiness-Approach-Getting/dp/0143114956 Documenting makes your thoughts concrete; real and actionable. As you practice writing your gratitude list, your life becomes happier. You’ll notice a dramatic…

Anastasia’s Guides are talking to us During a recent meditation, Anastasia was guided to send the November, 2015 PetMassage Foundation students the following information, which also applies to those of us who are already working on developing our canine massage practice. We hope you find these suggestions helpful in creating your new career. Suggestions for…

In the glow of headlamps, there you are Driving on a highway at night, all one can see, or need to see, is what is being illuminated in the beams of the headlights. There within the boundaries of darkness, we see where we are going. We see any obstacles that are immediately in the path.…

Time change This past weekend, many of us fell back an hour We all (except for people in some parts of Indiana) repeated the old mantra last Saturday night when we stood in front of our clocks, hands raised, for the semiannual rite of the Daylight savings time clock adjustment. Spring forward. Fall back. And…

Which side are you on? Noble Fringe offers choices Last week I attended a meeting of our local Green Party. It was an activist subset of our community’s well-intentioned citizenry. They are the ones who identify and verbalize the most dire, most profoundly disturbing issues of our time. They are the noble fringe. They have…

Permission It is not always a forgone conclusion that dogs always want to be touched. They are very much like humans in this respect. Sometimes they are too distracted, are in too much discomfort or they just may not be in the mood to receive a half-hour session of intensive touch and nurturing. Sometimes they…

New findings of PetMassageTM Research Re: The skin between your dog’s toes. Examining paws The pads are the first information receptors for the physical world around the dog. They communicate the shapes, textures, temperatures, and other descriptive information that the dog needs to stay safe. The pads are flexible and can contour to the shapes…

I’m pickin’ up good vibrations, bop bop. Awareness, or presence, or focus increases vibration frequencies. Whatever we focus on increases its vibration. This is a hot topic in the quantum arena. The results of entire experiments have been shown to be skewed simply because there was an observer. We are receptive to vibrations. And have…

Camille was fast asleep. Lying next to me, her head rested on the pillow next to mine. Her precious little brown face was even with mine. Camille’s REM (Rapid Eye Movement) state was obvious as she glanced about behind her eyelids. Her long legs twitched, jabbing into my side, as the three year old Boxer…

Energy Work is part of every PetMassage Last week, I had the opportunity to PetMassage Dugan, a big, 80 pound German shorthaired pointer. He is a bird dog. He had been out in the fields, running about, having the time of his life, when he developed a limp in his right foreleg. His pet parent…

If you are happiest when you are with dogs and your heart sings when you help them discover their optimal level of wellness and balance, you are already a member of a very unique “tribe” of like-minded, like intentioned, like destined people. This book and set of DVDs welcomes you; encourages you to expand on…

Anastasia shares what she witnesses: reactions as a family’s dog gets her first PetMassageTM Senior terrier needs to see her vet A few weeks ago, 12-year-old Lily went lame from some unknown cause and was unable to use her hind end; unable to walk. She had a history of some serious arthritis and her vet…

The Look A workshop student became irritated that her dog had embarked on a barking jag. What had started as a simple call for attention had escalated into a loud unstoppable flood of rhyming sounds, much like an urban poetry open mic night. My student was unable to concentrate on the lecture and felt responsible…

Curtain of distraction Recently while walking Lola and Camille, I had a conversation with a neighbor who was watching her kids playing badminton using a structure made of 3” PVC piping as a net. She described it as the “Curtain of Distraction.” While cleaning out their garage her kids and their friends had discovered this…

Dreamy birthday Have you ever heard that when you dream, you are all the characters in your dream? You are the one having the dream. You are the one in the dream. You are all of the characters who interact with you. You are the car, the plane, the room, the furniture, the wide stairway,…

The eye roll, not your everyday sushi. eye-roll·ing noun 1. the action of rolling one’s eyes, typically as an expression of exasperation, disbelief, or disapproval. –Oxford Dictionary Looking upward with an expression of contempt, often combined with a sigh. Used to indicate frustration and annoyance with the stupidity of a person or thing. – Urban…

Change is scary; and, change is the only way we grow. “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.”-Albert Einstein “If your dog always acts, moves, and lives how he’s always moved, acted, and lived, he will always move, act and live the way he does.”- Jonathan…

If I had a hammer If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning, I’d hammer in the evening, All over this land, I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out a warning, I’d hammer out love between, My brothers and my sisters, All over this land. – Peter, Paul & Mary – If I…

Spray painting Here’s another helpful tip, the purpose of which is to enhance the delivery of your canine massage: We are instructed to spray of paint in a continuous movement, sweeping the spray pattern, moving from side to side, and from the outside of one edge to past the other edge. Even with our application…

Bike light George is a friend of ours who lives and works in Chicago. His bike is his primary means of transportation. Chicago streets are often precarious. He has to stay ever vigilant of the quality of the pavement, to the pedestrians stepping out from between parked cars, and the busy traffic around him. The…

PetMassage for Dogs Day: A Reason for Celebration PetMassageTM for Dogs Day is this Saturday, July 11.   Why is this so significant?   In most states in the US and in many countries, canine massage is in a legal gray zone. Canine massage is seldom regulated, seldom understood, almost universally underappreciated, and often the target…

We believe. Manifesto When you have a business and decide to devote your life to it, you need to be able to clearly state why you are doing what you are doing. For The PetMassageTM Training and Research Institute, in Toledo Ohio, we are continuously refining and redefining our vision. Declaration of beliefs There is…

Cherry tree needs light to flourish Here’s another helpful tip to enhance your canine massage:   One of our neighbors has had a quiet, little cherry tree in her front yard for several years. Actually, I walk past her house every day and was not even aware that it was a tree that bared fruit.…

Two framed photographs  Reiki enhancement Attended a show at an art gallery recently. Saw two identical framed photographs one was priced $50 more than the other. The only difference was that the more expensive one had a little sign under it stating it had been Reiki’d. Energetically charged. Aligned. Blessed. I thought to myself, and…

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. Alyce Sorokie, the author of Gut Wisdom, Understanding and Improving Digestive Health, shared a powerful poem during a recent presentation in Chicago. I’d like to share it with you. Chapter 1 I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in.…

So, the dog on your table is a drooler. When he shakes his head, you are drenched in spit. Should you be concerned, or just grossed out? Just grossed out. Some dogs are natural droolers. There are always exceptions to every breed, depending on the lines in the dog. Breeds that drool Some breeds drool…

Every once in a while I am reminded of my curious place in our science-based culture, and self-doubt creeps in. My massage/bodywork practice is eerily “complementary” and “alternative.” It is very difficult to measure. I work with living, evolving, developing uniquely arcane physical and behavioral attributes and conditions. And, because each life and history is…

There is a variable in a dog’s behavior that I feel a need to discuss: the influence of the dog’s name. When I taught a master class in France, I learned that in Europe human names are not popular. Whereas, here in the US, it is common to name our dogs Bob. 2014 may go…

Over the last two weekends, I had the opportunity to PetMassage over one hundred dogs. We were promoting the PetMassageTM mini-workshop for dog owners that we will be giving this coming Saturday at the PetMassageTM School in Toledo, OH. We spent a delightful Spring Saturday in a popular Metropark meeting dogs and their people. The…

The time has come for another high school reunion. How time flies when we are having fun! The class reunion committee asked us to complete a questionnaire for the event; and one of the questions was “What advice would you give yourself as a high school senior, knowing what you know, now?” I came up…

Hawk m. Have you ever wondered what was under the shoulder blade, aka. scapula of the dog? What is that broad flat muscle under there? What does it do? Is that what holds the scapula in place? If it is, does it affect how the scapula moves? Why would the scapula sometimes feel rigid in…

Ask PetMassage: Help for dog owners and dog massage practitioners I often receive email requests for help. The scenarios are similar to this one that I got recently. When our dogs are hurting, we often feel helpless and unsure who we can ask for a first or second opinion. If you have questions about massage…

Canine Massage Scope of Practice Canine massage is a profession. As such it has a description of what it can do. The description includes limitations for our practice. This blog is about the scope, range, of our practice of canine massage. In light of my offering advice to dogs’ owners and to canine massage practitioners…

Dog wants to jump away during massage or What was I thinking? Hi Jonathan, I’m trying to be aware of the pressure that I’m using and go lightly. Could it be that because they are sore it is causing them to be more sensitive? I’m really starting to have a lot of self-doubt. When I…

Ask PetMassage Hi Jonathan, Subject: Help! Today I massaged a dachshund who I have worked on before. Today I noticed that her gait was off a bit so I got her on the table. When I was working on her hips she started pulling away so I backed off and began the finishing [PetMassageTM] vectoring.…

Music to your ears. Background music for your massage. The music you choose plays an important part of creating the ambient mood you want for your massage. Play music that you like; but not music you know well and would want to follow. The music needs to stay in the background, allowing you to focus…

Private Canine massage sessions in Toledo Ohio  Of course PetMassageTM, the school, offers How-to books and DVDs for training dog owners to massage their dogs at home. http://petmassage.com/?page_id=992PetMassageTM, the school offers hands-on training workshops for people who what to learn to offer canine massage professionally. http://petmassage.com/?page_id=70   You knew that.    Last week you were reminded that…

Post canine massage protocol Senior Cattle dog, Jess got her first canine massage. She loved it. She was clearly feeling better as she strolled leisurely out to the car. What a huge difference from the stiff and stumbling, limping, side-winding shuffle she presented an hour earlier before her massage!    After she was settled back…

Dogs Kids PetMassage You’ve adopted the perfect dog. Your kid plays too rough and needs to learn gentleness and respect for your new pet’s space. Now is the perfect time to learn dog massage. For you, for bonding. For your children, for safely, gentle dog handling skills and essential life lessons. Dogs Kids PetMassage​, book…

Sensitivity In the March 2015 issue of Massage Magazine, there was a letter to the editor in the Reader Feedback section that caught my attention. It was titled “Pit Bull presence.” Part of the letter included “I don’t believe that most people find the presence of a Pit Bull in the (human massage) office relaxing.…

Space is our only frontier The one who owns and controls the space is the leader. This goes for leading board meetings, giving presentations, performing in theater, playing music, holding your audience’s attention while ice skating, and controlling the high ground in the military.   When we describe space we are usually referring to the…

Zippo dog massage or, Use a Lighter Tool for the Job You wouldn’t use a wrench to pluck an eyebrow, although you could; but you might hurt yourself. You wouldn’t use a sledgehammer to nail a picture hook on a wall, although you could; but you might damage the wall. You wouldn’t use an ax…

Taking my own advice.  Last Wednesday, I blogged about Feng Shui. I talked about the importance of straightening and organizing our hidden treasure troves in drawers and file cabinets. I suggested that the clutter of our tucked away secrets might be getting in our way. They might be constricting our growth and prosperity. On Friday,…

What’s a canine massage neuromuscular release? When dogs are stimulated during a PetMassageTM their bodies shift – making tiny edits to their internal dialogue. What is the internal dialogue? The internal dialogue is the way the body communicates with itself to coordinate its internal and gross movements. Good communication supports its internal systems. These movements…

Feng Shui – canine massage  During a recent Foundation workshop, Betsy asked about the role of Feng Shui in PetMassageTM. The class discussed a few simple precepts we can follow to influence the energy, movement, and emotional dynamics of the space where practice our PetMassageTM. Feng Shui is a term composed of two Chinese words:…