Fake it and make it
On the last day of the Foundation Workshop, we take a field trip to the ASPCA where students practice their newly acquired PetMassageTM skills with the dogs temporarily residing there. The dogs benefit profoundly from the focused, intentional experience of PetMassageTM. Dogs get their PetMassage sessions one at a time. So, one student gives a PetMassage while the rest of the class observes. This is the first time students are able to see what the others are doing, as each has been focusing on her own development during their individual hands-on instruction. Each person, they find, is developing and applying her own unique interpretation of the techniques.
Students take their time during their introductory assessment touches and strokes. They close their eyes and, with their hands resting quietly on their dog’s bodies, listen with all their senses. Their very pores are open and available for any informative responses the dogs express through movements, breathing patterns, heart rates, and subtle shifts of the skin and coat.
As one of the students in our last class was stroking over the dorsal (top) line of a Rottweiler-lab mix, she noticed that the tail was tucked under the buttocks. Tail tucked under is a signal for fear and submissiveness. As her hand moved back over the croup, she gently pulled the tail out so that it rested straight out on the table in a more open, relaxed position. There was no hesitation. She was clearly asserting that this was the countenance that was expected in the PetMassageTM. The dog appeared to immediately adapt to the new posture, gentling. The face shifted. Eyes softened, mouth opened, tongue
expressed, and panting ensued at a comfortable rate. The dog assumed the behavioral properties of the posture he’d been placed in.
Application for you: To become more confident while PetMassaging your dog, you can also keep
a “Buddha Smile” on your face. The Buddha Smile is the iconic image that you see in Buddhist statuary forming the mouth with a straight line separating the lips with the edges turned up. This facial – and yes, fascia – controlled posture actually shifts your mood, making it lighter and happier. Your mood is
referred through your touch. It is also reflected in the aroma of your perspiration and breath. When your mood is uplifting, dogs will be more receptive to your PetMassageTM. They lift up their level of perception to match yours.
Fake it and make it. Pack up your troubles in your mouth’s kit bag and smile, smile, smile