PetMassage for Dogs Day: A Reason for Celebration

PetMassage_TM 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 of other animal care professionals who think that massage is somehow threatening to their livelihoods. The times and attitudes are a-changin’. There are ever increasing demands for complementary forms of dog care. 
 
Those of us who “get it” are the ones who see the value for dogs and their people; and who have taken the initiative to learn to practice dog massage proficiently enough within a set of specific standards, that we can know ourselves as being professionals.
 
I wrote a letter to the city of Toledo to request acknowledgment of the positive ways that PetMassage_TM has impacted Northwest Ohio. We noted the benefits that PetMassage_TM has had for the reputation and good will – dog friendliness – of the city of Toledo, for being an economic resource for Toledo tourism and businesses, and especially for enhancing the lives of the region’s dogs and their people. 
 
We were thrilled when we received an official proclamation from the mayor of the city of Toledo, honoring the day that I had the epiphany about the potential of canine massage, naming July 11^th the actual date from 1997, as PetMassage for Dogs Day.http://petmassage.com/petmassagetm-for-dogs-day-july-11th/
 
PetMassage for Dogs Day is a holiday and a promotional opportunity to commemorate the value of what we all do, and how we are influencing our societies wherever we are. See last week’s blog, “We believe” http://petmassage.com/we-believe/ 
 
As far as we are concerned, this is a document and an action whose significance impacts the dogs and people in areas far greater than our small corner of the world. 
 
Yes, PetMassage for Dogs Day exists in Toledo. It also exists in Cleveland, in Philadelphia, in New York, in Chicago, in Nashville, in Kansas City, in Atlanta, in Miami, in New Orleans, in Austin, in Santa Fe, in Denver, in Salt Lake City, in Las Vegas, in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, in Portland, in Seattle, in Maui, in Fairbanks, in Vancouver, in Whitehorse, in Quebec, in Toronto, in London, in Paris, in Madrid, in Florence, in Athens, in Morocco, in Dubai, in Johannesburg, in Moscow, in Mumbai, in the Philippines, in Taiwan, in Osaka, in Tokyo, in Sidney, in Christchurch, and, in the town or city where you live.
 
For us at PetMassage, and to all of us practicing animal massage and bodywork professionally, this proclamation is legally binding, official recognition. It is official validation. PetMassage_TM for Dogs Day is an officially authorized and recognized occasion.
 
The PetMassage_TM for Dogs Day is a step on the path toward national and international acceptance. The way we proclaim our value is to promote it and this is the perfect venue. Honoring and celebrating it is an opportunity to grow your business; to grow this industry. 
 
2015 will be the 3^rd year we will be celebrating PetMassage_TM for Dogs Day. It is growing in awareness and popularity every year.
 
Celebrate where you live

There are several ways that you can celebrate where you live. 

1. You can offer special gift certificates withPetMassage_TM for Dogs Day discounts to people who purchase them on Saturday, July 11. Promote it on your website and your social network.
2. You can set up a table and give free demonstration sessions in a park popular to dog walkers, or at a dog park, or in a pet store, or at your vet’s office, or at your groomers. Make sure that your appearance and signage is professional looking. Impressions, you know.
3. You can arrange to give a presentation and demonstration outside the mall. I have fond memories of the first time I saw “PetMassage_TMfor Dogs” on a big mall billboard.
4. You can donate your time and expertise at your local shelter. Be sure to document it with plenty of photos for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and videos for YouTube. Cc them to us atinfo@PetMassage.com. We’ll post them on our website and credit you with a link.
5. You can arrange to give a couple of print, radio or TV interviews. Send out email press releases. Call up all the media networks. If July 11^this a slow news day and there are spaces in the news feed that need to be filled, canine massage is always a feel-good, light-hearted story. With this short notice, the news of your activities onPetMassage_TM for Dogs Day is current and time sensitive. News editors will recognize this. You will get the promotion you deserve, pet parents will hear about what you do one more time, and hopefully this time you’ll be called to help their dogs.
6. You can create a special file on your website or Facebook page showing images of your PetMassaging dogs. Ask your clients to send photos of their dogs to you and post them under the headingPetMassage_TM for Dogs Day, July 11^th

Jonathan at the Glass City Dog Park 
 
This year, I, Jonathan will be giving FREE 5-minute sessions at the Glass City Dog Park on Saturday, from 10 am to 1 pm. If you live in Northwest Ohio –Southeast Michigan, we invite you to come on out to meet us at the dog park. The Glass City Dog Park is located just off the Anthony Wayne Trail in the Woodsdale Park (at Harvard Blvd) next to the world famous Toledo Zoo. www.glasscitydogpark.org 
 
Give your dog the gift of massage and learn how beneficial massage and bodywork are to your dog’s quality of life.
 
Of course, Anastasia will be proudly wearing her favorite PetMassage t-shirt (Unleash your inner puppy) and distributing our tiny flyers about workshops, private sessions, PetMassage children’s books, DVDs, and afterschool courses (her pet programs). Ask her about the next 3-hour Dog Lovers Workshop on August 8th. There will also be another 3-hour workshop the same day: Dog Handling and Leadership Skills for the Dog Owner. 
 
Anastasia is the penultimate PetMassage cheerleader. She is determined to make people aware that PetMassage_TM exists, has real benefits to dogs and their people, (dogs do not have placebo effects), is affordable, and available either from me, Jonathan or the thousands of people trained in PetMassage_TM .
 
So, why is the dog park called the Glass City Dog Park?
 
Toledo Ohio is known as the Glass City because of its long history of innovation in all aspects of the glass industry: windows, bottles, windshields (Toledo is 60 miles south of Detroit), construction materials, insulation, and glass art, of which the Toledo Museum of Art has a profoundly large and complete collection. In fact, there is a separate building, called the Glass Pavilion which was created to be a Center for the Visual Arts, designed by Frank Gehry in the 1990s, with curved exterior and interior walls made of specially designed and fabricated glass (except for the lavatories). 
 
Anastasia and I often attend wine tastings at the Glass Pavilion. The events are called “Wine by the Glass.” Get it? Toledoans pride themselves on their clever plays on words which is the reason I write as cleverly and playfully as I do. 
 
Several large glass companies have their origins in Toledo. Owens-Illinois, Owens Corning, Libbey Glass, Pilkington North America (formerly Libbey Owens Ford), and Therma-Tru have long been staples of Toledo’s economy.
 
Add PetMassage_TM for Dogs Day to your calendar for next year
 
Include this day of celebration in your personal list of annual holidays. Send it to all your local online events calendars, your local Chamber of Commerce, Regional Dept of Tourism, and County and City Hall.