Last week I was massaging a sweet senior dog. I could not walk her during her PetMassage assessment because her hind legs kept crossing and getting tangled beneath her. She was unable to stand unassisted. Her eyes, still and dull, stared unfocusingly into space. Here and not here, she was Stuck in a dispirited, uninspiring fog.
This massage needed to be superb. My job was to guide her from the pall she was experiencing to comfort and clarity. No pressure.
I picked her up and positioned her on the massage table.
She lowered her chin to her paws, and began to relax. Her breathing pattern shifted; it was less labored. She was already beginning to process her massage. She is a regular client so she knows, and can anticipate, how much a massage will help her.
I rested my hands on her top line, one palm on her withers and the other on her lumbar spine. I touched the tip of my tongue to the roof of my mouth, closed my eyes, exhaled through my nose, and opened myself to my intuitive sources. Then I paused and waited for inspiration. Nothing.
I centered myself, adjusting my feet in my shoes until they felt solidly grounded, and observed my breath. My lungs filled and emptied. Filled and emptied. My chest rose and fell. Rose and fell. Still, nothing.
I was doing everything I could think of to open my awareness. I felt my pulse throb in my chest and temples. My heart beat was rapid. I could visualize my irises dilating and contracting with each beat. Then with intention, it slowed. Lub dub. Lub dub. Luuub duuub. Luuub duuub. Hello intuition. Anybody home?
I was trying too hard.
I was Bullwinkle expecting to pull a rabbit out of my hat for my little flying squirrel buddy. And I really didn’t know what to look for.
BTW, it was seldom a rabbit that came out. “Oops. Wrong hat.” Or, “I didn’t know my own strength.”
With patience, messages and directions do come. While I waited, I followed one of the beginner routines that beginner students learn in workshops. Everything in these canine massages serves to enhance the body’s circulation, flexibility, and proprioception.
I began with the vectoring to reintroduce our subliminal bodies. Then, using slow purposeful assessment strokes, I simply observed. Her coat was coarse, oily, and the skin beneath it, taut and non-responsive. No areas expressed as warmer or cooler. Her vitality was flat, flaccid. She had lost a lot of muscle mass so my fingers traced over the protruding contours of her skull, her spine, her pelvis and her hips. I felt her generalized stiffness and lethargy. I sensed her pervasive fatigue, despair, and apprehension. I felt emotionally depleted.
Witnessing is a powerful tool, and I knew that there was more that I could offer. As the observer, I was participating, but only partially. As my hand slid off her spine onto the tail, I felt the familiar PetMassage connection.
I grasped the upper tail, slightly squeezing its top 4 or 5 vertebra, and pulled them the 1/2 inch away from the buttocks into mild sustained traction. Here was the sign I’d been waiting for. My fingers pulsed.
I softened the tension, maintaining the tail’s position at the same height and angle. The tail-set tensed, softened, and sighed. A surge of energy flowed through my hands and into her hips and legs. I was an iDog charging station!
It was as if I were holding a hose, feeling the vibration of the water sputtering and gushing within it. Myofascial Positional Release. This was the theme, the motivation, and the essence of her massage as we reactivated all over her body.
When we were complete, I gently placed the dog on the floor. She shook, maintaining her balance. (That in itself was huge.) with bright eyes she looked around, and purposely strode off to investigate a hallway and the room where bipeds (people) get massage. Her focus was back. Her curiosity was back. Her steadiness at the walk was, while not perfect, demonstrably better.
Hey Rocky, did you see what we pulled out of this hat? Whatever it is, for this dog in this moment, it’s surely superb!
If you appreciate what you read here, please favor me by Sharing it and my other blogs with all your friends, groups, and networks. Help me spread the word. This is important work. Canine massage can enhance the lives of every dog, every dog’s owner, and every canine care provider. Especially at this moment, when the world craves beauty, promote the goodness, peace and love of canine massage. Thank you. -Jonathan
We can only know for sure what effects our massage is having on the dogs if we’ve first established a baseline for their movement. Then, we can recognize changes from day to day, and over the span of several massages. Although throughout the massage, we are constantly evaluating and assessing, adjusting what we are doing to accommodate the immediate needs of the dog, we take special note of the dogs condition before and after each session.
Dogs find ways to compensate for discomfort during movement. They rely on their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. That’s how they avoid pain when deciding to put weight on vulnerable and compromised limbs. Often these are because of real, ongoing, physical responses.
Sometimes it is remembered pain, with the anxiety of potential pain. Limping, tentative toe touching, head tossing, etc., while all protective behaviors, may also be residual habits from when injuries were in their healing phase. The injury is healed. The protective body mechanics continue as comfortable muscle memory. Habitual lameness can often be resolved by bringing the dog’s awareness to the comfort they can experience during movement. Once the demon has been named, its power is taken away.
Canine massage assists dogs healing processes, whether real or imagined, by increasing circulation, draining lymphatic fluid, dispersing scar tissue, strengthening attachment sites for tendons and ligaments, and conditioning the fascia.
Gait evaluation typically includes observation of the dog from a number of angles at the walk, the amble, and the trot on a flat surface. The walk and amble are often the most convenient gaits to observe for abnormalities because they can be done in the small space like a corridor that you might have in your home or clinic. They are the slower gaits, and you may be too close to them to detect their milder lameness. The trot is the best gait to use for detecting lameness. We’ll discuss below why this is.
In dogs, there are 4 main gaits: walk, trot, canter, and gallop. In addition, dogs have a 5th transitional gait between the walk and the trot called the amble. For most canine massage, unless we are working with competition dogs, we observe the walk, amble and trot.
The walk.
At the walk, 2 or 3 feet are on the ground at any given time.
We look for
- a smoothly moving flexible top line
- gently bobbing head
- ease of movement in the shoulders and forelegs, hips and hind legs
- relaxed tail
- angle of the ankles (upright, dropped)
- direction of paws (turned inward, straight forward, or turned out)
- relationship between the angles of the knees and the paws, elbows and paws
- how the paws seat on the ground. (Do they all move with grace and stability, or are one or more paws dragging, scuffing, flipping, or sliding?)
The amble.
The amble is a faster walk. It is inefficient and uncomfortable for dogs for extended periods. It’s the transition between walk and trot. So after a minute or two the stress and fatigue it induces might reveal hidden lameness.
The trot.
The trot is the most efficient gait. The front and rear diagonal feet touch ground simultaneously. There’s a moment of suspension, and then the opposite diagonal of paws touches ground. This is the most often used gait for assessment because it’s easy to see if the diagonal paw groundings are clean and uniform. If they are not, massage with the intention of rebalancing – and coordinating – the hips and shoulders.
When evaluating gait:
- Choose a surface for observation that is even and flat.
- Observe the dog’s walk, amble, and trot.
- Watch the dog from multiple vantage points, including going away, coming toward you, from both sides, and while circling. Walk the dog yourself and also ask the dog’s owner to walk their dog as you observe.
- Notice weakness or hesitation moving into or rising from a sit or down position.
- Notice any signs of neurologic abnormalities, such as head tilt, ataxia, paw scuffing, or stumbling.
- Notice the paws: conformation, angle, length and condition of claws, and condition of the pads.
- Notice the dogs level of connection, attentiveness, respect for commands to move forward, stop, turn, sit, and down.
Movements indicating Forelimb lameness.
Generally, with forelimb lameness
- weight is shifted toward the rear, where the strength and stability are
- The head goes “down on the sound” limb
- the head goes up when the lame limb is on the ground
- the hindlimbs may also appear tucked under
- the back appears arched
- short strides with the hindlimb
Dogs with shoulder lameness
- appear short strided, to protect against too much movement
Elbow lameness
- dog holds the limb slightly away from the body to ease pressure on the inner side of the elbow
Movements indicating Hindlimb lameness
- weight is shifted forward onto the forelimbs
- forelimbs may be placed more forward, with the head and neck extended and lowered to offset weight from the hind end
- a “hip hike” in which the hip on the lame side has increased vertical motion, making the hip on the unaffected side appear lower when observing the gait from behind
- tail may also rise as the lame leg contacts the ground
Does canine massage really enhance dogs quality of life? In a word, yes. The word “ameliorate” describes the intention, the purpose, the rationale, the function of massage for dogs. Speak it aloud. Ameliorate. It’s beautiful. Savor the syllables as if you were tasting wine. Roll them slowly around in your mouth.
Feel your palette, your teeth, your gums. Feel your lips and cheeks purse and widen. Notice how your tongue changes shape as you pronounce “ameliorate”. Notice the subtle shift in air pressure in your nostrils. Notice your saliva (body water) activating to lubricate, allow, facilitate.
It’s a massage for your mouth. It’s stimulating. Relaxing. It’s exercise too. Your TMJ, temporomandibular joint, slightly stretches and relaxes; and becomes slightly more flexible in both form and function.
Dogs benefit with massage by experiencing these same effects all over their bodies!
Ameliorate is defined as to make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better.
Consider how each of these synonyms offers a fuller, more expansive sense of this word.
You have a choice. You can either scan through these words and scroll on, or you can capture a few gently contemplative moments with each of them. You are after all, what you think. How you think. When you think.
Canine massage ameliorates dogs quality of life because it:
• Improves
• Makes better
• Betters
• Makes improvements to
• Enhances
• Helps
• Benefits
• Boosts
• Raises
• Amends
• Refines
• Reforms
• Relieves
• Eases
• Mitigates
• Retrieves
• Rectifies
• Corrects
• Rights
• Puts right
• Sets right
• Puts to rights
• Sorts out
• Clears up
• Deals with
• Remedies
• Repairs
• Fixes
• Balances
• Mends
• Makes good
• Resolves
• Settles
• Redresses
• Redirects
• Tweaks
These are also how the practice of canine massage will ameliorate your life. Please review this list again. Consider how your life and career can be more meaningful, more value-adding, more compassionate, more affirmative, more gratifying, and more successful than you can imagine.
At the beginning of our last Foundation Level workshop, I asked the 5 people who had traveled to study with me if any had ever taken a workshop like this before. No one had. This group included a vet tech, a physical therapist, 2 massage therapists, a registered nurse, and a dog agility trainer/groomer.
For some of our students, it’s the first time they’ve traveled alone, or since having children, or living on their own. For some, it was the first time they’d visited Ohio, or the Midwest for that matter. They are gambling that attending this workshop is the right choice to prepare them for a career in canine massage. It’s a genuine leap of faith.
I complemented them. They are brave, displaying tremendous courage. They didn’t know what to expect yet, they were trusting that they had chosen the right school for their investment of time, money, and pursuit of their dreams.
Over the last 30 years I’ve attended many workshops. I’ve traveled around the world taking and teaching these courses. I’ve given myself many opportunities to meet incredible teachers, network, and become friends with new colleagues.
My experiences attending other schools’ workshops varied. Some were amazing, some forgettable, some disappointing. In each of them I learned something-even sometimes what not to do. Each has helped define, refine, and added value to my practice and my overall world view. These experiences shaped the curricula of the PetMassage programs and my teaching style.
Many of our students are just getting into these fields from corporate or highly linear career training. So I can empathize with the uncertainty.
Massage, bodywork, yoga, and meditation are non-linear. These are all taught using the workshop format. These are the types of vocations that require one-on-one instruction. They are all practices that are personal commitments to training, evolving, and developing with time and maturity. These kinds of continuing development do not work in the time-structured construct of “traditional” education.
Apprehensions are understandable.
What do you do at a workshop? Is it held in a school setting, in hotels, a park, at a barn, or in someone’s home? What do you wear? What is taught? Is it professional? Now, we ask if it is safe and if we are to wear masks while massaging dogs.
Do the instructors get how passionate I am about wanting to help dogs? Will the instructors be knowledgeable, experienced, friendly, and interesting? Will the lessons be well planned, organized and structured? Will I get a thick manual of factoids that I’ll never use, or will I come away with the job skills I need? Are the instructors committed to being my long-term mentor after I’ve studied with them? If so, will there be additional fees for consultations?
The quality of a workshop is always dependent on a few important factors: the instructor’s personality, experience and depth of knowledge, and their enthusiasm and commitment in supporting their protégés development.
Would you like to know what the workshop experience is? This is a brief description of the workshop.
First, after assessing all your choices for training, doing your due diligence, you choose the PetMassage School and register for the class that’s most convenient for you on the PetMassage.com website. There is 1 more in 2020 and 4 scheduled in 2021.
You reserve your place in the workshop with a deposit, or pay for it in full and get a small discount.
You receive your books, and videos by mail; your instructions, home study courses, and codes for proprietary streaming videos by email. Before the workshop you prepare by watching the videos and studying the PetMassage books on canine massage, dog handling, dog anatomy, and canine massage business creation.
As the date approaches, you make your reservations for travel, and hotel accommodations (we’ll guide you).
On Thursday morning, the first day, we begin with group introductions, goal setting, verbalizing expectations, and begin with a pre-training dog massage to establish a baseline. I explain that this is an immersion-style learning experience. It will be like visiting another country where you don’t know the language or the culture. You don’t even know how to breathe the air. I see PetMassage as a form of communication. You will be learning to “speak” the language of dogs and “inhabit” the canine culture. You overlay that with another new language and culture, that of the terminology, skills, and culture of touch, and massage. These are overlaid with the enhanced awareness of owning, inhabiting and presiding over your physical and emotional space. (Yes: whoa!) Your life will be enhanced and forever changed by the content you learn in this extended weekend.
The reality is that nobody can become expert at any complex skill set in just 5 days. And canine massage certainly combines a lot of the patting your head and belly circle rubbing kinds types of combinations.
The Foundation Level Program workshop teaches the initial things you need to know to begin and be successful in your journey. We provide you with the directions to get to Carnegie Hall. How do you really get there? Practice, practice, practice.
Each day of the workshop, we learn a little more about dogs, dog behavior (culture), dog movement, dog anatomy, dog handling during the massage session, massage techniques as applied to dogs, correct body and breath mechanics for your personal safety, comfort, communication, and practice longevity.
They are all revealed in layers; slowly, methodically, and creatively. Visualize a flower blooming. Your learning is meaningful, memorable, and entertaining.
There’s a lot to learn and it’s all new. Expect to be confused. Expect at the beginning to feel challenged, lost, overwhelmed, and insecure. Also expect to feel supported and encouraged.
I promise that by the end of the workshop on Monday you will feel better about yourself, your abilities, and confident about your path to your dreams. By the end of the workshop you will be eager to return home and begin your practice.
This last workshop, the 5 students that I described in the introduction were so connected that they didn’t want to leave. Each was reveling in the group’s loving support, shared vision, acceptance, and encouragement. After our group photo and completing their post-workshop evaluation sheets, they created a WhatsApp group and continued their newfound sense of tribe, celebrating the workshop experience and each other, at a local, pub deep into the late afternoon over margueritas and wine.
A Graduate of the PetMassage Foundation Level Program writes:
Fascia wonders
I had the honor to administer some love on an absolutely gorgeous Doberman by the name of Jochen yesterday. He was almost as tall as me (though that is not saying a lot). He is 8 years old and has DCM and Arthritis. As I was vectoring, I became almost in a zone with Jochen, almost one.
In class, you taught us to be always present and, in the moment, which I like to think I always am. But something was different yesterday. I don’t know whether it is the fact that I have been giving more massages and becoming more confident in my skill or if I finally had a break through. It was amazing. I felt every muscle, fiber and breath in his body. I was one with Jochen and totally in tune with him.
I was very tired when I got home, which is something new. I was informed Jochen took an hour nap, too, which he never does ?
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Lori
Jonathan’s note: Every canine massage engages dogs at multiple depths, levels of recognition, and with layers upon layers of expression and interaction.
