Some Scholarships Awarded

Some Scholarships Awarded

We were thrilled to be able to award $300 Colvin scholarships to Advanced PetMassage workshop students. Their essays showed their appreciation for their training and passion for continuing their practice of Canine Massage.

More Scholarships Available

We have two more scholarships available for people who would like some financial support to attend their PetMassage Foundation Level Workshop.

Email your entry to Beth at info@petmassage.com.

Foundation Level Training

The Foundation Level Workshop is five days. It starts on a Thursday and ends on a Monday. So, it’s actually over a long weekend. The Foundation Level Workshop includes the five days of hands-on instruction with expert instructors in “Gait and Body Mechanics”and “Dog Handling During The Canine Massage Session,” and “Canine Massage” with me.

In addition to the hands-on training it includes two home study courses.

Home study courses

It is essential to be able to visualize the complex puzzle of the dog’s body while you are guiding it back into balance. So, one of the home-study courses is “The Basic Anatomy of the Dog.” It is not an especially difficult or in-depth study. It is enough though, to get you started. It is the perfect supplement to the Foundation Level of hands-on training.

The second home study course is a step-by-step guide for you to create and market your own canine massage business. After all, this is vocational training.

Credentials

With the completion of the PetMassage Foundation Level workshop you are awarded a credential. Your diploma reads Certificate of Course Completion. And you will be a Certified PetMassage Practitioner. Woo hoo!

With this credential you can provide constant and confident dog massage in your community.

The Foundation Level is enough basic training to get you started on your new career.

 Advanced Level Training

The second step in your training will be the Advanced Level workshop which has its own home study courses to support it. With completion of both levels, you have the prerequisite training and course hours to sit for the national canine massage certification exam with the NBCAAM.

Journey Begins With First Step

It all starts with your attending and completing your PetMassage Foundation Level Workshop. Immerse yourself in PetMassage for a long weekend. See if what you experience is what you’d like to have as a career. We love what we do and it is a very fulfilling and rewarding occupation. Helping dogs, their people, and dog lovers like you, follow their dream creating businesses massaging dogs: how joyous!

One of the Winning Scholarship Essays

The Colvin Scholarship essay is 500 thoughtfully chosen words. Your thoughts and feelings may resonate with this winning entry. Enjoy:

Essay ….

My PetMassage Journey
By Peggy Gregg

My background is that I have been a registered veterinary technician for 14 years, a licensed massage therapist for 7 years and a Reiki practitioner for three years. I thought it would be easy to combine my education and experience and be effective in pet massage. It was to an extent, but the work felt uncomfortable, the dogs were wiggling and didn’t seem to enjoy it.

When I started researching schools, my plan was always to get certified but I didn’t think I would learn much. In my research I came across PetMassage by Jonathan and that kept calling to me. It wasn’t the cheapest school or the most convenient but it seemed to be a complete education. So, I signed up, got help from my parents and my job, and made the long journey to Toledo, Ohio.

It changed my life! It felt comfortable there and the students all meshed well together. We learned, we talked, we listened, we practiced. I learned how to start at the basics: breathing, touch, canine language. We learned why breathing was essential to care for ourselves so we could care for the pets. Touch was important because animals are much more sensitive than people and you need to be able to “listen” to the dog to know what it needs. Having a solid breathing base to start from was important not only to me but to the pets.

The class became more about the journey. Jonathan has a wealth of knowledge and experience to share and he was very intuitive about what my fellow classmates and I needed to learn from him.  It became more essential to take the advanced class as soon as possible and learn even more. To be able to build on the knowledge I have gained became more significant than the certificate. I am very excited to continue learning at PetMassage from Jonathan and Anastasia.

I want to be able to offer quality massages to pets that are effective and relaxing and therapeutic. I am also excited to use the basics of the PetMassage method in my daily life as a vet tech, in my massage practice, and in developing my PetMassage business. My end goal is still the same, becoming nationally certified. It is  important to me to be able to show that I have the credibility behind my knowledge so I can gain the trust of not only my clients but other Veterinary professionals so they feel comfortable referring their clients to me for massage.

Right now, I work at a Veterinary Hospital that is open and willing to work with me to develop my business.  They have already begun referring pets to me for massage and I look forward to incorporating my new tools into those massages and seeing how the dogs that I have already worked with respond to my new tools. I think it will make the dogs more comfortable and willing to work with me by using what I’ve learned.