Bob's story of his first canine massage session

Sometimes a new dog comes along and the therapy session follows the textbook. 

In fact, I think Bob wrote the textbook. Bob is a young Collie with occasional rear leg issues. He is part of Sarah’s group of dog friends .  She describes him as quite non-collie in that he is chilled and laid back with only the occasional mad zoomie. At his Mum’s work, people come up to sit with Bob and just zen-out for a while. 

His Mum wanted a therapy session to check him out. During the initial palpating part of the session, Bob stood quite still and processed the whole thing. “What’s this? This is unusual. I’ll just sit here and see how this goes” 

But it worked. His stiff back was giving off loads of heat already. Once we got further into the session it went (in Bob’s voice).... 

• “Ok…that was lovely but I’ll just go for a walk round the sofa” 
• “And hello I’m back”
• “Ok…I’ll go for a walk again” 
• “And bring back my toy to hold” 
• “Ok…I’ll go and sit by Mum and rest against the sofa” 
• “Oh this is nice, I’ll just close my eyes” 
• “Ok, that was an ouchy bit, I’ll open my eyes” “No I won’t…I’ll close them again” 
• “Hmm…I’m sliding down onto the floor” 
• “Ok, I’ll just stay here and sleep” 
• “You’ve done that side Dr Les…here…I’ll roll over for you” 
• “All done? Ok, I’ll pose for the pictures with my trusty blue ball”
• “I feel like a stretch….oooooo… l-o-n-g stretch” 
• “And I’ll do another one – ‘coz I can now” 
• “Are you leaving? Not if I stay sitting on your massage bed and look up at you adoringly” 
• "Ok…I’ll just curl up on the sofa…bye” 

We know our job is done for the time being, as Bob’s Mum will now be able to use this knowledge and physical therapy to support him throughout every stage of his life. But she also knows there are professionals she can call on if Bob starts to display and more wobbles. 

You don’t need to wait until your dog has mobility issues or arthritis, you can help them manage their health at an early age and maintain that through to silver faced years.