Involving the family in therapy

13 year old Rosie received lots of good wishes when I first visited her and posted her story. At that time, when I was invited into her house she was sitting in the hall by the wall and had to be helped into the lounge for her therapy. Once there though, she was an “OMG…this is what I have been waiting for” dog. 

When I left, I had a feeling that her family would all get involved and rally round to help her as much as they could. 

And they have….so much. Rosie is a new dog. 

On this visit, she greeted me at the dog excitedly and wagging her broad tail. A different girl. Standing straighter with more confidence. More musculature evident. Bright eyes, attentive and enthusiastic. Her Mum said that she gets a massage daily (her personalised workbook was in a folder on the sofa by the toys). Now, when massage is over, she looks up at her Mum with a “Hmm…why have you stopped?” look. The youngsters in the family are involved too. Every treat she is given, she is made to give a nice long nose to tail stretch working on her spinal and core muscles. She plays with her tuggy toy which she hasn’t done in a long while. She is eager to walk and sometimes even asks to go round the block. And to complete the transformation, she is now confident to start getting on the bed (with some help) and the armchair in the living room. 

She decided to show me how she could get on the armchair – which is where she remained for the next hour’s therapy session. 

Her fur is so much softer now and she now has space under it. She is no longer wearing a coat two sizes too small. She still has her myofascial twitches. Touching the left side, causes the right rear leg to twitch and touching the right side, makes the left rear leg twitch. She knows it is annoying to her but was very tolerant as I eased the fascia. 

But she was happy, smiling, sighing and closing her eyes in delight. Such a transformation due to the consistent work done by her family every day. I look forward to seeing how much progress she makes in the future.

#imanewgirlnow