Pole dancing to help with canine mobilty - as demonstrated by Smiley Riley

Sometimes, the 'Memories' thingummy in Facebook raises a smile. Apparently it was a year ago today that Smiley Riley's Mum, Alison, went home with our 'walking over poles' exercises to help Riley raise his feet. 

Like the carpet post - you don't need to buy anything posh to help your dog with these proprioceptive exercises. Alison went to her Dad's and raided his shed. The garden was full of spades and other implements. Just enough height to encourage Smiley Riley to raise his legs as he walked over them but not too high to trip him up. Brooms are useful too. When we started exercising our Sarah this way, we discovered, to our amazement, we own 8 brooms. 

And you can alter the shape of the circuit. Straight lines, circles, haphazards anything so that the dog will gently, slowly and deliberately walk over the poles. It's not agility, it's not a jump. It's a controlled walk. 

Like the carpet post - you don't need to buy anything posh to help your dog with these proprioceptive exercises. Alison went to her Dad's and raided his shed. The garden was full of spades and other implements. Just enough height to encourage Smiley Riley to raise his legs as he walked over them but not too high to trip him up. 

If you haven't got a garden shed full of useful walking-over stuff, you can buy those long soft swimming pool noodles. We bought a whole bundle last year for a few £. They store easily too and can be used indoors on wet days. Thanks for the memories Smiley Riley xx

“Empowerment is the necessity”

Handsome 14 year old silver faced Oscar became very wobbly recently. His Mum asked Sonny and Jasper’s Mum Ella from Bourne to Walk (who also came up with that wonderful quote) if she knew of any help and she suggested us. 

Any canine therapists looking at the photo of his whole body will notice he has curly coarse fur at the front and soft at the back. In fact, while out walking one day, someone came up to him and his Mum and said “Do you put gel on his fur to make it stick up like that?” (!!). Coarse fur in irregular patches often indicates some issue with the underlying muscles needing myofascial and other massage techniques. And it did. Oscar’s hips are not very good and he is getting along by pulling from his shoulders, chest and upper back muscles. These were now tight through over-compensation. He is also walking quite flat footed on the front, almost walking on his carpal joints, to ease the pressure. 

His Mum is a nurse and knows WHAT to do…..she just didn’t know HOW to do it on her Oscar. During the 90 minute session there was a lot of explaining, showing, demonstrating and enlightening with many “Oh yes…I see now” comments from Mum. 

 Both the vet and Mum said that Oscar can be a bit awkward sometimes and doesn’t like new people. Well…maybe that is so but he certainly had no problem with new people who he realised that are there to help him – namely me. He wandered onto his bed and stayed there for the full session. Occasionally lifting his head to turn it over so I could work on the other side “You’ve done that bit Dr Les….now do the same with that bit”. 

His Mum has always started her massage routine “from his nose backwards” and noticed that when she got to his hips, he would pull a face and didn’t look comfortable. Rather than interrupt that perfectly logical route, I did the same…but slower, more intentionally and taking care. By the time I reached his hips (maybe 45 minutes later) he was perfectly fine and gave no reactions at all. In fact, he was fast asleep. 

His Mum wrote later in the day “Les I can't thank you enough for all that you brought to Oscar and I today. The amazing empathy, tenderness and altogether wonderful knowledge you gave Oscar and I is invaluable. I will be diligently massaging every day and do the very best I can. At the moment he is sleeping and snoring in the hall. He didn’t think much of you leaving, the face!... Thank you so much for the papers. Regards and love from Oscar 🐾 and I 🌝.” 

 Armed with her personalised workbook on ways to help Oscar, his Mum is now enlightened and knowledgeable in physical therapy. All she needed was the necessary empowerment.

Treating more than one dog at once - our new service

In a single treatment session, we offer many things. As well as therapy, we give advice on household adaptations, exercise advice and appropriate homework. Now that we have two members in the AchyPaw team, we have a new time-saving service to offer – multi-dog households treated simultaneously. 

The internet is full of ways to manage more than one dog in the house. Indeed, one behaviourist refused us entry to their class when ours were puppies and was very rude about our choice of having siblings. We set out to prove them wrong and now we’ve had 12 wonderful fun filled years of experience working with two dogs and wouldn’t change one moment of it. Our Sam & Sarah have always had equal Dad time. 

That experience helps when working with other brothers and sisters. If I’m working with medium breeds, such as my spaniel brothers, treating one after the other is perfectly do-able. It takes 45 to 60 minutes each dog. But we now have two sets of bigger brothers. Working one after the other with them could take up to 3 hours which would involve considerable patience and waiting time for the dogs. Solution? We work with one each simultaneously. 

Thursday and Friday were Weimaraner brother days. With the first pair, the plan was for me to continue working with Bruce again, as he has been treated by me before, while Chris would start work on Tino. Well, that was the plan. Bruce eyed up Chris and decided he was his. No problem - we always let the dog direct the session. Unfortunately, Laura was unable to visit our other Weimaraner brothers this week, so Friday Luther decided he’d continue with me while Hugo laid down in front of Chris. Another pair of dogs but half the time. Working with two dogs at the same time also has the benefit that they pick up on each other's relaxation. Two sets of snores.

Success all round as the pictures show. If you’ve got a multi-dog household and want to take advantage of two professionally qualified therapists, give us a call. 

Come on baby....do the Locomotion

Well…..there’s a first 

When we got to the Park this morning at 7:00, the temperature was below zero and it was very frosty. So, after getting the dogs out of the back of the car, we did our Locomotion routine on them. 

A lady, who’d just drawn up, got out of her car and said, in a quizzical unbelieving voice “Wait……did you just warm-up your dogs?” The reply came in stereo from us “Yes” in a why-not tone of voice. Chris had been warming-up Sarah and I’d been warming-up Sam. 

She was then more than interested to find out what we’d been doing. I explained that we designed the quickest effective warm-up routine in Sussex which we call The Locomotion. After waving my hands in the air, showing her how to do it, I explained that the dogs love it. It’s fast. It’s very warming. And if you sing a warmy-up song while doing it the dogs add to the routine by becoming bouncy. 

I explained the song lyrics doesn’t really matter – she started singing “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round” If you turn up the volume on the video here , you’ll hear the booming voices of the Healing Animal Graduates with their rendition of the Locomotion. (Yes, the AchyPaw workshops are full of fun and interaction while you’re learning). Or you can simply make up your own song. Mine….it’s a rubby dubby song. 

As long as you warm your dog up before exercise – even a walk – especially on these cold days and nights, it can help to prevent injuries from cold muscles. Like our Locomotion routine, it doesn’t need to take ages, and the dogs get to expect it, even asking for it – standing still after they get out of the car until they’ve had their warm-up. They are clearly more sensible than us. 

My mission for 2018 has now expanded. Added to my first mission to help all caring owners become aware of early signs of arthritis or other mobility issues teaching them how to help their dogs before these problems become chronic, is to share and spread the importance of warming their dogs up, and, of course, cooling them down afterwards. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s efficient, it’s The Locomotion, it’s all part of our service.

Another review of our workshops

Our introduction to the Sussex Pet Rescue was through a training session I did early in the summer. There was a pleasant surprise yesterday to receive a copy of their latest Newsletter with an article about my session with Pearl (and her brother Archie). 

The article says "Pearl is our 10 year old Staffie adopted from the SPR 3 years ago. 

She had a very rough start in life, and, adding that to her age, we discovered she was starting to creak a bit as she went about her daily life. We decided to look for a way to help her tired bones get through the day. By chance we met Dr Les Ellam at a dog show where he was demonstrating massage techniques. We introduced Pearl to him and, when he began to massage her, she simply melted. 

After a lot of happy grunting from Pearl we managed to chat to Les and discovered, among a variety of classes etc, he did home visits. We arranged a day for him to visit and work with Pearl and our Beagle Archie. Les arrived and began with a very informative chat about a dog's anatomy and structure which was full of common sense and not the usual dry lecture. 

After 2 hours learning how to massage our dogs, taking their individual needs into account, he then showed us some warm-up and cool-down techniques to be used when exercising the dogs. 

In addition, my wife Sue, is disabled and Les showed her how to perform his techniques with the dogs sitting on her lap. Pearl and Archie probably had the best two hours of their lives and, as the photo shows, Pearl enjoyed a snooze afterwards. 

As a bonus, about 24 hours later, Les emailed a complete guide to everything we done with him including diagrams. 

We now spend about 15 minutes a day massaging the dogs and it is a great way to end the day with them. One complaint - they both spend a lot of time rolling around in front of us trying to get extra rubs!" 

I'll happily take that complaint!

2017 - a year of training milestones for us

We’ve had a lot of milestones this year with our teaching. We’ve delivered over 14 workshops and diploma courses this year plus dozens of 1 to 1 sessions. Thanks to Paws, Play & Stay for hosting many of those classes and Elizabeth Whiter with the Healing Animals Organisation for the Diploma courses. 

That’s hundreds of dog Mums and Dads in East & West Sussex (plus others who came from London and beyond) who understand what is going on under their dog’s fur and now have the skills to help maintain their health and well-being. 

We also had a diploma module with the most dogs attending ever – 19 in 2 days. And yesterday ended our teaching year with the biggest workshop of 2017 – 18 people attending. 

We were invited by the Sussex Pet Rescue (http://sussexpetrescue.org/) to organise and deliver a workshop for their dog rescuers, fosterers, board members and even the founder of the SPR, Marcia Harris, who set up the organisation 50 years ago. The numbers who were interested, grew over the weeks and we filled up the hall. First time we’ve needed chairs in two rows too! 

 Dogs of all ages, from a newly rescued anxious puppy to senior dogs came along. All sizes and breeds. All levels of anxiety from very nervous to very chilled. The group started off with a ‘getting to know what’s under the fur’ session so that people could identify and pick up on any issues quicker rather than letting potential mobility problems become chronic and long-term. 

There was no fancy technology this time just a white board and pens. The pages quickly filled up with benefits of massage showing how this therapy can be used for so many different conditions and uses. Canine massage is truly multi-therapeutic and not for a single purpose only. We had dogs who needed help with their mobility due to their age or surgery. We had dogs who had been newly rescued and were quite anxious – although the littlest fella in the group decided that falling asleep on her foster Mums massage mat was far better than being nervous. We had dogs that needed a bit of stretching and myofascial release to ease out aches and strains. And we had dogs who just enjoyed it. 

We’d devised a special routine for the Sussex Pet Rescue comprising 13 massage techniques and the workshop finished with some Canine Pilates stretching the dogs out before their trips home. 

Thank you Sussex Pet Rescue, we’re looking forward to coming back to show more of your members how to help your lovely rescued dogs. 

All the pictures from the day can be viewed here

 

Meet Lord Nelson

Meet Lord Nelson 

No…not that one. That one is in Trafalgar Square. This one is a Sam and Sarah lookey likey living in Hove. He is a stunningly regal Welsh Springer Spaniel (like the Mum of ours hence him being a bit stockier than a Springer) who is now 8 years old. He has a brother, called Mr Darcy who is more of a Springer Spaniel in looks and behaviour. And yes, I fell in love with them both instantly. 

Lord Nelson was rescued a year ago to be a companion for his also rescued brother Mr Darcy. Lord Nelson was rehomed from Spaniel Aid after his previous owner could no longer keep him. It’s likely he had been crated or kept in a single room for a while before he was rehomed. His new Dads said he did not seem to know how to walk when outside. His legs were like jelly and soft. He was also quite heavy at 32 kg, although he has now slimmed down to 25 kg. 

When he was first taken to their groomer, Caroline Still who is also a TTouch practitioner, she said his spine just didn’t look right, almost curved. He was then taken to their vets who performed manipulations but decided against an X-Ray or further intervention as they could not find anything untoward. 

He sleeps hunched up and still struggles to move first thing in the morning when his back half looks curved and his tail comes in. After a while though, he straightens out. “It is like he needs a warm up” his Dad said. He also hesitates sometimes when climbing on a sofa. He puts his fronts legs up first, stops and thinks then clambers up with his rear legs. And when walking he often bunny hops rather than the traditional one leg, next, leg, other leg etc gait of a dog. Exercise-wise, he has a lot. At least 4 times a week he and his brother go on 2 to 3 hour walks over the fields and Downs where he can now keep up with his brother. 

But his hunched back and stiffness was concerning his Dads and, after getting the appropriate vet consent, I was invited over to meet the family. 

On initial palpation it was clear to feel that his back was certainly tighter and stiffer from half way down to two thirds – just where his hunch was. He had probably developed this as a chronic issue from the time he had been kept confined without a lot of exercise. But the good news was that shoulder and thigh muscles felt splendid, just the way they should in an 8 year old. 

Hopefully, easing out his stiff back should restore his balance and gait. He had lots and lots of myofascial release massage over his back to stretch him out as well as a series of Canine Pilates exercises with the same effect. 

He responded so well to everything, sighing, yawning and with a very dribbly nose as his body eliminated the built up waste. 

His Dads were left fully armed with a massage routine, warm-up Locomotion routine, cool-down and exercises to perform on him daily with a repeat visit from me in a few weeks to monitor the improvement. That was a good Saturday morning.

Benefit of having your own Personal Massage Therapist

“Hi I’m JC. I’m a little bit of a canine athlete, competing in shows most weekends during the season. I have the edge on my competition though. I have my own Personal Massage Therapist called Dr Les. 

My Personal Massage Therapist came to see me just over a year ago when I started to fail at a couple of events during a show. My Mum was told about Dr Les who came along to see if he could help. I’m not always the best of friends with everyone who comes into my house. When Dr Les walked in holding what looked like a big fluffy red bed I thought “Hmmm…why has Mum let him into my bedroom?” so I walked around eying him up and sniffing him out. He smelt OK so I decided to plonk myself in his lap to keep him company. He then spoke to me and asked if he could touch me. Well….Ok…..I guess so. Wow…..was I happy I agreed to that. He did something to me which released a lot of heat from my skin. It felt great. I just had to lay down on the bed to get more of that. 

He said that I was rather tight in my thigh muscles. I don’t know what that meant but he made a big difference. I decided I’d had enough after 40 minutes and walked away. But he didn’t leave, he was chatting to my Mum. So I went back…for more. And more. It was really lovely. 

I didn’t see him again until the same happened. I just couldn’t do the sit properly. It hurt a bit. I had to remain standing. I know that was not what my Mum wanted but I just couldn’t get there in time. She wasn’t angry though. In fact she must still be pleased with me because, guess what,…Dr Les came back. I wasn’t going to be all standoffish this time. I bowled him over with my excitement. I felt he needed extra kisses and cuddles as he must have missed me after this time. As soon as he put that red bed down I threw myself on it and looked at him longingly. He said something about ‘flirting’…it must have worked as he started his magic again. 

He taught my Mum something called The Locomotion which she has to do before I compete. It’s great fun. She now does that every time I get out of the car and I feel all warmed up. None of the other Mums do The Locomotion to their dogs. They must feel really stiff and cold before they compete whereas I’m all warm and suppley. 

We’re reaching the end of the event season and, as you can see, I’ve won quite a few prizes. Not bad for a 10 year old girl eh? My Personal Massage Therapist has just been again and said I feel pretty good, in between me giving him kisses, licking his beard and doing that flirting thing. 

And my Mum has been doing her homework. I showed him how well by doing the stretching exercises he put me through. They make me stretch my back, which feels nice, and I get a treat while doing it. I call that a Win Win. 

I have two brothers. They don’t have a personal massage therapist. I guess that makes me special. I’m not going to tell all my mates at shows about Dr Les as he’s mine” 

Editors note : If you would like your dog to have a personal massage therapist like JC, just get in touch 

Further canine massage workshops : Next Steps and Warm-up / Cool-down routines

Last weekend we delivered our first “Next Steps” workshop which included a warm-up / cool-down routine. This added an extra 9 massage techniques to the 8 that were taught in the Introduction workshops. One of these moves was a move unique to us which we have called the "AchyPaws, Play & Stay technique" in homage to Paws, Play and Stay for hosting us.

That gives everyone a huge toolkit of techniques that they can now use on their dogs. We also included a demonstration and knowledge of a routine for warming up and cooling for everyday or specifically for sports. And to add to the bundle we included some revision of passive movements, joints and bones and a brand new active stretch technique. Not bad value for two workshops.

As usual we started with an interactive game. To assist with revision and see what everyone had remembered we started with the Post-It game but this time it was joints and bones.

It was Skye’s third time in the class so she resolutely lay down enduring the sticking.

Skye with her 'joints and bones'

It was first time for Little Millie and Big Disney but both behaved incredibly well as their joints and bones were stuck on.

Millie has an expression like "Dad...I'm only small.  I'm covered now"

Disney's first time with the Post-It game

During the event all sorts of lightbulb moments went off. We found a previously undiscovered trigger point on one dog, we found an area on another which caused a back leg to flick when the rear leg and lumbar muscles were massaged (possibly due to 'sticky' fascia or simply to muscle tension) and also discussed how the new active stretch could really benefit the Cani-Sports dogs.

Discussion time at the end (note all the chilled dogs)

We received some great feedback. Gary, the owner of Paws, Play & Stay Dog Hotel wrote “Furthering our knowledge and benefitting our dogs is what it is all about. The difference in Milly over the last 4 months is so noticeable - her feel, movement and recovery all affected with positive noticeable impacts, this transfers over on all of the dogs we lay our hands on in both massage sessions and just in general bonding in daycare Paws Play & Stay. Today's activity of warm up, cool down and further techniques has cemented the basic fundamentals and given me yet more substantial tools to benefit my dog's health and the relationship I have with them. Most noticeably for me is the enjoyable calming effect and bonding on both myself and the dogs I interact with. The valuable tools to take care of daily the impacts on our canine friends cannot be underestimated from diet, training and interrelationship bonding to recovery from injuries and maintaining a healthy dog. I cannot thank AchyPaw & Massage by Chris enough for your time and professional approach to Canine Massage."

And from one of the owners : "Great day today and all the dogs were really well behaved! Disney is still chilling even now Les, he went out on a double walk (first with Skye then puppy Toby) and has spent the rest of the day completely zonked! I am just about to see if Toby will let me do a bedtime massage so we have a quiet night!"

So another very worthwhile session. We are looking forward to our continuing relationship with Paws, Play & Stay.

Cani Sports Sussex and Canine Massage Therapy

Cani Sports includes running, racing and biking with a dog, done in a controlled way. It includes CaniCross running (typically done cross country) and Bike-Jor. 

Cani Sports Sussex, run by Gary Moxon, is based at Paws, Play & Stay Dog Hotel & Day Centre, Rustington and is involved with Sportswear, Sports instruction and Personal training. Gary manages the fitness and working dog side of Paws, Play & Stay the business, is experienced in handling and working sled dogs in harness, and teaching one to one or group running sessions for you and your canine friend. With a competitive nature he was always seeking to enjoy his time running with dogs so it became a natural progression to run with his first Siberian Husky, Tex. After a lot of research and self-taught training they competed at their first Cani Cross race in 2010. Since those early days the Moxon pack has grown and so has the family participation in Cani Sports including scooting and bikejoring. Gary competed for team GB in the 2012 CaniX European Championships placing 12th in Europe. He believes the physiological well-being of working dogs is also paramount.

In Cani Sports, the dog wears a running harness while their human runner/biker wears a belt designed for the purpose. Cani Sports Sussex recommends and supplies Non-Stop Dog Wear. It is important that the harness fits the dog in the right places as badly fitted harnesses can cause poor mobility, the dog should not be restricted in the shoulder area, neck and rib cage so that they have freedom of movement and can breathe easily and fully while running with you. An ill-fitting harness can cause injury and discomfort for your dog and can hinder their mobility. Paws Play & Stay offer a complimentary fitting to ensure the correct sizes and fitting for each individual dog. 

Just like their owners, dogs suffer from muscle pains, aches and strains but they can't easily tell us that they have a sore shoulder or that their knee is stiff. They usually don't complain and tend to adapt to move around the problem carrying on with the most important job of being your best friend and fellow athlete. It is easy to spot if your dog is lame or limping, but there are more subtle indicators of injury such as reluctance to participate in the sport/activity (but again, your best friend athlete may well run through the pain to please you), stiffness when they get up after lying down, twitching or quivering down the back when you touch or stroke them (not always in the place where you are touching). In the worst case they could appear sad or depressed. 

Additionally dogs tend to have two speeds, zero and 100. They don’t stretch before an activity or run, they don’t warm up. This means it is easy for them to pick up an injury. This is where you can help. If you do notice a change in their behaviour or the way they walk, professional canine remedial massage and myotherapy can help to ease any problems to bring noticeable and positive changes in your dog. But most important of all, is learning how to give your dog a warm-up and cool-down massage routine before and after the sport. It should only take 5 to 10 minutes to do this, but can add years on to the athletic life of your dog. 

Warming your dog up beforehand can help to warm muscles and reduce the risk of injury. If you imagine a muscle is like an elastic band, when it is cold it can easily overstretch and tear or even break. (Try putting an elastic band in the fridge for an hour and see the difference between that and a warm one!). You certainly don’t that to happen to your dog. 

Other benefits of warming-up your dog before sports include:

• Loosens joints
• Prepares muscle fibres
• Allows increased stretch
• Allows greater contraction
• Encourages elasticity and contractibility
• Increases circulation so increases oxygenation which means the muscles can work for longer without going into anaerobic conditions with toxic build-up 

When a human runner, whether sprinter or marathon runner, has finished their race, they rarely just stop and get into the back of a taxi (in your case – your car!). They tend to include stretching and cool down routines. In a dog, this is similar but slower than a warm-up routine. 

Benefits of a cool-down routine include : 

• Relaxing & soothing
• Keeps the blood circulation flowing to nourish the muscles and tissues
• Gets rid of waste products
• Speeds up the body’s natural healing process

Preventing any injury in the first place is clearly far better than treating afterwards. Canine massage therapy, warm-up and cool-down routines could not only help to prevent injury by finding a problem before it becomes a problem but can also enhance and extend performance.  

Contact me via the achypaw.com website if you are interested in learning how to perform a warm-up / cool-down massage routine or if you have any questions about the mobility of your dog.  To learn more about Cani Sports, contact Gary via the Paws, Play & Stay reception.