We are sooooo proud of the dog Mums and Dads we work with.
We always explain everything we do – the why and the how. They are the prime carer after all – they’re with the dog every dog. Each dog gets their own tailored workbook after the first session of a personal massage and exercise – with annotated pictures of the dog. That means during the therapy session the carers can be active participants and not panic that they’re going to forget everything when Chris or I leave.
Most carers understand how they can help with the healing process or the maintenance or prevention or any of the many multitude of reasons we have been invited round to help. And it shows when we go back for the second or third session, or from the feedback we get.
Billy’s Mum, for example wrote “….We all slept like logs! No night barking, no midnight squabbles. Got to nearly 6 am before Bill decided he needed breakfast….. Hope we can continue as we’ve started……The other strange thing is that Billy keeps coming up to ASK for a massage!”.
Henry’s Mum wrote Thank you so much for the massage information. ….Henry is so much better and stronger now. I've been massaging every few days since I saw you and his shoulder was moving normally again after about 3 days after seeing you and massaging twice a day. He actually loves it now and pushes into me for me to massage him. It's like he's saying 'Mum I need my massage after my run today'. You become so much more aware now I know some of the reasons for the massage. Thank you for that!”
And the latest convert is Crystal’s Mum. Crystal is a Greyhound who exhibits intermittent lameness due to an existing hock injury. Being a Greyhound, she accepted massage therapy like an old friend. In fact, we had great difficulty asking her to turn over so I could work on the other side. We always tell carers that, if you are aiming for relaxation when massaging your dog and they have fallen asleep on one side, the last thing you want to do is flip them over. Make a note and do the other side on another occasion. We tell of our trick of our kitchen Blackboard. It has each of our dog’s names with the day of the week and the side we massaged that day. Means they don’t end up going round in circles with the massaged side!
Imagine my smile when Crystal’s Mum showed me the weekly planner she has brought which she is filling in with “Done Left side”…”Right side done. And left done”……..
Total brilliance! Dee & Crystal – you get a 10 from us!
Sometimes it is about using ALL our experience when helping a dog, particularly autistic dogs.
We had a call from a carer who came along to our training session with Sussex Pert Rescue enquiring if massage therapy could help with her anxious rescued collie cross Billy. She said that although there seemed to be nothing wrong with him physically (she had had him checked over by her vet) he had been diagnosed as mildly autistic by Holistic Veterinary Surgeon Tim Couzens some time ago.
Recently he had become very excitable, particularly when people come into the house - the result being almost hysterical, non-stop barking. He had also recently started displaying jealousy of their mild mannered, tolerant older collie. This manifest itself as showing aggression towards him, again a recent development and one which, luckily, so far, Pip just ignores it and puts up with!
They had a rather sketchy history of Billy having been ill-treated as a pup and he is wary of men. Surprisingly he is very affectionate, although he is still nervous with sudden loud noises and they live near a pheasant farm and shoot....
Chris went to see them, armed with ideas to try, research on and an article about autism in dogs. He was met with a very vocal greeting from Billy as soon as he parked his car and this continued as he entered the hallway. He told the carer not to worry – which she clearly was – and told Billy that was enough now, we’re not playing that game. And, much to his carer’s surprise – he stopped. They said that they felt they’d got him there under false pretences as Billy was behaving so well.
During the 2-and-a-half-hour session, Chris used a variety of techniques on Billy – not just manual therapy. There was:
• Ear and relaxing effleurage massage
• Kneading of shoulder, neck and chest.
• Reiki
• Tellington T Touch (using the Half Wrap which calmed Billy down immediately)
• Suggestion of considering the use of a pheromone diffuser and/or diffuser oils such as lavender to calm everyone down.
• Relaxing music (As a human Holistic Massage Therapist, Chris has relaxing music on his phone. He played it to Billy and his brother who both pricked up their ears and then lay down snoozing!)
He put this all together in one of our personalised workbooks which he sent back the same evening.
The next morning, we received an email saying “Hi Chris. Thank you for all your help yesterday. Billy stayed much calmer for the rest of the day. I needed an early night, so he came upstairs with me and hopped up on the bed. I did a bit of the massage for about five minutes - he went all soft and sloppy! His night bed is on a small landing just outside the door, so I played the candle music and put a couple of drops of lavender in the diffuser. We all slept like logs! No night barking, no midnight squabbles with Pip. Got to nearly 6 am before Bill decided he needed breakfast. So, thank you again, we will keep in touch. Hope we can continue as we’ve started” And then we received “…A further update ………The other strange thing is that Billy keeps coming up to ASK for a massage!”
Not restricting yourself to one set of skills or a single discipline, and instead using all your skills and experience can be very effective when holistically treating the behaviour and nature of a dog. Having a toolkit of skills and techniques available to call upon allows the therapist to adapt to the circumstances they find and develop a strategy for dealing with any issues they encounter.
In this instance it wasn’t ‘just massage’ (it rarely is - and we’ve stopped saying ‘just’), but a whole raft of skills brought to bear, very quickly, and producing such a profound change in the behaviour of the dog.
In addition, our use of personalised workbooks helps to empower the owner to be able to ‘do something to help’ rather than feeling helpless. As seen by the response from the owner the next day, the effect can be quite dramatic.
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.
All the dogs we work with are special in one way or another. And they’re just as special when they come back after a while.
I met handsome senior boy Alfie last November after he’d given his Mum a scare with his rear leg wobbles and his inability to lift his rear feet. When his Mum took him to the vet originally she was told “He’s just getting old” – a statement which I’d like to ban as there always seems to be an unspoken appendix to that sentence of “So let’s just leave him as he is”.
His Mum continued to question that ‘diagnosis’ and discovered that it is more likely he has lumbar/sacral junction neuropathy and was treated with steroids. These made an almost immediate difference to Alfie. Originally, he was on 7.5 mg a day, which was gradually reduced to 2.5 mg before being put back to 5.0 mg as his symptoms worsened again very quickly.
Since my initial visit, his Mum has been doing all her homework with Alfie almost every day. She said "My massage skills aren’t like yours and he knows it, but he puts up with me as he knows he is going to do his stretches for treats afterwards”. Like me she has her own names for the massage moves. Myofascial release is the ‘sweater’ move as I always describe it as trying to loosen your sweater. She has also been monitoring the progress of his muscle tone using my simple chicken fillet analogy. She said “Look – he now has chicken fillets in his thighs” which indeed he did. Coming along nicely Alfie. Equally important his Mum knows that she is now doing everything that she can to help him and not just watching him “getting old”
Alfie went to the vets a few weeks ago for a routine check up of his medications and they are now reduced back down to 2.5 mg – with no ill effects which is great news. His Mum said “I was waiting for his legs to go but they haven’t. And he is so happy. He is a Steroid Kid”.
He’s doing all his stretching exercises very well – which is clear from how improved his back muscles are – but he didn’t like the mini obstacle course. Now that he can walk a bit further they go up the fields, there are lots and lots of tufty bits – small uneven rises and downs. When his Mum found a ball and put it in one of the small hills, she found he scampered to find the ball. In doing so he was going up and down his own real live assault course. And he loved it. This is now a game they play regularly giving Alfie the varied exercise to his legs that he needs while he thinks he is just having fun. His Mum said “I know it must be exercising his core muscles as when I go to place the ball, I can feel it working mine – double bonus. It is exercise for both of us”.
His Mum bought a set of wheels for him when he was at his weakest but they are sitting in the corner of the room not having been needed or used. When his Mum got them out to show me, Alfie’s expression was one of “Woah Mum….we don’t need those anymore”. And let’s hope that continues.
He has also been treated by Chris and started yawning and sighing almost immediately.
He still has his little niggles, as we all do, but now Mum is alerted to the issues and straight away puts the correct plan into action – reducing the walks, turning back when Alfie has had enough plus some extra massage.
He has clearly got the idea now of the power of physical therapy. Alfie loves it all and why not? And with an empowered Mum – can’t beat it!
Henry is a 2 and a half year old Boston Terrier who developed an occasional limp from his front legs. His Mum asked if we could come round and assess and treat.
Chris helped to ease out some of the tension in his back muscles and also worked with Henry’s tight shoulder. In the meantime, Henry had brought Chris all his toys to share and gave him kisses – which he apparently only ever does to his Mum. Ooops – happens all the time to us.
Chris noticed the lovely wooden floor in his house. The things we do and suggest come about from our own experiences. We know hands-on therapy can help to change a dog’s life…our Sarah has proven that and is our inspiration to share that with as many other dogs as possible. Flooring is another. When we moved in to our current house the carpets were probably the original carpets to when the house was built – 1949! So we put down shiny lush bamboo. It was environmental, ethical and lovely. But our house has loads of circular routes. The dogs used the floors as racetracks. The grooves that we now have in the wood confirm that. But that meant they slipped in their enjoyment.
We started with a few scattered mats – but they slipped too despite anti-slip tape. We went to bigger rugs. But they had areas between which were still lethal to wobbly dog legs. Last year we bit the bullet. We went to a local carpet store and bought a large offcut. Armed with our precise measurements, the store cut several bits for us which made a joining jigsaw of offcut carpets. They even bound all the edges. For less than a couple of hundred £ we had carpeted all downstairs. No more slipping from our dogs or visitors to the therapy room.
Cartoon leg spinning might make people smile on YouTube videos (not me, by the way, they make me Grrrr). Think about how you feel when you slip on a wet floor. That suddenly becomes not funny.
When Henry was outside on a flat surface, it was clear his back was straight. But when he was on the wooden floor you could see his back was hunched slightly. His mind was probably thinking “OK…I can usually negotiate this floor but with my funny leg it’s rather awkward now”. The simplest solution was to lay down Yoga Mat Islands for him. They’re ideal as a runway when he’s rushing about and can be taken up when he’s chilling. Hopefully, they can help speed up his healing.
Many people who follow our suggestion find their dog quickly gets used to the idea and then they find them looking for it if it’s been forgotten to be put down.
Offering advice and suggestions on simple, practical, cheap, yet effective household adaptations has always been part of the overall service we give during a therapy session.
Meet Tino and his SFL.
Tino (Valentino) is Bruce’s brother. When he was 8 he developed a hunched back with prominent spine in the mid spine area. At the time his vets suggested an MRI with a possible operation which they said might extend his life by 2 years. That was 6 years ago! He has no obvious mobility issues now and, at the time, he was treated with massage and physiotherapy. He hasn’t had any physical therapy recently, so we were asked to work with him at the same as Bruce as they are now 12.
Luckily, we now have two members in the AchyPaw team. Bruce decided that Chris was his and I worked with Tino at the same time.
Tino wants everyone to be happy and gets worried if they are not, or if he thinks they are not. He has his security blanket which he brings to anyone who comes to the door and then lies sucking and chewing it until he realises you are a good person. Although Tino does not really lie – he squats like a greyhound. He has very long legs and neck. His Mum describes him as Giraffe neck.
As well as his stiff back, the way he sits means that his thighs and adductors are also a lot tighter than his brother – who lies quite happily thank you, farting away during the massage session.
One of the things we bring with us in our canine physical therapy is skill and expertise from human massage. That morning, Chris had read a paper from the JING website entitled “Tight Jaw? Tight Hips!” which stated that many patients experience jaw pain or teeth grinding related to muscle tension in the jaw. The article suggested that just working in that area might be looking in the wrong place. The author said look at the whole body, the gait, and their hip alignment.
They referred to work by Tom Myers, the structural integration expert (read his books if you’re interested by fascia – I love his work). He describes the Superficial Front Line in his book Anatomy Train which is one of 12 myofascial chains. The SFL starts at the top of the feet and travels up to behind the ear and jaw.
Hmmm…..let’s try massaging Tino’s jaw and see if his tight hips relax. Oh. My. Gosh. Within minutes his whole body relaxed and his previously reactive hip and thigh muscles loosened allowing me to start working with them.
He ended the session completely soft and pliable. And happy. And he had stopped using his security blanket. A big success.
The JING article concludes with “…all these pieces of information can be used to…..design a better treatment plan” We’d add….don’t just stop with canine massage techniques and treatment plans but look at combining them with research and methods used in human massage. We’ve had so much fusion and cross-overs in the past 6 years between human and canine massage. But Tino doesn’t care – he’s just happy we’ve found, and helped, the problem. And that is #RESULT.
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.
Imagine my smile when Crystal’s Mum showed me the weekly planner she has brought which she is filling in with “Done Left side”…”Right side done. And left done”……..
Total brilliance! Dee & Crystal – you get a 10 from us!
