Lively Dog Blog

Finally, the first day of hands-on massage training with dogs! In earlier weeks we had learned all the strokes on people to make sure we had them down, and this week we would learn them on the dogs. I brought both Smitty and Fergus, which was quite a challenge.

We survived three and a half hours of Anatomy and Physiology, an exam, and lunch (little Smitty tried to eat a huge dog named Sam but failed), and then it was time for massage.

I tried hard to keep them from getting anxious: I brought Smitty’s baby bed into the massage room and their kongs, so they wouldn’t worry about another dog getting them. We put on soft music. My classmate S. was going to massage Smitty, who loves massage, and I would work on Fergus, who loves it not so much. Smitty had other ideas, and glued himself to me. He wouldn’t let Susan anywhere near him. I felt so terrible… S. wasn’t going to get any practice on my dogs. I wondered if she should go find a more tractable dog to learn on. Instead, I suggested we give them Reiki, since she is also a practitioner. We put one hand on each dog and started giving Reiki. They calmed down amazingly quickly. After awhile, she concentrated on Fergus, whose hip was taking a lot of energy, and I worked on the Smit.

When our instructor came in to show us the application of the strokes, we hadn’t had any practice, but had two dogs who were relatively comfortable. She was able to show us the sequence, switching between Smitty and Fergus when they got edgy. Unfortunately, the pups avoided S. and myself when we tried to practice on them.

Then something amazing happened. Our other instructor, Marlene, came in to see if we had any questions and sat on the floor with us. We talked about body mechanics and how to work on dogs that were reluctant. She said this is something we would have to deal with a lot the first time we meet new canine clients. Suddenly Fergus approached her and licked her on the face, a rarity. As he walked away, she said she didn’t try to massage him just then because she was just honored that he’d accepted her. Then Smitty went to her, stretching his neck as far as he could to sniff her without getting too close. After a bit he consented to a pat. Then, I couldn’t believe it, he slapped Marlene on her hand with his paw, as close as a dog can get to saying “massage me!” He let her do whatever she wanted and even let S. join in on the other side. Thank God, because I was feeling awful for her.

Well, my dogs won’t eat fresh fruit unless it’s perfectly in season. Maybe they insist being massaged by none other than a Certified Small Animal Massage therapist.

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