Dogs, dogs and more dogs!!

Can’t believe 2 days have passed since I last made a post.  I worked out I’ve been “hands on” with about 10 dogs in that time!

We’ve learnt about Trigger Point Therapy and experimented with the correct level of pressure using our play-doh before we were unleashed to try on each other.  Lots of oooh’s and aaah’s around the classroom as people hit those points!  Unfortunately dogs won’t be as accommodating so it’s crucial to go in gently and not overwork the area so they end up sore.  The benefit of massage is to loosen up the tissues so the trigger points can release and improve the movement and health of the joints.  All I need to do is think about the chronic headaches I can get when I’ve got tight shoulders, but dogs don’t stop or take headache pills like we do…they keep going!  We need to be able to deactivate these points without it threatening the dog.

We had the enormous pleasure of working on Fifty again and must have spent a good 45 mins on him, in particular to try and find his trigger points to release.  Bless him, he was so patient with us…as were Bo, Maverick and B when we worked on them in class.

We also watched Denise and Sue work on a 4 year old Spaniel who has had all his “signals” conditioned out of him so the only way he knows to tell you he doesn’t like something is by very minimal body signals so it’s really important to be able to read them.

Dr Sara Bennett gave us a talk in the evening who is a Veterinary Behaviourist.  Really interesting!  She has a practise that provides a holistic service for animals and works a lot on fearful animals and systematic desensitisation.

Yesterday we did some more trigger point work and also learnt about Myofascial release.  Again we practised on each other before we were let loose on any dogs.  3 miniature schnauzers came in for us which was a treat.

Then we went back to the Animal Care League; a couple of the dogs we had worked on last week had been adopted, yay!  Plenty more to work on though.  I fell for Mustafa, a large mastiff mix by the looks of things, he was gorgeous…good job I’m not on a boat back otherwise I may well have some companions!  Nearly got pee’d on by one of them…occupational hazard.

Following that we went back to the Chicago Canine Massage office and met Dexter and Barron to work on trust building.

Home by about 8pm…an early one :)

Past the mid way mark

An amazing end to week 2!

I can’t believe we’re past the half way mark.  I’m looking forward to getting back home and starting my new venture….but at the same time I don’t want the course to end (I def chose the right one - totally the Wharton / Harvard or Oxford / Cambridge of the Canine Massage world as far as I’m concerned!).

On Friday we learnt about the joints in the dog’s body and then in the afternoon we had a fantastic presentation by Dr Megan Ridley who is a Vet, and Medical Director of Integrative Pet Care in Chicago.  IPC is an animal rehabilitation facility and it looks amazing!  As far as I know we don’t have anything like it in Auckland…but we should.  They have Vet’s, Massage Therapists, Physiotherapists and Animal Rehab Therapists at the facility and some of the case studies she talked to us about were really inspiring.  What’s great aswell is that as a Vet she understands the power of massage and the important role it plays in rehabilitation.  We’re going to have a tour around IPC sometime next week so I’ll write more then.

Saturday was packed too.  We did some gait observation first – it’s amazing what you can see when you're actually looking.

Then we had the pleasure of Fifty, the 2 legged Pitbull.  He was F A N tastic!  He’s now 9 years old and he lost his front and back right limbs when he was 2 (he was shot).  He is very skilled at getting around, he’s spent quite a lot of time over the years at IPC, and has regular massages.  As you can imagine, having to balance on just 2 limbs puts them under a huge amount of pressure so the muscles are pretty tight.  See pics below for his massage session with us :).  It turns out that Fifty is a bit of a superstar with over 250k likes on his facebook page….I didn’t realise I was going to be in the company of a celeb!! ;)  If I could have taken him home myself I would have.

On Saturday afternoon we all became PetTech CPR and FirstAid certified.  Am hoping I never need to use those skills but they’re v useful to have.

Finally, today I took myself back into downtown Chicago. It was a stunning day and I relaxed from the week by engaging in some retail therapy!  Sadly on my way back to the hotel some guy asked me if I was from Australia…I mean..really??

Muscle building with clay

We’ve been making muscles out of clay over the last couple of days.  On Wednesday we all hit the wall at about 4.30….building muscles of the neck & skull just took it out of us; despite the yogurt coated pretzels and the orange creme almonds we could take no more! (check out the pics below for proof)  Was very funny that we all felt the same at the same time.  Yesterday we worked on building the glutes, quads and hamstrings – our focus was a bit better :)

We also had a talk on reading a dog’s body language. It’s so interesting when you start to really watch how they behave.  For us, we need to attend to the sensory details and get away from the verbal language.   Important point to note – stillness is not good…if that happens, hands off immediately!  

You’ll know where to find me when I get back to Auckland – at the nearest dog park honing my gait & behaviour observation skills.

Erin kindly let us observe her Pet Parent class on Wed evening.  She had 2 clients who had come in on their way back to Alaska from a fly-ball tournament.  Great to watch, definitely something I’d like to be able to replicate.  Erin cooked us all supper, a delicious Indian meal…my 1^st home cooked meal in nearly 2 weeks….fabulous.

Thursday we learnt about Passive Range of Motion (PROM) and practised on the ever tolerant B and Emmy-Lou.  “Movement is the key of Life”, Denise Theobald 2014 ;)

Finally we observed and assessed a 4 month old Lab puppy who is in training as a service dog.  We’re seeing her again next week.

In my spare time yesterday I was watching Rob do the Coast Classic race (go Spearhead!!) and Asha with her buddies at K9 Heaven – The Country Club for Dogs….she clearly loves it there! Oh the joys of Facebook.

First shelter experience

Yesterday was all about trust building with dogs at the Animal Care League in Chicago.

I was pretty excited to be visiting the shelter as working in this field is something I’m very interested in.

Before I left NZ I googled the Animal Care League and was looking forward to working with a pit bull (it looked they had a few there!!).  We started with a tiny little white fluffball, just getting her to trust us enough to handle her a bit.  A beautiful, fluffy Chow mix followed.  He was an absolute sweetheart, and again all we were trying to do was some trust building and low stress handling.  Angus the pittie was next – amazing!  He was such a softie.  Loved playing tug and had such a soft and gentle mouth when he took treats.  He had beautifully defined muscles so we could also put some of our recent learnings to good use by pointing out the major muscle groups.  Our final dog was an 8 year old Rottweiler.  We’d been told he didn’t like his paws being touched so our goal was to try and get him a bit more comfortable with that.  We also discovered he had super tight muscles so was pretty uncomfortable, and that he needed some dental work so that could well have been making him a bit crochety too.  We all know how it feels when you’ve got really really tight muscles, it hurts right – well it’s the same for dogs.  Hopefully we’ll be able to do a bit more work on him next week.

On Monday night we watched a horrendous dvd which was a wonderful example of how NOT to handle dogs and how not to massage them.

We were also able to work on a 15 year old dog on Monday who happened to be passing our classroom on the way to the swimming pool.  We gave her a massage once she’d been for her swim and we’ll be seeing her again next week :)

Today we’re building muscled out of clay…muscle anatomy makes my brain hurt!!!!

Some random pic's from the last few days

First week over already!

A week ago I was sitting in this same place, panicking mildly about my first day….what a difference a week makes.

On Friday we practised compression using play-doh (I’d been wondering what the little beaker of doh on the desk was for) which really sent home the method we need to apply to release tight muscles.

We continued learning the various massage techniques with the emphasis on sports massage.  Had to practise on each other again which was pretty funny.  We also learnt the directional terms for describing the anatomy.

It’s interesting sports massage.  When we first started talking about pre and post event massage I assumed it would only apply to those canine athletes competing in things like agility or fly-ball.  It doesn’t. We learnt that an “event” could be a 13 year old dog taking his normal walk around the block; or a 5 year old pooch playing frizbee etc etc.  Basically the event is the exercise and the impact it has on the muscles, regardless of the type of exercise.  The massage stimulates the circulation bringing in a fresh and abundant supply of blood; transports toxins; promotes overall muscle balance thereby enabling the soft tissue to better handle the “event”, to recover, and reduce muscle soreness.  A lot of what we did on Saturday during the actual massage was talk to the Pet Parent about what they could do themselves at home.

At one time on Friday I think Emmy-Lou had 3 people practising compression on her at the same time…such a gorgeous and tolerant dog!  We also did some more observation of Happy (the 8 week old we saw earlier in the week) to see how he was developing.

I admit to being pretty nervous on Saturday when I woke up.  ForYourK9 hosted the Windy City Agility club and we were there to provide pre and post event massage.  We started taking “clients” at 1pm and finished at about 5pm.  We had an instructor in the room with us, together with the Pet Parent.

My first real client (ie not one of the class pooches) was Quinn who was a 4 year old Border Collie.  It took a good few minutes for him to accept my touch – I’m discovering the art of patience (Rob can you believe that?????) – but then he was fab.  He was a bit shy and had never had a massage before…let’s hope my inexperienced technique didn’t put him off ;) By the end of my time with him he was sitting on my lap while I released some tension in his quads!

Others included a 7 month old miniature schnauzer; a highly excited Rat Terrier; a Cocker Spaniel with hip dysplasia; a Bassett Hound; a Belgian Malinois; a Siberian Husky and a beautiful Mutt :)

When I got home last night I sank a glass of Red in about 5 minutes!  Exhausting but oh so satisfying.

Spent today at the Laundromat and supermarket getting ready for the week.  Next week I think we’ve got more anatomy work and with a bit of luck a visit / work at the local shelter…

Day 4: Brain Ache

Still absolutely loving it but wow am I exhausted by the end of the day!

Spent more time yesterday observing behaviours.  I didn't realise that by 8 weeks old you can tell the future personality of a dog...which is what we were observing yesterday with Sandwich and Happy.

Also spent some time learning the anatomy of the skeleton.  I never was much good at that kind of thing and dragging my memory back to GSCE Biology hasn't been very helpful.  I was trying to draw the skeleton when I got home and went to bed counting vertebrae rather than sheep!

Today one of the other students asked me if everything was going ok in my hotel, whether I had enough groceries, and if I needed any wine she'd happily get me some.  How absolutely gorgeous :)

Today the class was all about some basic massage techniques.  We practised on each other first which was hilarious, and then we were let lose on some real live dogs!!!

We saw Leo who is a 4 and a half year old Sheltie.  Leo is used to massage because he is an agility dog so often has pre and post event massage, but he also had massage to help him recover from a nasty dog bite and related surgery.  He also has an extra lumbar vertebrae so can get quite stiff in his hind quarters and he also had a thyroid problem.  Poor pup.  He was an absolute star though with all of us poking and prodding him and conducting our very basic assessment technique.

My "client" this afternoon was Odie, a 6 year old Basset Lab mix who was amazing!  He happily let me identify his bony landmarks and let me practise my basic massage.

2 of the class dogs today showed their own personalities….whilst shut away in the massage room for 45 mins while we worked on Leo, between the 2 of them they chewed up the carpet, destroyed some boxes and one of them curled one down in the corner of the room.  Reckon they were showing their displeasure at being shut away!!!!

More hands on practise tomorrow ready for the agility trials on Saturday when we’ll be performing pre and post event massage for real!!!!

Ps – if anyone is having problems posting comments on here, please persevere…..

Today's "clients"!!

8 week old puppys Sandwich and Happy..

Awesome!

First 2 days have definitely not disappointed!

The attendees: 5 humans in total; 2 from Chicago, 1 from Dallas (he assured us he isn't contagious!), 1 from Canada and me!  Plus, Baloo (the 12 year old Border Collie Golden Retirever mix who is deaf), Broonzy (4 year old Wheaten Terrier), Maverick & Bo (Shelties), Emmy-Lou (GSD AmStaff X) and Lucy (Lab mix!) so it's fair to say we're a mixed bunch :)

I can't believe that we got "hands on" with the dogs on Day 1.  It was Awesome.  
We've spent a lot of time over the last 2 days talking about the principles of massage ie feeling with fingers rather than brains which is lot harder than you think 'cause your brain automatically tries to analyse and name what it is you are feeling; and most importantly about understanding the dogs. That's hard.  But you have to have respect and empathy when you are working with dogs and to do that you need to be able to understand them.  There's a lady called Suzanne Clothier who sounds amazing, you-tube her if you get a chance.
We did some energy work yesterday which ordinarily I would have laughed at but I could actually feel the energy from the dog - a difference between hot and cold in certain placed - which was again..awesome. [Note to self to find another descriptor ;)]

Apparently on Saturday we will be doing 1:1 sports massages on some agility dogs...Holy S*&t!!!!!

Am now sipping some Pinot Noir in my hotel room and reflecting on Day 2 where it was more hands on work, learning about the nervous and integumentary systems, low stress handling and behaviour observation.
Seriously, have you ever seen a mini poodle and a pit bull trained so that the poodle jumps on the back of the pit bull!!! I saw that!  
Low stress handling is huge.  Not only for dogs that have an injury but for shelter dogs, those who are touch resistant for whatever reason, and also those that are highly excitable.  It's vitally important to gain their trust before any kind of hands on happens.  One thing is to imagine how you feel when you're in a totally new place and don't know anyone (this hit home for me especially after my turbulent weekend!), and then try and imagine how a dog feels when it's in a shelter or is being re-homed.  

The facility where we are training is fab.  They have a large sports area (witnessed a nose work class yesterday and agility class today), an aquatic centre (pool!), daycare and obviously our little bit.  The also run a school for behaviour work.  

I could go on and on and on...and I will because there's another 3 weeks to go:)  Apparently later this week we'll be working on a  2 legged pitbull...I cannot imagine that.

My accent is a constant source of amusement :)

Enough for now...more tomorrow hopefully and I'll also load some photos.....

T minus 20

This time tomorrow I will be engrossed in day 1 of my intensive Canine Massage course. It's hard to believe that I only discovered it's existence by accident a few months ago...and now I'm pursuing it as my new career. Nuts!
There are 5 other people I think on this course...wonder what they're like and whether they are from Chicago...will find out soon enough.

The flight to LA was good (well it was Air NZ after all!) but from there it was pretty tedious. Longs delays in LA followed by delays on arrival at O'Hare but I made it :)
Spent yesterday having some retail therapy...full on assault on Top Shop, H&M and J Crew followed by lunch at the Ralph Lauren bar & grill (Lucinda Mitchell that one is for you ;))!!! I sat outside which started well but ended up being freezing; the inside was full of preppy men and old ladies with face lifts and stiff grey hairdo's.  It's also a bit of a mammoth task to get from where I'm staying in the burbs to downtown, took about an hour I reckon but worth it.
Today is another gorgeous blue sky day so have scoped out my walk to "school" for the morning (about 15 mins) and have done my weekly shop. That's a bit of a challenge when the only means of cooking is a microwave but I'll just channel my student days...don't think I ever cooked anything then other than jacket potato and beans.

Despite the fact I've only been gone a couple of days I've felt pretty homesick but that's probably just because it's all so new and unknown. Hopefully from tomorrow everything will fall into place, I think I'm going to be too busy to dwell anyway! Managed 3 skype calls back home which helps :)

Am going to spend the rest of today reading up on stuff for tomorrow, catching up on sleep and a couple more skype calls home.

Will update as soon as I can with info on course attendees etc...

Up up and away

Sitting in the Koru lounge of Auckland International sipping some bubbles.  

It's been a funny kind of day...not least because I misread my flight time and was ready for an 11.55am departure as opposed to a 7.40PM one.  Because of that I was uncharacteristically organised and all packed by yesterday evening which on a positive note meant I could drink more red wine last night without worrying about getting on a long haul flight with a stinking hangover...but on a less positive note I've been kicking my heels today with nothing much to do apart from get nervous.  I managed some sofa time with the ginger stick monster but then just really wanted to be gone. Had a drink with Rob in departures and now here I am.  

It's a long way to Chicago; about 12 hours to LA followed by a couple of hours in transit, then 4 hours to Chicago.  Plenty of time to catch up on movies and the book I just bought...and if I need it I've also packed "Canine Massage" in my hand luggage :)

Next post will be from the windy city itself.....exciting!!!!!!

The wondrous world of dog shows

Today I experienced my very first dog show.  It was quite something :)  

I mingled with Borzoi's, Ibizan's, German Shepherds, Afghan's and my personal favourites the Irish Wolfhound and the Ridgeback. At one point I turned around to see about 15 Ridgebacks behind me waiting for their turn in the ring, it was fabulous!  I met some lovely people...especially one lady who was also really receptive to the idea of massage, in fact she does it already on her own dog.  
The stands and stalls were a bit disappointing and I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve a 10 minute demo from a vacuum cleaner salesman!!
There was no-one there providing pre or post event massage (which is good for me) and when I got chatting to the Secretary of the NZ Kennel Club their monthly publication sounded like it could be a useful forum for advertising.

All in all a very worthwhile and enjoyable few hours spent doing market research.