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??