Thursday, July 23, 2009

Massage
A note from Robin

I saw a question about whether anyone had success with massage as a therapy for any Gabbs Dogs.

In my experience it can be a great benefit, I use it routinely in the rehabilitation of many of my rescues. Here is a photo of Dinky looking relaxed. She has had a leash walk of about an hour and then a 45 minutes massage. Please also bear in mind that she is in a shelter pen, with
barking dogs all around her and I am standing over her holding the camera!


Also the short video clip a few notes down on this blog, taken at a different time, of Dinky receiving the collar and leash was also after about 35 minutes of massage. I have the video of the whole session but it is pretty boring to watch, if anyone desperately wants to see it I can burn it to DVD or probably upload segments onto the internet, just let me know!

Robin

4 comments:

  1. She reminds me of chocolate melted on a blanket! Robin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Was wondering about Reiki or one of the other methods, or if amateur massage at home works just as well as paying a professional pet masseuse. Do you have any experience with acupuncture? Buffy's calm and relaxed about 75% of the time, but we'd like to get past the 25% of continuing skittery behavior. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. i am talking about rescue dogs with issues, in particular, I do not generally recommend paying a pet masseuse, although there might be limited benefit.
    I think a large part of the benefit for both the owner therapist and the dog is the development of one on one trust involved in loving handling. Once you have built that trust with one person it is normally a swifter transition to generalize to other people.If the only time you handle your dog you are either blocking it from going somewhere or moving in to grab the collar the dog is going to feel intimidated, this erodes trust. If 80% - 90% of your daily interaction is a gentle conditioning, familiarization and desensetization. A repeated gift of loving kindness through touch. You build trust and desensitize the dog. I try to do an hour a day with the more wary dogs.... I do believe that the more you do the better you get at it...... I think it is useful to understand the simple principles and if you want a painting by numbers introduction try TTouch. As you do more you will start to use your sensitivity and intuition. I have a hard time believing that a circular rub has to be a particular size and only 270 degrees for it to be effective but if they just say rub your dog it would be harder to sell a book. whereas if you call it a clouded leopard touch it sounds wonderful! I have recently started to study acupuncture and acupressure.
    There are some people who have a natural spirit or energy connection but I believe almost everyone has the ability to develop their loving connection with animals and people. Unfortunately many people are more interested in what they can get from the relationship than what they can give.
    I truly believe massage heals.
    The more I learn the less I know. Robin

    ReplyDelete
  4. Robin,
    I just discovered this site and will try to get a post up about Pearl. We adopted her (pics 38 and 41 and also that lovable face on your Cirrus web page) on 2/13/09 - our lucky day). I wasn't really sure if there would be any benefit other than providing this scared little cutie with comfort, when I started to massage her, which was immediately. She gets lots of lovin' touch and massage every day. I'm seeing amazing results. Even though she's deaf (in addition to other ailments), I still think if I speak to her with her head against me, she can get a calming vibe in addition to the massage. We are SO IN LOVE with this dog. I thank everyone for going to such efforts to save all of these lovable creatures.

    ReplyDelete