Massage for the Senior Dog describes senior dogs, their needs at their mature stage of life, instruction for how to address those needs with the skills of massage therapy. This book describes the variations in gait, behaviors, and the aging body that you must know to provide an effective massage. You’ll learn about the psychosocial needs of dogs, their pack mentality, canine body language, and instinctual behaviors. You’ll learn a style of safe animal handling during the massage which is taught in PetMassage hands-on workshops.
Practitioner body mechanics are more than moving in a balanced and grounded way. Although all movements are directed by breath, intentionality, presence, and ownership of space, you need to know what to do once you’re in that space.
This book describes massage skills and with photographs, captions, and instructions, their applications in detail. Layer these with correct body mechanics, animal communication, understanding the specific requirements of geriatric dogs, and you have a full massage sequence tailored to the senior dog. Also included are 2 case studies that will provide more insight into senior dog massage.
The instruction is based on the authors 30 years of canine massage experience as a practitioner and instructor at the PetMassage Training and Research Institute in Toledo, Ohio.
