Although Massage can be helpful for and benefit all dogs, no group is more important than our canine athletes. Did you know that a fatigued muscle recuperates 20% after 5 minutes of rest and 100% after 5 minutes of massage? Did you also know that all major sports teams have their own Massage Therapy teams? Canine athletes put just as much strain, wear and tear on their bodies as their human counter parts and indeed, they often also suffer from the same injuries. No matter what sport or venue you and your Heart-Dog choose, massage can help keep your Heart-Dog athlete in top condition. Consider adding a Massage Practitioner to your canine athletes team to prevent or heal injuries and maintain his health, happiness and working career.
After all, “Pedigree indicates what a dog should be…Conformation indicates what a dog appears to be…but performance indicates what the dog actually IS…” ~author unknown
Heart-Dogs Canine Massage is also available for seminars and workshops. If your club is interested in having an event where member can learn about the benefits of massage for your chosen breed or sport, please contact us.
Here are some examples of how massage can benefit a dogs body while working in his or her chosen sport:
Agility: canine massage is probably most accepted and widely used in the agility world. Depending on the size and venue of the trial, you may actually be able to find more than one massage practitioner at an event. Agility dogs use their bodies in a variety of ways; watch how the dogs running a standard course twist and turn, increase and decrease their speed, and go over, through and up obstacles. They use every area of their body, and massage can benefit them all. Watch how they use their hind end to run and jump, their front end to brace impact and climb and their spine to lower themselves through a tunnel or chute and snake through the weaves. A handler can find themselves sore after a day of runs or a night of practice...and we're not doing as much as our canine partners! Massage can help your agility dog stay fast and flexible...allowing them to play longer, harder and more successfully!
Conformation: people who sit ringside at a conformation show usually think its easy...just walking your dog around the ring, right? Wrong! It is vital to a top conformation dogs career that they be in prime shape; having a properly muscled dog under the carefully groomed coat is a must! It is true that massage can help those muscles while your dog is being conditioned for the show ring, but massage can help and affect more than that. Massage can help simulate the skin which keeps their coats in better shape. It can also energize a dog before going into the ring, or calm and relax a dog that just came out. Gait issues can sometimes be helped or corrected if they arise from injury or soft-tissue problems. And of course it can a bitch get back into shape after whelping. (see reproductive system)
Disc Dogs: much like agility and dock dogs, having a disc dog is having a dog who puts a lot of stress on their bodies. They too are required to twist, turn, run, jump and make hard landings. Its a full throttle, full contact sport and requires a dog in top shape with extreme flexibility and range of motion for all joints. Massage can help keep your disc dog limber and fluid to make those tough but beautiful catches!
Dock Dogs and water sports: Dock Dogs have an interesting job; their sport relies not only on the strength of their body for running and launching off of the dock, but also put much strain and stress on the body when they hit the water. Massage can be a helpful tool in preventing injuries to our dock dogs from repeated impact on the water; by focusing on the spine-the neck and tail especially- a dock jumper can be kept comfortable while performing this very physical job. Massage is important for all swimmers, and although it happens to be one of the most benign and less stressful forms of exercise for the dogs body (think about how much physical therapy relies on swimming!) it can still cause muscles to become sore and fatigued after a long day spent in the water. Swimming is a great activity for all dogs, and most end up loving it. Massage can keep your swimmers muscles and joints healthy so they can continue to enjoy one of their favorite activities.
Earthdog: did you know there is a major muscle in your dogs body called "the digging muscle"? This muscle, the "latissimus dorsi" covers your dogs lateral (outside) rib cage. It is connected to both the thoracolumbar (middle) spine and the humerus (upper arm) and is used to draw the forelimb backwards. It is also used to flex the spine from side to side. If you have an earthdog that is a digger, or is often going to ground, it is important to keep this, and other muscles of the forelimb and back healthy and relaxed.
Flyball: flyball is one fast and furious sport, and although individual dogs don't spend much time on their straight-aways, the time they are doing their job is putting a lot of stress on their bodies! Jumping and running are just part of the equation. Think about how they use those front ends to slam the box, their backs to make those tight return turns and their jaws for grabbing and holding the ball. Multiple runs at an event and practices in between can put additional stress on their bodies. Consider adding massage to keep your flyball dog (or team) running at their best.
Herding: herding is one of the most intense activities a dog can be involved in. The dog is not only using their body to its fullest capabilities, but also using their amazing minds as well. They need to think fast, and on their feet. Herding dogs use their bodies in the same ways agility and lure coursing dogs do, but it is also more dangerous because they are working with stock that could out weight them by 100 times. Massage can help keep your stock dog working at their fullest potential: both physically and mentally.
Hunting: dogs who hunt may use their bodies in ways that truly encompasses almost all of the other dog sports; they need to be fast and cover ground that can be rough, tough and full of obstacles. They will often have to swim to retrieve their game and then cover that same ground with a heavy bird in their soft mouths. They also may be required to wait patiently for long spans of time while the game is lured or located and then brought down by the hunter. Or the dog him or herself will be the one trying to locate the game-again requiring the dog to cover uneaven and tricky ground and then having to hold steady while the hunter readies themselves for the flush. These dogs use their whole bodies to do their job, and can also be tense due to the mental nature of the sport.
Lure Coursing: is there anything more beautiful than watching a sight hound run? "Poetry in motion". But just like their human counterparts, these runners also need to keep their bodies in top shape. When you watch a sight hound run in slow motion and see that double-suspension gait at work, you can see how every muscle in that dogs body is working: their head is forward on an out-stretched neck, their back is arching (flexing) and extending, their legs are hitting the ground and then pushing back off of it and their tails are used for balance. Also important for a lure-coursing dog is foot care. Massage can help keep your hounds body in a fluid and fully flexible state.
Obedience (and Rally): unfortunately, massage has not caught on as quickly in the obedience world. But, due to the amount of cross over between all dog sports, more and more obedience handlers are realizing how beneficial it can be for their working dogs. Indeed, many of agility's exercises originated in the obedience ring: including broad, high and bar jumps. And although obedience seems to be done at a "slower" pace, the movement is more precise. Again, many handlers will find themselves sore after a weekend of trialing or a few days or practice sessions. Your dogs feel it to! Massage can benefit not only the dogs front and hind ends (for jumping) but also their neck (which is so important in heeling) and jaws (for retrieval exercises). If your obedience dog is losing some of their edge, consider having them massaged. It may be that they're sore or could also be stressed. Obedience is a high drive, high competition sport that should be preserved and encouraged; keeping our obedience dogs healthy and happy to work will be helpful in keeping the sport in full swing!
Protection (Protection Dog Sport, Schutzhund, French Ring etc.): these dogs not only need to use speed and agility common to many other types of sports, but they also need to use their power as well. Dogs who compete in these venues need to use some of their muscles in different ways than in other sports; often having to jump with intent to over power a decoy and having to use their jaws to grip and hold until released by their handler. Dogs who play these sports need extra attention paid to their backs, hindquarters and head and jaw muscles.
Therapy and Service Dogs: although many of these dogs don't play as "hard" as their dog sport counter parts, these amazing dogs still have very tough yet amazingly important jobs. Therapy and Service dogs can still be required to do very physical tasks on a daily basis; they can be required to run and bend to retrieve objects, jump up to turn on and off lights, tug, brace their guardians weight and pull them in wheel chairs. They can be asked to walk very long distances during the day, and find themselves on all types of flooring and all sorts of situations-some being very stressful. Massaging your therapy or service dog can not only have an impact on their health and physical well being, but keep their mental sharpness, clarity and happiness to allow them to work in their roles for as long as possible.
Golden days
10 years ago
