PetMassage Paw Prints

You’re invited to attend the PetMassage Foundation Workshop program at the PetMassage Training and Research Institute in Toledo OH.

Enjoy.

Jocko, the quiet and ever-present Standard Poodle, who many of you might recognize as one of the teaching assistants at the PetMassage school, gets a PetMassage from a young girl. 

It is a pretty little slide show with catchy original music “What do you do to do what you want to do?” from the audio CD, “PetMassage Doggie Songs for Kids”. music and lyrics by Jonathan Rudinger, performed by Toledo musician, Charlie Oswanski. The song itself is a lesson for kids about asking permission before touching a dog: animal handling and safety.

Enjoy.

Lola, our adorable little boxer, who many of you might recognize as one of the premiere teaching assistants at the PetMassage school and star of the video “In a Perfect World,” in which she learns to massage Anastasia, gets a PetMassage from a young girl.

She learns the value of touch and respect for space and canine body language. Catchy original music from the audio CD, “PetMassage Doggie Songs for Kids”. Performed by Toledo musician, Charlie Oswanski. The song itself is a lesson for kids about animal handling and safety.

Enjoy.

A friend of mine, a former two-time speaker at our IAAMB conferences and one of our more prominent IAAMB members, Maryjean Ballner, is going to be on the David Letterman Show on December 9th.

We wish her well with her TV appearance.

Maryjean has written the books “Dog Massage” and “Cat Massage” and is a respected authority in the field. I’m also very proud of the fact that Maryjean Ballner has endorsed my book, “Dogs Kids PetMassage.”

Here’s what Maryjean wrote:

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if children, especially your children, learned PetMassage? Kids’ confidence soar as the danger of dog biting or scratching diminish. Children/canine relationships are enhanced through enhanced touch.

With a gentle story-telling style, this book teaches safe, effective methods of PetMassage that can benefit all children and all dogs regardless of how familiar they may already be with each other.

Jonathan’s ideas on how to approach a dog, and touch in sequence, help transform basic petting into therapeutic massage. “Dog Kids PetMassage” creates a win-win for everyone!

-Maryjean Ballner, Author – “Dog Massage” & “Cat Massage”

You can learn more about Maryjean by visiting her website: www.catanddogmasage.com.

Jonathan

Jonathan and friend

One of the most obvious differences between PetMassage™ and standard veterinary interventions is the prolonged duration of time, attention and the awareness that is allowed during a session. A complete session usually lasts between 20 and 40 minutes. This would be alien to the usual medical, time-efficient, cost effective procedure. PetMassage™, although it does address the dog’s acute, present-time physical condition, its focus is on the long-term continuum of life condition, and quality of all aspects of the animal’s life. It takes time and patience to allow the strata of intuitive connections to layer one upon another, giving them the time and space they need to develop, percolate, and emote. As we stay alert and aware during each phase of the PetMassage™, we can soften our notice and take in more of the subtle cues that we are continuously receiving from our bodies, which we so often ignore. The more time we allow to actually experience our physiological responses, the better and more in-depth the feedback experience, so necessary for an effective session.

As we observe how our bodies are feeling and responding to the dog’s reactions to our touch and presence, we get a glimpse into the inner conversation we are having with our animals. We maintain a running intuitive level conversation with the intuitive language and understanding of the animals in our hands. We respond, observe, process, reorient and reconnoiter, and touch again, each time with more information, more direction, more intention. Each session has its unique dialogue. Each dialogue deepens as it evolves, progresses.

PetMassage™ elicits emotional, memorable, and physical responses from animals by combining various techniques and qualities of touch, with varying depths of pressure, rates of movement, and stroke direction. How can we claim this? Their nervous systems react to whatever they feel and to the referred areas of whatever is stimulated. The response is memories and experiencing the emotions and body patterns of learned behaviors. Animals may not know reflexology charts or Five Element Theory. They do know that their bodies feel pressure, temperature variations, and the presence that the Sympathetic NS interpolation that would indicate caring and supportive, destructive or angry, or dispassionate and distant. Dogs react spontaneously and consistently. They react to threats with their general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system, priming them for fighting or fleeing. This response, the first stage of a general adaptation syndrome regulates stress responses among vertebrates and other organisms. There is a range of responses. The more obvious ones are eye, ear and tail movement, raising of the hackles, and adjusting stance. More subtle, are the internal signaling that particular hormones need to be increased in the blood stream, to protect against a real or imaged threat, or to support a feeling of safety and affection.

Dogs read our moment to moment variations in our aromas just as they do when they interact with each other. Each variation in the endocrine balance shifts the quality and quantity of chemical discharge through sweat and anal glands.

Our responses to real or perceived dangers spontaneously softens or tightens our skin, fascia and muscles. They alter our pulse, respiration rates, blood pressure, and levels of pheromones and sweat. We humans may not have the abilities to smell what dogs smell. We can, with practice at being present, learn to observe our bodies.

As we are connecting with our PetMassage™ clients, we may notice a sensation of light headedness, a shift from centeredness in our bodies to feeling slightly out of alignment. We might feel gassy, burpy, crampy, worried, tired, lethargic. We might feel happy, giddy, excited. Our tummies might rumble and gurgle. The term for this is borborygmi, which sounds a bit like the sound you hear. A message that is sent to your stomach and intestines triggers muscle contractions and the release of acids and other digestive fluids — which causes the rumbling, grumbling sounds you hear — as your body prepares for you to eat. The thought, sight or smell of food also can trigger this response. (www.mayoclinic.com/health/stomach-noise/NU00189).

These are some of the changes and shifts that you may notice in your body. They are the indicators of the types of conversations that your intuitive, subconscious self is having with the animal. Maintaining a vigilant presence with yourself will support the inner healing and balancing work your dog is doing. The intensity and purity of your presence, or lack of same, makes or breaks your intuitive connections.

Even if you are unaware or have a block to being aware of your bodily functions, as it were, your presence still has a powerful influence on whatever is happening in your dog’s body. One of the parts of quantum theory that is becoming more and more accepted is that the act of simply observing a reaction influences the reaction. Being observant at whatever level, that is, being present, as a witness supports the PetMassage™ healing, resting, softening and/or comforting process.

Have you made up your mind to change your life? To create a business in which you can help animals and their owners? To make a difference in the vibrational energy of the planet by assisting animals and their people shift from fear, despair, pain, and negativity to joy, ease and actualization of the pursuit of the highest possible quality of life?

Learn PetMassage™

Learn PetMassage™ for Dogs to enhance your life and work. Affirmations are stated in a way that your goal is already completed. “I have completed my PetMassage™ Foundation workshop and have created a successful animal massage practice.” is much more powerful than “I want to enroll in a PetMassage workshop in 2011.” The second statement is not a valid affirmation. You can want something forever, without manifesting the action to make it so.

It is interesting to note that the two most sought after professions are veterinary medicine (it’s more difficult to get into vet school than medical school.) and PT, Physical Therapy. These are both long, difficult and expensive paths. Some universities are combining these two programs meeting the demand of students, and responding to the demands of animal guardians and their veterinary providers.

Many of our students have told us they would have liked to have been veterinarians but didn’t think they could be comfortable with blood and trauma and putting animals down. PetMassage™ offers a means of helping/assisting/facilitating dogs in a gentler, softer, non-invasive modality that, in its own way, also helps to restore balance, flexibility, circulation…in other words, body-mind-spirit wellness in dogs. The skills and practices students learn in our 7-day PetMassage™ Foundation workshop are compatible with every known form of animal healing and bodywork, including the newest innovations in veterinary medicine.

PetMassage™ teaches students to support the self-revelatory, self healing, intuitive abilities of dogs through the use of knowledgeable, compassionate touch, fascia releases, and the use of body-language communication. PetMassage™ workshops begin with validating the skills and life experiences students bring with them. Students learn specific PetMassage™ theory and techniques, practicing and refining their skills, hands-on, every day, with live dogs in the classroom. A module in the introduction to canine anatomy offers students a virtual understanding of the canine body beneath their fingers. A discussion of physiology systems from a Western medical model demonstrate how and why PetMassage™ has such powerful effects and influences. Concepts and variations of the practices of TCM are incorporated in PetMassage theory and practice. There are lively discussions about specific applications, contraindications, ethics, legal issues, scopes of practice, and marketing. The Foundation Workshop concludes with a full workshop review and final return demonstrations with instructor, Jonathan Rudinger, with personalized instruction and suggestions for further study.

These are a few of the benefits of PetMassage™ for Dogs

• Increases circulation of all the fluids in the body
• Increases flexibility
• Develops and maintains muscle tone 
• Helps relieve the effects of stiffness and joint discomfort
• Enhances bonding, especially with new adoptees from shelters 
• Helps dogs create and maintain a better quality of life
• “An essential of health care…like grooming, feeding and exercise.” –Healing Touch, Michael M. Fox, DVM

 Start with the 7-day PetMassage™ Foundation workshop. What’s in it?

The Seven-Day PetMassage™ Foundation Workshop is an excellent beginning to your hands-on learning experience. We acknowledge that no one can become an “expert” at anything in just seven days. However, this course is a good preparation to become adept at the basic skills of PetMassage™. Learn to help your own dogs and your client’s dogs. Train to create your successful start-up PetMassage™ business. To prepare for this workshop, you will study the 2 Effective PetMassage™ for Dogs DVD’s and the Effective PetMassage™ for Dogs Manual, and 2 more books, Creating & Marketing Your Animal Massage Business and Dog Anatomy Coloring Atlas. These are all included in the fees for the workshop.

Along with your life experience, this is your foundation for the volume of information you will receive through (discussion style) lectures and individual, hands-on instruction working with dogs. We discuss, demonstrate, and practice and then you return-demonstrate your understanding and practice of PetMassage™ energy and body mechanics, PetMassage™ theory and techniques. Movement and breathing exercises expand your sensory and spiritual awareness and develop healthy body mechanics. The instruction is supportive, encouraging and geared to help you to discover and develop your own personal massage form. This course has been described as a personal development and enrichment class through the medium of canine bodywork. The 7-day PetMassage™ Foundation workshop includes modules on anatomy, physiology and canine behaviors, the physiological affect that PetMassage™ has on body systems, ethics and business marketing strategies. Also included is a field trip to the ASPCA to hone your skills while connecting with the dogs who are there in temporary residence. A Certificate of Completion for the Seven-day PetMassage™ for Dogs Foundation Workshop is awarded after we have received your take-home test and documentations of additional pro bono PetMassage sessions.

PetMassage™ workshops have small classes – between four and twelve students. They are about 30% lecture, 60% hands-on, 10% playing with dogs and 110% growth and enjoyment. Lectures and demonstrations use models, charts, other text references and the class syllabus.

Students are encouraged to bring dogs. In fact, for every 2 dogs you bring, we will take $25 off your workshop course fees. If you are unable to bring your own dog, other lucky canine volunteers are provided.

Workshops are scheduled, February – November, Sundays through Saturdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. All workshops are held at the PetMassage™ Ltd. School in Toledo, Ohio

Goals of the 7-day PetMassage™ Foundation Workshop

• Develop an understanding of the theory, techniques, vocabulary, culture and vision of PetMassage™
• Learn to understand and provide for diverse canine needs
• Learn basic dog anatomy & physiology
• Become aware of body mechanics for you and your K-9 clients
• Understand scope of practice, business ethics, marketing

 When you feel you are ready for more in-depth training, take the 7-day Advanced. We’ve talked about the 5-day PetMassage WaterWorkTM in past newsletters. Since it incorporates an entirely different set of skills, there are no prerequisites and you can take the PetMassage WaterWorkTM before the PetMassage Foundation.

Find our updated workshop schedule, more information about the workshops and testimonials of students who have already completed them, online. Call now to reserve your space in our workshops.

Want to talk to someone who can answer your questions? Call us. Ask about any aspect of PetMassage that concerns you. We’ll help you in any way we can. With twelve years of experience and over 200 workshops, we know quite a lot about the subject. We’ll also snail mail the PetMassage™ Pet-a-log and Travel Information brochure, with all the information you’ll need to attend a workshop. Call us at 800-779-1001 or email info@petmassage.com.