He Rubs Pets The Right Way

A Lambertville massage therapist is branching out,
offering a refreshing, rejuvenating pause for those with paws.

By Charles Slat
Evening News staff writer

MONROE, MI: Is your terrier terrified of the vet? Does Fido tend to fidget? Is your mastiff stiff?

Help may be at hand- literally. Enter Jonathan Rudinger, pet massage therapist.

Mr. Rudinger, who operates Secor at Smith Massage Therapy in Lambertville and has helped humans for years, has developed a specialty in animal massage.

"It's really taking off," he says. "I'd say about 30 percent of my patients now are animals."

"Dogs do get stiff necks," asserts Mr. Rudinger, who's been kneading dogs over the last few years and has long been a horse masseuse.

He visits pets' homes or ministers to them at veterinary clinics, using nose-to-tail techniques to excise tension, ease aches and pains and eradicate rigidity.

A long-time registered nurse and licensed massage therapist, he says massage has similar benefits for pets and humans. It can speed post-surgery healing, alleviate pain and stiffness of joints and improving circulation. In pets, it even can collar behavioral problems like separation anxiety.

"This is new territory, that's what's exciting," he says.

Now he's going a step farther. Last week, he unleashed a new 38-minute instructional video, "Effective Pet Massage For Dogs."

It gives pet owners a hands-on demonstration of how to rub one's animal the right way. "It's something people can learn to do at home," he says.

But if you think animal massage is just heavy petting, you're barking up the wrong tree.

"It's a very deliberate touch." Mr. Rudinger says. "There's a form. You work all the way from the nose to the tail and down the sides. There's an order and a sense of feeling. There are different pressures and different strokes you would use for different results." Mr. Rudinger says he has used the technique on a variety of canine clients, with sometimes remarkable results.

Recently, he worked on Bailey, a golden retriever whose hamstring muscles had atrophied while the dog was recovering from surgery. "By the end of the second session, it was running and playing and you couldn't tell it had surgery." Mr. Rudinger says.

How does he know the massage helps?

When an animal is hurting, it will let you know in various ways, he says. Likewise, "when there is relief of pain, they sigh, soften muscles or may pass gas. A lot of times if I relieve pain, they'll sigh and look at me like 'How did you do that?'"

Mr. Rudinger says he has a way with critters.

"I have an agreement with an animal- they sense that my presence there will help them. That sounds kind of weird, but it's true" he says.

He says he's not had a pet bite him. "I was working on a Doberman once and hit sort of a sore spot on his hip. But he didn't turn on me, he just took off into the next room," he said.

Mr. Rudinger also says massage can have a calming effect on animals. Because he does some massages in veterinary offices, it also can ease an animals fear of that setting.

Pet massage is spreading nationally as therapists treating humans find a new market for their services. Dog groomers also are learning basic techniques to put their customers more at ease, and vets are finding it useful in a clinical setting.

"It gives them a feeling that it's okay and safe and possibly fun to come to the vet's office," Mr. Rudinger says.

His pet massage practice is a spinoff of the therapeutic massages he's been giving horses for some years as a competitive endurance rider.

"Horses are delicate creatures and when they're tired there are certain things you can do to their energy," he explains.

His practice isn't limited to dogs, though he says he's not comfortable massaging birds or reptiles.

But he hopes his new video will be the first of a series of four or five of its kind.

"I feel almost called to help people bond with their animals," he says. "This is my path. This is where I should be.

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