What to expect

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The session will take place in your home. We need a quiet place, ideally where there will be no interruptions. When booking your appointment, please take into account times that maybe busier in your home, such as when family members leave for work/school or arrive back home.

Before any hands on work can take place a signed Veterinary Permission form must be provided for your dog. Please see the Forms page for further details. 

I will take a full background for your dog. If you want a head start on this part of the session, please download, complete and return the Client Contact Form. 

This will only need to be done at the start or if something significant changes with your dog.

Next comes the physical assessment of your dog. I will watch and take video  of them walking and trotting in various directions. I will check their neurological connections to their limbs (doggie reflexes) and I will assess their muscle health and skeletal state. All of this will tell me where they may have issues, where they maybe compensating for those issues and what might be the causes. 

For example, my dog Cocoa presented with lameness in the front left leg, muscle wastage on the same leg, an exaggerated sway of the hips, a slight twist to her pelvis and a reluctance to lift the right back leg. This indicates problems in the right hip AND the left shoulder. The left front leg is not being used as much as the other legs and she is compensating by loading more weight onto the right back leg. The vet diagnosed arthritis in the shoulders when she went lame. We manage her pain using infrared light therapy followed by canine massage and weight management (she is a chocolate lab so this is an ongoing struggle!). Occasionally I will apply some additional acupressure if she's struggling in cold weather. 

Once we have gotten a full history and done the physical assessment, we need a quiet space where we won't be disturbed. I can do the massage on a sofa, the dogs bed or on the floor with a favourite blanket - anywhere really that your dog is comfortable and can relax. The massage will normally take between 30-40 minutes, plus any time taken to apply acupressure or infrared light therapy.

After the session, I will do another physical assessment to see if there has been any improvement. Generally you will see a difference after 1 session, but definitely after 1-3 sessions.