For those of you who read this blog frequently, you will know that I came to canine myofunctional therapy as a gentle and effective therapy for joint stiffness in my senior dog. Unfortunately, throughout my girl’s life I had exposed her, inadvertently and with the best intentions, to less gentle therapies which in hindsight would have caused her some discomfort. These experiences sensitised my girl to being touched in a purposeful way in the hindquarters. When I started myofunctional treatments with her, she would not tolerate any palpation from her loin to the tail. She would move away from the treatment, reposition herself to be touched in a different area, nudge my hand away and if I was being really disrespectful and not paying attention, she would air snap at me.

So when prospective clients ask if I will treat their dog while it is wearing a muzzle, I really understand their concern. As animal carers, we want our dogs to benefit from a treatment, but we want everyone to be safe. I completely understand because I have one of those dogs who potentially would need to be muzzled.

How do I respond to these enquiries?

Firstly, I try and work out with the dog’s carer the reason they think the dog may snap and secondly, we plan our approach.

Typically, dogs whose owners feel they need to be muzzled for a massage treatment fall into two categories.

The first group, have been “trained” to dislike being touched or to fear humans. This could have occurred through rough handling, physical punishments, aversive training equipment, or other forms of neglect. These dogs have learnt that people don’t respect and “listen” to their body language. That people don’t “hear” what the dog is “telling” them, when the dog is uncomfortable or fearful. In the worst case, these dogs may have learnt that people’s hands are not safe and inflict pain on them.

For this group, a training plan with the objective of restoring the dog’s trust in being touched needs to be devised and implemented. Depending on the severity of the dog’s fear and the triggers for the anxiety, this training may or may not be done in a treatment setting.

For example, I have a canine client who was a rescue as a young puppy. She had been carefully and gently trained using positive methods and her “mum” really understood her anxieties and read her body language well. When she needed a myofunctional treatment, this dog was uncomfortable in the treatment room setting and worried about me touching her in a purposeful way. Over two sessions, we “trained” this dog to willingly accept a full treatment.

How did we do this?

We moved very slowly and took our cues from the dog – we moved as fast as she was comfortable. We also paired food rewards and verbal reinforcement with calm, curious and relaxed body language in the treatment room. Gradually, we worked up to the dog lying on a treatment mat, then with me move gradually closer to her and eventually stroking her very lightly in “safe” body areas. At all times throughout the process, the dog was free to move away – she was not on lead and wasn’t wearing a collar. We also kept the treatment room door open, so she could go outside if she needed more space.

This approach is necessarily slow and methodical. The more severe the dog’s anxiety the longer the process will take. In some cases, where the dog is anxious around strangers or people generally, then a more rigorous behavioural or training approach will be more suitable. (Please see Training services)

The second group of dogs that owners think may require a muzzle are dogs, like my girl, that are likely to snap to guard a particularly painful body area. For these dogs, there needs to be a good period of trust building at the beginning of a consultation. I may also need to adapt my technique and treatment protocol to build trust and address the musculoskeletal issue that is contributing to the pain.

The key adaptations to my technique and treatment protocols would include the following:

• Determine the “safe” and pleasurable areas to touch the dog. For many dogs, this is the upper neck, ears and jaw. Throughout a treatment, I return to these areas frequently.

• Adjust my treatment protocol to initially avoid massaging painful body areas. Research indicates that circulation in non-massaged limbs increases, so the injured area is still benefiting somewhat from a treatment without being touched.

• Adjust pressure in sensitive areas to include light stroking, effleurage or simply placing my hand lightly, if the dog can tolerate any touch. These techniques act upon the mechanoreceptors in the soft tissue to block pain stimuli and provide an analgesic effect. This light touch also draws oxygenated blood to the area to flush surrounding fluids which may be contributing to inflammation and pain.

• Apply a warm towel to painful body areas and exclude these areas from initial treatments. The warm towel stimulates the circulatory and lymphatic system in this area which will draw oxygenated, nutrient rich blood to the fascia and remove metabolic waste through the lymphatic system. If tolerated, the weight of the towel also acclimatises the dog to having some pressure on this area in a treatment setting.

• Formulate an exercise therapy programme to address soft tissue weakness or inflexibility that may be contributing to the dog’s discomfort. Depending on the condition, undertaking an exercise programme may reduce the dog’s discomfort so they are comfortable receiving a hands on treatment.

So back to the original question – can you massage a dog that is wearing a muzzle?

Well, physically you can massage a dog that is wearing a muzzle. However, if a dog is so anxious and stressed that they need to wear a muzzle because they are likely to bite, then they are not likely to benefit from a myofunctional treatment. The best course of action for these dogs is to address the root cause of their anxiety and design a treatment plan to meet the needs of the dog.

If you have an anxious or nervous dog who would benefit from a treatment, please contact me, I would really like to chat about myofunctional therapy may benefit your dog. Full Stride provides canine myofunctional therapy (massage and exercise therapy) at your home or my clinic in Brisbane’s northern suburbs. For more information please contact me or follow Full Stride on Facebook for regular updates and interesting reading.

Until next time, enjoy your dogs.

Sources

Goats, G,C. (1994) “Massage-the scientific basis of an ancient art: Part 2. Physiological and therapeutic effects”, British Journal of Sports Medicine 28 (3) p153 – 156

Millis, D.L, Levine, D & Taylor R.A (ed) (2004) Canine Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy, Elsevier Inc, Missouri USA