Hello everyone, this is Krista with Episode #171 on the Wag Out Loud pawdcast. You know when you're on the couch and your dog stretches out next to you and lets out a long sigh? Well, that means that they're happy. They're soft vocalizations such as sighs and maybe some low groans, those are signs of contentment in dogs. So your dog snuggling up and sighing doesn't mean they're bored. It actually means that they feel safe and comfortable right by your side.

Welcome to the Wag Out Loud pawdcast, where we are obsessed with bringing you helpful tips on canine health care, nutrition, and overall wellbeing. If you'd like to support the show, check out the amazing online events, products and resources that I personally recommend on the Wag Out Loud website. I'm your host, Krista and I'm super excited to be bringing you yet another tail wagging episode.

Hello dog lovers and thanks for tuning in to a another informative Wag Out Loud pawdcast episode. Today we have the pleasure of learning from Caragh Reilly, and she is going to chat with us about It's Not Just a Spa Day, but how therapeutic massage can actually benefit the health and mobility of dogs at every life stage. Caragh, thank you so much for being with us today. So appreciate it.

I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

Well, I want to first ask if you can please introduce yourself and share with us what got you interested in canine massage in the first place?

Absolutely. So I've been doing canine massage for just about 5-5 1/2 years now. I was in a corporate career for much of my life and felt that something was missing. I adopted my dog after about 10 years ago and it kind of reignited my passion for all things dog. And I decided that it was time to make a bit of a life change and find a career that felt a little bit more fulfilling and rewarding for me. So I took a little bit of a break from my corporate life, started taking some classes and found canine massage and just absolutely fell in love with the work.

And I'm sure Oscar is totally in love with you doing the massage.

He's not too disappointed.

Oh, that's so cool. Well, why don't we break it down? What exactly is canine massage because as we alluded to in the title, you know, we think of going to the spa. And there's different techniques, you know, it could be more fluff or more hardcore, like, you know, Swedish or Rolfing. So what exactly does that mean, when we talk about massage for our dogs?

What is Canine Massage?

Yeah, I mean, it can mean a lot of different things. And really, there's applications for massage for every dog at every stage of their life. But you know, while certainly massage has tremendous relaxation benefits, just like we know, when we go to the spa, I think sometimes we overlook the clinical benefits of bodywork, and how it really impacts the body not just emotionally in terms of triggering a relaxation state, but also physiologically helping address pain, helping address tension, and kind of providing benefits throughout the body and to every body system. I think it's a pretty incredible modality because it does impact every body system, and really can be used for almost any dog based on whatever they're going through both emotionally and physically.

Okay, and we're talking just about muscles, so soft tissue, right?

Soft tissue, I mean, but you know, that also includes muscle, connective tissue, like fascia in the body. So you know, all of that carries tension and is impacted by you know, whatever is going on in the body and from your health condition. So it's not just tension relief, but it increases circulation and has tons of other benefits, which I'm sure we'll get to talking about during this during this talk.

Well, I think we're there. So let's unpack some of those benefits.

Benefits of Canine Massage

Awesome. Yeah, I think that a lot of people when they think about massage for their dog, they probably naturally go towards addressing, you know, arthritis and stiffness for dogs that are seniors. And certainly a lot of the clients are just that and certainly has wonderful benefits for geriatric care. But I think what's so exciting about this work is that it can offer so much variety if you choose to work with all sorts of different types of dogs. So I like to share just how it can affect dogs at different life stages to give some examples. So, I have a couple of clients that are actually puppies. I think the youngest one that I'm working with now is six months. And how massage can really help is to start acclimating dogs to intentful touch, which is essentially massage. Massage is touch with intent to get them used to handling. And it's a great way to set them up for a lifetime of success with handling at, you know, professionals like groomers or the vet. I've also worked with dogs that are skittish or weary of touch. So by introducing positive touch early, you can help socialize the dog. And then I also really work with a lot of young dogs where they're exuberant and active and throwing their bodies around and running around at the dog park. And as you can imagine, when you're overactive like that your body can hurt, even if you're young and agile, and healthy. And so by really interceding early with body work, you can prevent injury down the road, and keep them moving and feeling their best as they grow.

I never thought about it that way. But that really makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, and I mean, certainly, so that's just one example is puppies, but as they transition into adulthood, I do a lot of preventative care where clients have me work with their dog just to really keep them moving and feeling their best and to prevent kind of health issues and tensions from becoming bigger problems down the road. And certainly, I'm involved a lot with dogs who are undergoing injuries or have gone through surgeries, that have a lot of orthopedic conditions that dogs are prone to such as tearing CCLs or suffering from luxating patellas, where their kneecap pops out of the groove. And these are all issues which are either dogs are either going through rehab for or have been surgically corrected. And massage and bodywork is a tremendous modality for helping them heal through that process.

Well, you talk about healing, is it because through massage, you are actually improving the blood flow? Is that why it helps?

Does it Improve Blood Flow?

It's a great question. It's one of the primary benefits is increasing circulation. So what keeps soft tissue healthy in the body is by having blood flow come in because it brings oxygen. Tissue needs oxygen to be healthy. So when we increase and boost that circulation in the body, we're helping bring in that great oxygen to the tissues and also flushing waste products out of the tissues as well. So it is definitely a primary benefit. And one of the key physiological reasons to consider massage.

That makes sense. And what is massage doing to actually reduce pain? Is there an anti inflammatory effect?

Does It Reduce Pain?

Yeah, certainly by you know, as I said, bringing in some increased circulation, you're bringing nutrients into the tissue, which can help tissue heal. You're flushing, waste and byproducts out. But it's also really impacting the nervous system, and the pain signals that are going into the brain. So by stimulating the nervous system, you're triggering something in the body, that's called a parasympathetic response, which is the body’s state of rest and relaxation. And you're also not to totally geek out on you, but you're bringing a lot of tactile stimuli to the brain. And there are some theories that, you know, if your brain is registering some of those tactile stimulations, they're not getting the pain signals as loudly in the brain. So it helps diffuse that sensation of pain. So you're kind of addressing pain on two fronts, one on the nervous system and just kind of tricking your brain to say, hey, this feels good, and it's not as painful. But then you're also physiologically addressing some of the pain by you know, helping the tissue heal.

I never thought about that. That makes sense, though. And you mentioned you know that it helps to relax a dog and alleviate their stress. Does that mean that massage would actually lower their blood pressure as well?

Lower Blood Pressure?

Yeah, absolutely. Blood pressure, it definitely has a nice stress reducing anti anxiety effect. It's another group of dogs that really can benefit from bodywork. I've worked with dogs in the shelter environment where they can be a little bit of stressful or dogs that suffer some anxiety conditions. And giving a dog a break through massage to let the brain kind of chill out for lack of a better word. Gives some comfort and just lowers stress. And then you know all those health effects that when you lower your stress, reduce your heart rate, reduce your blood pressure, calm your breathing. It provides all that emotional benefit.

Well, when I looked into this before, you know, I know you and I talked quite a long time ago to schedule this interview. I didn't know that massage can actually help improve the immune system. How does that work?

It Can Improve the Immune System?

Yeah, well, massage, there are some specific techniques that you can do specifically a manual lymphatic drainage is a great technique for dogs that need some immune boosting but the lymphatic system in the body is basically the immune system in the body and it's a one way system that sometimes can get a little bit clogged up. And so by manipulating lymph throughout the system and helping the flow improve, you are actually boosting the immune system. It's kind of a lesser known technique. But it's really, really a cool one. It's also a great way to clear excess swelling after an injury or surgery. So definitely encourage people to look into lymphatic massage, not just for their dogs, but for themselves, because I think a lot of people don't know about