From Humans to Canines (Or She’s Gone to the Dogs!!)

Val Fillery, a complementary therapist, originally trained in human therapy as a Physical Therapist in 1986, and enhanced it later with other therapies including Magnet therapy, Indian Head Massage and Reiki healing. Val has now become a Canine Consultant, looking holistically at the dog and using such skills as Canine psychology, Canine Healing and Massage, which she practices as a mobile canine therapist in East Sussex. She also runs one day courses, to introduce you to these techniques, so you can help keep your dog healthy.

Canine Massage

Massage is not a luxury item for dogs but an important technique for improving your dog's well-being. While there are no scientific studies yet proving the benefits of massage in dogs, many owners and veterinarians report enhanced well-being in dogs receiving it. Canine massage, like good nutrition, love and exercise, is an important component of preventive health care for your dog. Dogs have muscles, and just like humans, these can get strained and sore from several factors.

Athletic dogs can also strain their muscles, just like people. This includes the "professional" canine athlete performing in obedience, flyball, herding or agility as well as the "weekend" doggie athlete who goes for a long hike or dog park play session. Dogs often strain muscles but unlike people, may hide their symptoms until they become extreme. Their survival instincts tell them to “hide their pain” in order not to appear weak to the rest of the “pack”. Also, dogs can become so enthusiastic about what they are doing or so anxious to please their owners that they keep performing even though injured.

Massage is also thought to benefit elderly dogs, inactive dogs and dogs recovering from injuries by improving circulation in the muscles and lymphatic system. Elderly dogs suffering from stiffness and arthritis often feel better, move more easily and experience less pain after a massage session.

Massage has been seen to have behavioural benefits, such as helping to relax aggressive or hyperactive dogs or building confidence in shy, fearful dogs. Adding Val’s knowledge of healing and canine behavioural studies, a comprehensive treatment can be given. Val goes beyond just applying massage techniques to your dog: her approach is to consider the whole dog and what is going on with them. The goal is for your dog to achieve optimal well being on all levels, resulting in a long, happy and healthy life.

Canine Psychology and Healing

There are many people establishing themselves as ‘Dog Behaviourists’. They use a variety of techniques, depending on their training. These often work for some dogs, but not others, depending on the temperament of the dog. Sometimes they can even have a drastic affect, either at the time, or a later date, when the dog has been so badly suppressed, that eventually it ‘snaps’, over what could be a trivial incident, resulting in more problems, and even the poor dog being put down.

Canine behaviour is a very complex issue: a dog cannot tell you in words how it feels, so it either cowers in the corner, too scared to emerge, or snaps, bites, growls or barks at things that upset it. A dog might even show its feelings by destroying your home in sheer frustration.

Using Canine psychology combined with energy healing knowledge, Val looks at how a dog thinks and feels and what is energetically going on around the dog to influence it. Using all this information, she can tailor the treatment for a ‘problem dog’ to suit its and the owner’s needs.

It is all too easy to diagnose and treat all aggressive or problem dogs in the same way, which might get short term results but you need to look and work holistically to achieve the long term benefits, using many skills and techniques.

A dog is a mammal, just like us humans, and as such, has similar energy systems which influence the physical body. Using knowledge from the widely used human and horse system treatments, dog healing has emerged. Most of us know the benefits seen from using these energy healing techniques on humans, and with small adjustments, these can be used to help treat our dogs holistically.

Many good results can be seen using these techniques, meaning that we can live in harmony with our canine companions, as we intended, and not make them or ourselves suffer due to imbalances and ignorance of each other’s needs.

Courses

Val runs one day courses to introduce you to these techniques that she has found so useful. They will, however, only train you to be able to work on your own dog, as the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 will not allow anyone not highly qualified to work upon an animal. Even Val, a qualified therapist, will not do any treatments without gaining prior veterinary approval.

Learn How to Heal Your Dog Using the Chakra System

  • Introduction to Eastern Energies
  • Introduction to Healing theories
  • Canine Chakra Systems
  • Influence on Endocrine System
  • Influence on Nervous System
  • How to assess the energy imbalance to include:
    • Energy testing
    • Muscle Testing
  • How to keep your own energies in balance
  • Testing your energy
  • Testing your dog’s energy
  • How to treat your dog to keep it healthy
  • Lots of practical time on your own dog (or borrowed dog)

Learn How to Heal Your Dog Using the Meridian System

  • Introduction to Eastern Energies
  • Introduction to healing theories
  • Meridian Systems
  • 8 Guiding Principles
  • 5 Elements Cycle
  • How to assess the energy imbalance to include:
    • Observation with tongue analysis
    • Touch with pulse analysis
    • Muscle Testing
  • How to keep your own energies in balance
  • How to treat your dog to keep it healthy
  • Lots of practical time on your own dog (or borrowed dog)

Learn How to Perform a Basic and Sports Massage

  • Basic Canine anatomy and physiology to include:
    • Skeletal and muscular structures
    • Recognizable external structures on a dog
    • Blood Circulation
    • Lymph circulation
    • Nervous system
  • Massage moves, the importance and effects
  • Gait observational skills
  • Stress areas for individual dogs, breeds and activities
  • Practical session on each other to understand the effects, before working on dogs. To include:
    • Observing, feeling and treating,
    • Contraindications and precautions

If you need any more information on Val and her therapies and courses, please contact her on 01323 461077, or email valerie@caninelife.co.uk. Val also has a web site www.caninelife.co.uk