Canine massage – how to love your doggy !

Helen Morphew of Auckland Canine Massage is our  February guest blogger. Great read ! 

‘When we have tight muscles, are recovering from an injury, or simply just need to relax we can take ourselves off for a massage. As humans, it’s widely accepted that therapeutic massage loosens up our muscle tissues so that tension can be released and the movement and health of our joints can improve. Therapeutic massage has sat alongside conventional medical approaches for humans for many years.

Now imagine this is your dog we are talking about. We all know how painful an injured or tight muscle can be, and the same is true for dogs. Just like for us, therapeutic massage therapy for dogs can relieve pain, assist recovery, improve flexibility and reduce anxiety.

Helen Morphew, owner of Auckland Canine Massage and currently the only Nationally US Certified Canine Massage Practitioner in New Zealand, works closely with several Veterinarians to provide massage therapy for dogs.

Helen has a fast-growing client base, approximately 45% of her clients visit her for relief from arthritic pain and another 30% seek her expertise for recovery from injury and / or surgery.

Therapeutic massage feels different to a dog than normal petting.  Some may take a while to settle into their massage whereas others take to it like a duck to water. Often they will move around mid- session, have a drink, a shake or a stretch. Sometimes their minds are so active that they need to chew something while they are receiving the massage and it’s only afterwards that they truly relax.

Helen has massaged dogs with two legs, three legs and all four, dogs in pain, post-surgery, geriatric dogs, shelter dogs and many more. Sessions last for an hour or 30 minutes and Helen has learned to read each dog, their personality and their signals, and then adapt to them – to go at their pace and let them get comfortable with what she is doing in their own time. 

“I love my work, it’s fantastic to see the effect the dogs get from massage, and to hear the hugely positive feedback from the owners”.

Helen operates out of three clinics across Auckland, and does home visits.

For more information, please contact Helen at helen@aucklandcaninemassage.co.nz, or visit her website www.aucklandcaninemassage.co.nz.