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Sunday, May 9, 2010

Of Mice and Massages

I have told you some about my friend Wickie-sama:



Anyway, she is about five years old, I think, but she acts like an old lady. When she was little she did jump off a moving ATV and she hurt her shoulder. It never really healed properly and she has a habit of running around on just three legs. But lately it seems to be causing her more trouble...so much so that she doesn't want to go outside to potty because she can't get back up the steps and through the dog door to come back inside. We were all starting to worry about her because she seemed very stiff and stove up and acted grouchy and painful.

The Girl, I may have mentioned before, is a massage therapist. She signed up for a canine massage home study course a while ago and was super excited about it, but when she watched the video she didn't even make it through 10 minutes because the dog in the video kept trying to escape and it was too distracting. Girl didn't want to learn the type of massage a dog wanted to escape from! So she kept searching and tried a new class and liked this one better immediately. She couldn't wait to try it on Wickie-sama.

So Girl studied her video and picked Wickie up and to everyone's surprise, Wickie sat and let the Girl do the ENTIRE massage routine! This is pretty unusual because the routine is a bit much for a dog's attention span in the beginning so it typically takes a few sessions for the dog to get used to the whole thing. But not Wickie! Girl even did the gum massage and the around-the-eye massage and the leg range-of-motion...everything! She completed her closing strokes and Wickie looked at her, licked her hand three times as if to say, "Thanks!" then hopped off Girl's lap and took a nap (which is the result you kinda want).

Now you may be thinking this is nice and all, but what of it? Well, Girl has given Wickie-sama several massages now...and Wickie is going up stairs again and today she went on a walk with us for the first time in MONTHS AND MONTHS! We couldn't believe it! This was very exciting good news!

Girl is working on the last bit of her certification and she hopes she can keep massaging Wickie and that Wickie will continue to improve...and that she can help more and more dogs too! As for me, I hope Wickie gets all better soon so that way it's MY turn for a massage of these days!

8 comments:

  1. I'm very glad to see this is helping Wickie! But you deserve a masage too!

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  2. Can massages can be given via email? No? Ah, I wanted one. But I'm really happy Girl can help Wickie, she has a good heart. And I hope you can get a massage soon, too.

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  3. That's really cool! So nice to think that something that Wickie likes is helping her out a lot, too. Much, much better than going to the V E T!

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  4. This is fantastic I think massage is the best way of helping anyone in pain so why not a lovely dog. So glad its working!

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  5. Awesome!!! I'm next, I'm next! It's great that Girl was able to help Wickie and explore something new :) Cute Wickie by da way - looks like my kinda fun!

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  6. A good massage is like a good scratch. You know. Have you ever gotten tired of a good scratch? We're so glad the massage works. Mommy's brother is a massager (if you use the proper words, it sounds like something else.) Sadly, her brother lives far away and he can't scratch...errr, ummm, massage us often, so we accept Mommy's.

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  7. Awwwwwwww dat is so pawsome my furriend, yay for your Girl! Massages works wonders momma says.

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