The Benefits of Massage for Nervous Dogs

While massage has many physical health benefits one benefits that not many people think about is the benefit of touch for naturally nervous or anxious pets. Your pet may not have any physical ailments to speak of such as the ones that we normally associate with people who go to get massages like; aches, pains, or arthritis. You may just want them to have the benefit of a positive experience with touch with someone they are not as familiar with. Touch from a stranger or someone they do not come into contact with often can be a very stressful experience for our fur babies. A positive experience with a massage could help them not be so anxious in future situations!

Just like training a puppy that strangers aren’t all scary with treats you can book massages periodically to show them that physical touch is a positive experience as well. Generally when our pets are experiencing new people touching them it is a lot of people who do not respect our pets boundaries and just reach in to pet without checking how the dog feels about it. Or it is at the veterinarian where there are a lot of weird smells, people, and the fear of the other pets in the area all around them which can make them even more touch averse.

I did a massage just the other day with a new client who wanted her dog to get the positive touch experience with someone she wasn’t familiar with. She did awesome! I was so impressed with her and so happy to be a part of her positive training experience with her mom! Part of the joys of my job as a animal massage therapist is getting to see the pets be relaxed and happy.

She did still get physical benefits from her massage. Her mom told me she was very relaxed and slept well that night. But that was not the main goal. Massage can be for physical benefit, anxiety, training, or just for fun!

Reach out today to ask me how massage could benefit your pet!