Barks, Bites & Behaviour
A super friendly, easy listening, but educational podcast talking all things dog related including loads of special guests.
We are all about creating education, the dog training world is rapidly changing.
Come and listen, let us know what you think!
Barks, Bites & Behaviour
Galen Myotherapy - The Massage for Dogs
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode, we welcomed the incredible Lorraine Tester onto the show to talk about Galen Myotherapy.
We LOVED filming this episode, and we really feel there are some amazing snippets of information that will help you start looking at your dog in a different way.
All of the details we discussed on the show can be found below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epbd8qw31ic&t=3165s
https://www.lorrainetesterdogtrainer.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089441241032
ww.puppyanddogtraining.co.uk
https://www.skool.com/puppy-dog-training-uk-7950/about?ref=e3c1e03cdf7b4dbbb165977e2b61d551
Hi guys, uh welcome to our latest episode of Barks, Bites, and Behaviors with myself James. And today I am joined by the amazing Lorraine Tester. Uh Lorraine is God, I've had to write it down the rain. There's so much that you do with dogs. So Lorraine is an IMDT trainer, an IMDT behaviorist, a dynamic dog practitioner and a gala myotherapy specialist as well. Um, welcome.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, and thank you for having me on your podcast.
SPEAKER_03You're very welcome. Thanks, thanks for messaging and reaching out. It was genuinely such a pleasure to hear that you were listening into my podcast, and then you said you'd love to come on for a chat. So absolutely amazing to have you on the show. Um, just to start off with Lorraine, tell us a bit about you, how you got into the dog world. Um, you know, how long have you been working with dogs? Give us your background.
SPEAKER_00Well, I was living in Turkey with my husband, and we were personal trainers. I was also a yoga teacher and worked out there. Um, but there's a lot of stray dogs out there. Um, and I got involved with helping with them and the rescue. Um and that highlighted the fact that rescues were they're not really given much chance. They were a lot of them were returned within less than 48-hour period, really. And it and I wanted to do something to help when we and so when we moved back to the UK, I I didn't want to go back into the same job that I was doing before, and I thought I'm gonna go into dog training and and see if I can make a difference. Um, and I've always been interested in the brain and behaviour, so I wanted to go into the behaviourist side of it, so I went down that route. Um with behaviour, and also with some training cases, you you try and get the vet's input, so you send the dog off for a health check, and and sometimes they were coming back, and I was thinking something else is going on here, but I wasn't quite sure what. And I found that once the owner has given the all clear that the dog is fine, then for them, and understandably they're gonna believe the vet, and that and the vet obviously they have a few um say 10-15 minute snippet of that dog's life, they don't see the full picture. Um, I mean, they they're great at what they do, I'm not um criticizing at all, but I wanted to be able to present to them things I was seeing. Um, to say, could you sort of look a bit deeper into this? Which has took me onto the dynamic dog. Um, and then I used my one of my dogs, I've got three dogs, um all Turkish rescues. Um, and I used one um Sanson for my case study. I was unaware that there was anything wrong with him until I started looking further. And when I saw what was going on with him, it it's heartbreaking to see that your dog is suffering. Um, and I didn't know anything about it, you know, there was no clues. And it's only because I'd done that the dynamic course with Gemma was absolutely brilliant. Um, and yeah, and I spotted things then which needed further investigation, um, which resulted in him being diagnosed with a disc problem in his back, arthritis in his knees, he'd torn his Achilles tendons, and all this had gone unnoticed. Um my other dog Max, he I thought there was something wrong with him because of his behaviour, he kept chewing his feet and he used to chew his hips. It was awful. Um, so they both had dynamic dog assessments, went off to the vet. Um, and Max was diagnosed with hip spasia. Um it wasn't obvious at first from the x-rays. The vet was like, no, there's nothing wrong. And the vet had pulled him about and said, No, if he was in pain, he would make a noise, it would, you know, we'd see. And but I pushed further, and even though the x-rays came back though, they were fine, I wanted further investigation, so I thought there was something else going on. And a specialist looked at the x-rays and diagnosed the hip dysplasia, and he's also got a narrowing of the discs in his neck. So so when you find out your dogs are suffering, and you want to be able to help them, which is what led me onto Galen. Um, I have an older dog as well, and he's got arthritis. So I joined the arthritis um cam with Hannah Cam.
SPEAKER_03Hannah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And there's a little video on there with from Julia Robertson about Galen myotherapy, and it includes some um techniques you could use on your dog at home. Just a couple of simple things like effluage and skin rolling.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so I started using that on my older dog. Now he's 15. So um, and he he really struggles. But I noticed after a few sessions, he was walking with his head held up higher, and it was a noticeable difference. Even my husband could notice it. So I was like, I need to know more about this, and so I signed up for um for galen myotherapy and went and yeah, so that's how I got into it.
SPEAKER_03Excellent, and the rest is history. Here you are flying and yeah, doing amazingly well. But yeah, Galen, Galen is an organization absolutely incredible. So I um I had the pleasure of meeting Emma Rose, who I know we've discussed a little bit. So um Emma was our Galen practitioner down in Cornwall when we lived down there for our boys. Um, and I don't know how long you've been with Galen, um, Julia, but I did sorry, talking about Julia. Like I don't know how long you've been with Galen, but um I did a presentation for Julia and some of the team at Galen around kids around dogs a little while back. Um, and Julia's absolutely incredible, such a lovely lady as well. So it's it's all it's nice because we were talking a little bit before we came on to do the recording about collaboration, and you know, for me it's I do small little bits of collaboration, but you have got Hannah at Cam, you've got Julia at Galen, you've got so many nice little bits which add into everything that we do with our dogs, so it's it's great to have that. So, for those of our listeners that are tuning into this episode, tell us what Galen Myotherapy is, because for me, I've gone to certain vets and I've said, Well, my boy gets Galen, and they're like, What? What is that? And so it's you know, it's just one of those magical names, isn't it? It's like Galen Myotherapy, but people have to do the Google to find out what it means.
SPEAKER_00It's been going for over 20 years since Julia set it up, and I'm still surprised at how unknown it is. I went to a a house recently to do a dynamic dog assessment, and they said and they I gave them my card with a Galen um business card for Galen, and they're like, we didn't even know people like you existed, we didn't know this was a thing, which is such a shame because yeah, but so Galen, so it's um it's uh targeted, it's my my fascial release and soft um tissue massage. So your targeted muscles are affected. I'll give Max for an example because it's easier because he's got hip dysplasia, he will shift his weight forward. So he's putting a lot of strain on his front limbs and his neck, which causes a lot of tension in those areas because he holds his neck really low. Um so and because of that, his front feet turn out. So it's he's uh because of his hips, it's causing other problems in his body, compensatory problems. So myotherapy, you can work with those compensatory things to to influence the health of the muscle. So um you can improve the circulation, which in turn will reduce inflammation because you're getting rid of all the toxins, it's like the anti-inflammatory effect. Um, so it's releasing all the pressure and helping him feel a lot happier, so he's not compensating so much. Um, and also with his hips, he will, instead of walking with a leg in front of the other, he will swing his leg out to the side.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So that is causing him to wiggle when he walks, which is causing pressure onto his back, which is making all the muscles along his back tight. So, so with my therapy, you can work with those muscles, release that tension, influence the health of those muscles, and reduce some of the compensatory movements that can cause further problems with joints. So that's quite a simple explanation.
SPEAKER_03Nice, yeah, no, I love that. I love that. And I think the key thing for me that you know to get across to our listeners there is that if you have got a dog that is diagnosed with an elbow dysplasia, a hip dysplasia, it's so vital that we look at every area of the dog because as soon as that dog starts to get pain in one particular part of the body, like you said, they'll overcompensate in other areas and more stress comes into other joints, other muscular areas. So we've got to look at the dog as a complete package.
SPEAKER_00Exactly, yeah. It's a few, and so we're treating the whole dog, but there's also things we can do, like to improve the movement. Um, it includes passive movement, so you're taking that the joint, he doesn't move his leg in the full range of movement because it hurts. Yeah, um, so that muscle, because his the link between the muscle and the brain stops working, then you know, and that muscle is not used, so it reduces in size, but you need those muscles to work to put to support the hip, so support the hip. So we use um passive range of movements, so you can take the joint through the whole range of motion just to remind the brain that that actually can work in that way, and also like putting um we call it messy poles, putting poles down. So I'll do that in the morning, he'll have his breakfast, but I'll also save some of his food and I'll take it out. We I've got these little poles in the garden, they're only the up to the height of his wrist, but he will step over them and it's reminding his body that his he can move in that way, he can actually lift his leg properly. And so it's it's remind and it's helping build keep maintain the muscle he's got, and um, and also it's making him body aware, so he knows it's giving him confidence as well, so he knows where all his feet are when he's moving around, which in itself is good for preventing injuries and confidence.
SPEAKER_03Excellent, yeah. No, I love that, and I think that that range of movement is so so critical. Um, and again, hints and tips for our listeners if you are looking out for sort of poles and you're thinking, what on earth can I get? Literally, Amazon and broom handles. Yeah, broom handles are obviously, guys, they're so cheap, it's like a constant wish list basket tick of mine that I just need these broom handles just to make sure that I've got you know good movement for dogs. And even when we're talking about this, guys, and we're talking about that movement range needed for older dogs to maintain, it's also good. Just if we're looking at broom handle size only, we're not going to raise them, but it's good for puppies as well to start understanding things move when they step onto them. So a little bit of socialization, really nice work for your puppies as well. So, again, give them confidence. So great for all dogs. So get yourself some broom handles.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Talking of um puppies, Julian has a book which is brilliant, actually. It's called How to Build a Puppy, and it really is worth looking at. It it goes through some of the anatomy and why dogs should move how they do, but it's it's great to prevent them from suffering in arthritis and and joint problems in the future. We often think about our socializing our puppies and the emotional side of it, don't be mental, but not the physical side. So this covers that, and that's well worth an investment if you're getting a puppy or if you have one already. It's also good for older dogs as well.
SPEAKER_03So it's it's just nice to read that knowledgeable story from Julia, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, definitely. So um, and I also find that my therapy complements other therapies, like Max will have um hydrotherapy, yeah. So to help with his muscle tones as well. And and watching him, he's on a treadmill and I can see him lifting his legs properly, which is so nice because usually he just swings them out to the side. But also when he's doing like the messy poles in the garden, he's got that same range of motion, moving his legs up properly, so it's good to see.
SPEAKER_03It's it's an amazing, amazing thing to get into your dog, isn't it? When you when you work with them and you start to sort of look at them, how they move. And again, you know, we we talked a little bit earlier, you touched upon earlier, Lorraine, about how we don't notice as much with our own dogs at times unless it's really obvious. So I think you know, we we've had chats before on on the on the podcast with with other guests that have come on, and we've said, look, when we are talking to vets, never be afraid to ask for a second review, second assessment on something, because they get that 10 to 15 minutes. Yeah, but guys, we know our dogs, and if we're not happy, you know, don't be afraid to push back. They are amazing. I love the vets that I work with at the moment, and I love the vets that treat my my two dogs, and yeah, I just think they're incredible at what they do, but they have got that 10 to 15 minutes, yeah, and that's it.
SPEAKER_00I was I was worried about when the vet he's brilliant, he's a really good vet, but and I didn't like to say because I felt like I was contradicting him. Like, can you take this further? Can you look a bit deeper? But he was quite happy to go ahead with it, you know, and he sent the details off to the specialist, and yeah, it would show what was really going on, didn't mind at all. So, yeah, they can't do everything, can they? Not in that sort of place.
SPEAKER_03They're human at the end of the day. It's you know, they they're gonna go, I think that's okay, and it looks like it is okay. But sometimes until you deep dive into a problem, yeah, you don't get the full full story, do you?
SPEAKER_00We go to specialists for certain things, don't we? So, you know, it's only right the dog should.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely, yeah. They are part of the family, so they should be treated exactly the same. So, excellent. So, we touched a little bit upon it earlier, Lorraine, about how you got into it. So, you were watching something or you were doing something on the CAM website, which is canine arthritis management for those of you that don't yeah, we we talk a lot of of CAMs and CADs and things like that. So, canine arthritis management guys with uh Dr. Hannah Kappan. Yeah, absolute legend.
SPEAKER_00Um, but Julia had a bit on her website, and that's how you it was on the it's on the Cam website, yeah, and it's a minimum um membership, and you get so much information on there for dogs with arthritis. Yeah, and there's a little it's a um yeah, Julia is demonstrating some techniques and and yeah, so it's it's well worth signing up for Cam for every all the information you get and you and you get that free.
SPEAKER_03So excellent. And it was that little sort of nugget from Julia that then led you down the path of yeah, this is this is something I want to investigate further.
SPEAKER_00No, just simple techniques that you can do on your dog at home and they make so much difference, you know. Just to see my dog being able to lift his head up better as he's walking, you know, just freeing up all that tension in his neck. You know, you you can't fix the joint problems that they have. I can't fix Max's hip dyspia, but I can make him feel more comfortable and prevent him from having compensatory problems with in other areas of his body. So definitely the other reason I like um Galen is it's the positive pact, which is choice, the dog has choice. So, for example, I went recently went to a dog and the owner, she said, I really think he would benefit from massage, but I can't touch him. She said we have to put a muzzle on him to towel-dry him, he doesn't like being touched. Um, so I don't know if you're gonna be able to do anything, she said. So I went there, um and I stayed back from the door, I didn't put any pressure on him. I had a treatment area. Um, I'd let him, I had put a snuffle mat down with some treats on as I'd come in, but away from the treatment area because we don't persuade the treats, but just to help him calm down a bit and just um so he quite enjoyed that, and then he came over to see me and I we we removed the muzzle because it was his choice of him coming to me, there was no pressure, so he didn't feel that he had to to bite or anything. And by the end of the session, because he could come and go as he wished, he was sitting on my lap letting me treat him, and it's just so rewarding, so amazing that and now I go regularly and he loves it, he has your snuffle mouth first coming, and then he'll toddle over and have a bit of treatment, and he'll toddle off again. And at the end of the session, when he feels that he's had enough, he just disappears into the back bedroom. It doesn't come out for a while, but when he hears that I'm going, he comes running back through. And the other week he came through and we had a little game of dog. But things like it's it's so nice because you're giving that dog the choice, yeah, their own body, and it's it works so well. Um, I had another lady, she's she asked me if she could bring the dog, she's a perfect donor actually, because she said, Could we have a few sessions where you don't do anything? I just want my dog to get used to you before you do anything because she's worried about being touched.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So she came to my treatment room, um, got to know her. I think it was about the fourth visit. She comes through the gate, she sees me, and her tail starts wagging and she's wiggling, put her bed down, she gets straight on it, and I'm able to do little bits with her, and she can walk off and come back. And now I can the last session we nearly done a full treatment, and it's wow. So it's like they know it's beneficial for them, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So and it's exactly the same for us. We're going through something with our boy, our chocky lap teaser. So he's got yeah, he's got elbow dysplasia, there's something definitely going on with his back end at the moment and into the spine, so we're looking at various bits, but he's going for a K laser treatment, sort of like a red light laser, and literally as soon as he gets in that room, he just flops onto the mat. And you know, I I really Emma Rose, if you're not listening to my podcast, why are you not listening for a start? Um, so when Emma first came to meet Teaser and start working with him, um, Teaser is like a proper fidget bum. He's like dog that never grew up, so like that six-month-old kid who just like, yeah, I'm just gonna run off. So he he teaser will always allow touch, he is just the biggest cuddle bum, but he'll turn it into a game where he'll get up and he'll wander off. So it did take Emma, you know, a good few sessions to get fully hands-on and for teaser to accept a full session, and that's that's not because your dog is a pain in the backside. And I just want to advocate that if your dog doesn't want to do a full session in that verse meet, do not worry about it, guys. Don't be that owner that goes, Oh, it didn't work, it's gone wrong. Your dog needs to have the choice, they need to be relaxed to allow that hands-on. Um, and if they do get up and have a little waddle off, great. Yeah, that's your dog making the right choice in that right moment.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Don't see that as bad.
SPEAKER_00And I also give advice in them sessions as well. So, advice about at home, so to cover up slippery floors, to raise the food bowl. Um, I can give advice about like the messy poles who get the dogs moving in a different way. So it's not like they're not getting anything from the session. They get the right information, you know, it might only be little bits and pieces, but it's really important, especially like slippery floors with dogs with joint problems, or dogs without joint problems. So yeah, so it's yeah, and it's and it's great for the dog as well to be in that setting and get used to it before anything happens.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, you get some dogs come in and they're like, Yeah, do whatever you like. Just stay there for the whole session, and yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that that would have definitely been my old boy Truff, um, who we lost about four years ago now. But Truff always kind of a long, hard day for him was waking up, eating breakfast, jumping on the sofa and sleeping. Um and even, you know, even as a like a six-year-old chocolate labrador, he was just so chill. Um, he definitely lulled us into a false sense of security about dogs because then we went and got teaser, who they're blood relatives, um, so it was like uncle and nephew. So he had this amazing, chilled-out dog that you know didn't do anything wrong, he was just so easy. And we were like, oh, it's great, let's get another dog. Yeah, and this this was before I was a trainer and before I'd learnt everything about what I was doing. And teaser came along, and oh my goodness me, it was so different, so so different, and I think that's what taught me so much about you know, dogs are individuals. And back in the day, I was I was just a pet owner, I was just like, a dog's a dog, let's get a dog, it's got four legs and it's fluffy, and we can have cuddles, and we can, you know, do all the ball throwing and all of that horrible stuff, what we know doesn't really help dogs. So, you know, I have learned a lot over over the years, which I've been studying and becoming the person that I am today. Um, but yeah, dogs they will lull you into a false sense of purity, and I guess the thing that I want to shout out about here is never ever make comparisons with your dog and someone else's dog.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Social media is such a powerful area now for people, and they go into these forums, and you know, you'll look at a forum and someone will post on there going, Oh, well, my dog did a triple back somersault off a diving board whilst on holiday and ready whatever. And you're sitting there going, Well, I can't get my dog to sit. What's going on? You know, your dog's an individual, guys. So don't don't pressure yourself to put more pressure on your dogs because then you know, pressure sensitivity creeps into the dog, tolerance frustration creeps in, and you start getting what we know as self-employed behaviours. And trust me, guys, no one wants a self-employed dog. No, they're not they're not fun. Um cool. So, just after we've gone off a little bit of a tangent there, but just trying to give a little bit more advice because I think this is what this show is all about is giving advice, it's not just talking specific behaviour and things like that. We want to give you guys advice. You talked about it a little bit earlier, Lorraine, in in brief moments around Galen, but give us kind. kind of you know a really simplistic message how does it work how does it help your dogs kind of try and put that into a nutshell for me about yeah well as long as well as working with muscle health improving the or reducing discomfort in dogs I should say it's also good for calming them you know works on parasympathetic nervous systems and then calming down so it's it's good for for all dogs really it's not just for dogs who have injuries you know the sport in dogs working dogs it could always benefit from a warm up and a cool down you know warm up to prevent injuries but a cool down you can also see if there is any injuries you might notice there's heat in the joints in certain areas and they can be addressed quickly um before it leads on to something else so um yeah I forgot what the question was so a bit more about so how galen works how it helps helps the dogs um again we'll the main thing is um especially for dogs like my mine with um who have joint problems working on those compensatory preventing those compensatory patterns happening so what is um so what is wrong with them doesn't escalate further into different areas of the body yeah absolutely absolutely no that's great the rain and I think that that little bit and again don't don't look at it too much in too much detail but that simplistic where you talked about the heat touch area the big spot area um so again just when you are touching your dog kind of what we're looking at there is gauging the body temperature like an average body temperature through the through the rib area so you run your hands down the side of the dog and in through the body and things like that and you look out for any tiny areas which are just that little bit hotter and little bit warmer. A gentle touch all over you just placing your hands on your dog you can feel if there's any heat coming through yeah absolutely yeah and guys it doesn't mean there's anything serious don't pan don't don't don't panic do not do not do the Doctor Google oh my god my dog's got heat you know don't panic just understand it and just get your dog checked it doesn't mean it's serious guys it just means that there's a little niggle that is going on there causing heat to come through.
SPEAKER_00Well we get um aches and pains ourselves don't we and we can compensate so if we've got say a lower back problem uh anyone who's had that you'll find that you sudden you start to get tension around the shoulders and things and by addressing that it you can just ease it all off and it's that's how Galen works with dogs I suppose yeah kind of kind of like a massage for dogs isn't it like a bit of a spores massage for for your dog just to like release everything and you know and yeah you you help with the circulation you get rid of toxins out of the body it's yeah very very beneficial and it's excellent it's so rewarding as well to see the benefits and how quickly that they can happen I have a little dog he's he was in a road traffic accident and he'd also been attacked by some other dogs. So he had a lot of scar tissue as well around his joints and that was restricting his movement. So being able to work on that and he couldn't when I first treated him he couldn't walk up the he had a little ramp to go onto the sofa. He's only a little dog but he couldn't get up onto the ramp. Um after a few treatments he he was walking up the ramp and being able to get on the sofa.
SPEAKER_03He was then able to jump on the sofa avoiding the ramp and the other week she said his own she's um oh you can jump on the bed now his benefit it's it's so nice to be able that he can now do all that and that's just from simple hands on treatment but you know gentle massage there's lots of different techniques you can use um but and you can they also do um a distance support program Galen so you can so you can do it online so you can work with your dog with the guidance of a therapist it's another bonus for someone who doesn't who can't get out or doesn't have that um anyone in their area as well yeah definitely because I know obviously like there's there's quite a few of you Galen practitioners now which are out there and obviously the more we get out there guys the better it's going to be so if if anyone is listening to this and wants to know more head straight to the Galen website I'll put the details underneath the um the show notes actually sorry that'd be great yeah send a link over we'll put that in the show notes straight away guys but you know as Lorraine says there might be times when you can't get out to a practitioner or a practitioner doesn't cover your area but the distance support learning is also available um and again please don't be put off by distance support learning and e-learning and online stuff because it is so beneficial and the time and love and compassion that the Gaidon staff will give to you over that distance learning is just amazing. I know a lot of the a lot of the practitioners and they're super super amazing people. So yeah and some dogs might not be able to cope within that setting in a therapy um or they might not be happy with people coming to the home so that's another option for the distance for yeah absolutely no that's great so we we again you touched you've you've answered so many of my questions already it's amazing you've got so it's like that's sixth sense what you've got um so we talked earlier about sports dogs and working dogs and things like that and you touched upon you know it's great for all dogs. Can any dog automatically come to see you as a practitioner or do they need vet referrals?
SPEAKER_00Yeah I do have to get a vet vet consent. So yeah usually I'm contacted by the owner and I'll just get their vet details. I'll send an email to the vet and I also ask the owner if they'll bring the vet as well just so they're aware um yeah and within a few days I've usually got the vet consent sent through to me via email and then we can take it from there. I send out um a before treatment like pre-treatment information so um just advice that the dog shouldn't eat just before treatment a long walk before treatment um and just some suggestions of and my contact details in case they feel there's a problem like the the dog might drink more might be more sleepy might be more playful I mean some dogs you they'll get the zoomies when you finish a drink because dog will be laying there thinking oh I'm staying here for the day now but it does it does affect dogs in different ways. And then they have a post advice treatment as well so what to expect afterwards like gentle exercise cover up any slippery floors raise water bowl some exercise ideas that they can do just to help and and also I will show the owner some treatments that they can do at home. So simple treatments that they can if they carry on then when we do a session again I can really notice if they they've done it and it can really help. So um and then what usually happens is I do a treatment seven to ten days apart for the first three treatments.
SPEAKER_03Yeah and then we can do a maintenance treatment sort of every month to six weeks it depends so it varies from dog to dog some dogs it's less some dogs it's more so but it's just some initial treatment sort of get it all moving and you can really see the results yeah absolutely and I think for me the other thing to think of guys if if you are listening to this for me we started Galen with our older boy Truff and we started that more as a preventative as well so we had to do you know I knew we had to do the vet consent but I worked really closely with my vet and I just said to them look this is what I want to do this is who we'll be getting in contact with you and I want to do it for preventative treatment so again don't be afraid to get that started now because it just helps your dog the older they get you know like humans we get aches and pains and joint issues and things like that we've we've got the supplements we can take we've got things that we know what we can do but when it's your dog they're relying on us for everything so just make sure that you know don't be afraid to go and speech event and say I want to start doing a bit of preventative work with my dog because it's gonna help them in the long term it's gonna keep them fitter and stronger and they're gonna enjoy their walks a lot more and reducing any little starts of pain is going to be a massive thing.
SPEAKER_00It can highlight any pain as well. So it's good for healthy dogs as well because you if they're having regular treatment to help with their muscle health um and then you're gonna notice if there's anything going wrong. And also with doing stuff with your dogs yourself just a simple um eth line is what we teach you're gonna feel things if there's anything abnormal different on your dog you're gonna be able to find it earlier on and address it earlier on. So it's great.
SPEAKER_03But it's also good for your the bond with your dog as well yeah absolutely there's no no better feeling than playing around you know touching your dog all over making sure that they're happy feeling what's going on inside their body just a general again a general kind of health check feeling for lumps and bumps uh summertime you know grass seeds make sure you get your hands all over your dogs all these little extra bits what people just think well that's just everyday life of actually just stroking my dog there's so much more behind just stroking your dog guys it goes a lot lot deeper than just a little bit of a rough and tumble and a oh you're so cute today kind of thing hands on all the time yeah definitely and I would say because I've got three three dogs two that are really do whatever you like and one of them he's not over keen on being touched.
SPEAKER_00So again because it's all on his terms he comes to me when he wants I'll do a bit and he'll start huffing and puffing and he'll get up and walk off and I'll leave it at that because if I follow him around it's not going to be any good for him. So I let him come to me and sometimes I'll walk past him and he'll he'll put his arm out especially leg out at me so as if say stop and I'll do a little bit of something with him and then he'll move off and it but it's nice because it you get that communication and you can um read the body language more it's it's great really yeah yeah just just understanding your dog and understanding that there will be times that as much as they love you they just don't want the cuddle in that moment.
SPEAKER_03Yeah we j we just have to respect that guys it's it's not your dog has fallen out of love with you they hate you it is just purely a case of right at that moment in time they just don't want the interaction yeah they'll soon come back to you they will soon come back so yeah yeah don't overthink it.
SPEAKER_00Another which I forgot to add when um when the when the dogs first come to see me I um same with all the galing therapists we will do an assessment so we take some videos take some pictures so we can look and and really see what's going on with the dog because you can see that they've offloaded their weight to one side or forward um they might not be putting all weight on all four pores the there's lots of different things coat patterns as well can indicate that there could be an issue so we do a proper assessment and there's also a comfort scale which you can actually go on the Galen um website and have a look at um download it and fill it in yourself because it's there's things on there that you would you might not relate to pain in your dogs you think oh could that indicate that that might be you know and it it does make you think about what your dog does or doesn't do which might indicate there is a problem going on so and it it's quite good because you can do the comfort scale yes and then if they've had treatment redo it and you can see a lot of difference.
SPEAKER_03Yeah it's it's really good to do that and again that so many key bits which link to other elements of dog and I constantly tell my clients video what you're doing with your dog absolutely video it and it's like oh we just video the fun bits where they're jumping for bubbles and you know we we put some bunny ears on them because it's Easter video your dogs at all times guys because then you know experts can have a look at what is going on with that gate movement with how they're you know pushing their body are they leaning further forward and putting more weight distribution through the front end so there's lots of things that we can look at when it comes to the videos and that also links into training and behaviour questionnaires what we'll send out because we'll get those calls which will be oh my dog's got an issue with XYZ behaviour problem and we'll send out our questionnaire and that questionnaire is so in depth and there'll be things on there that customers will go does it really does it matter what time he eats in the morning or does it matter that he eats from a normal food bowl or a slow feeder guys genuinely it does. It can take it really does um you know we're we're coming in as experts in our field and we've studied we've taken qualifications you know your dog better than anyone yeah so fill out that form give us as much information as we can get and then we can work with you but we need to see the whole picture it's not just a case of we don't ask questions just for the sake of asking questions guys um whether that's behavioral galen you know we're asking them because it's what we need to know. Yeah this is why I did the dynamic dog because you you can get so much information it's yeah and when people do contact me for a consultation I I often get them semi um just whoss at me a video of the dog just doing dog things nothing major or not not behavior that they found me about just doing being a dog and I can often see just like posture and movement and that can give away a lot you know not just about pain and and things but like confidence and just how the dog moves just so much you can gather so much information from just that little clip so it's really helpful really helpful so we've talked about your messy poles um again this is I love that activity it's it's such a great simplistic thing to do and um you know when you when you do think about something that you could video and send into train the behavior scale and dynamic dog practitioners again messy polls guys is an absolutely great thing to do so that's a really nice way to video what's going on movement wise confidence wise there's so much there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah I'm working sorry no go go go sorry I'm working with um assistance dog at the moment and he has to use his body to do tasks. Yeah so to make him more body aware of I I gave him messy polls to do because it helps him realize where his paws are and what he's doing with them and he's he's definitely more body aware and more confident what he's doing with himself and that makes his teaching him tasks so much easier.
SPEAKER_03So yeah sorry no no that's great and again I think you know that's just one activity which clearly you love and clearly I love there's no denying that messy poles is is great. Talk to me about other activities you can do with your dog if they're having a specific treatment plan if they're going through Galen Hydro Physio whatever it is they're going through kind of give me a a top three Lorraine of what you can do with your dog. I know it's different for all dogs but find you've you've got the knowledge you can find me three little activities well the major one would be the messy poles.
SPEAKER_00I mean and then you can obviously extend on that so you can get the dogs so they're reaching under things they're moving their bodies in different ways um searching is good as well so they're rather I do a lot of free work with some dogs because it helps with the confidence but obviously with dogs with joint problems you don't want them being stationary in one place because it's not good for them they and often if a dog has got a problem you'll see they won't be able to stand still for too long because they'll be weight shifting. So getting them to search so they're moving from one obstacle to another in a quicker way than they would be if they were doing free work. So they're not at one station so then and they're sniffing and head down and they're stretching out their body as well. So um setting up not just poles on the floor so then they're having to negotiate their way through spaces as well so they're more body aware I mean that's yeah I don't know if that'll be three exercises but I I think that a lot of the thing as well is what not to do which would be slippery floors slippery surfaces um raising the food bowl so they're more comfortable and they're um yeah making sure that they've got equipment on that they can move freely because some of the harnesses will stop the movement of the legs the ones that go across the chest. So a Y-shaped harness what goes underneath that doesn't have that restriction. So good fitting equipment is important as well so they've got that full range of motion.
SPEAKER_03Because if a dog is restricted in the movement that's gonna they're gonna compensate with other parts of the body which can cause problems as well yeah absolutely no 100% equipment is a is a massive thing and I think yeah look at looking at floor surfaces if your dog if you've got laminate flooring or tiled flooring or anything like that and your dog is someone that jumps onto a sofa and jumps off and things like that then just get yourself down to like a home bargains or a BM just get yourself a five pound rug yeah just lay it out you know guys we don't we don't have to be going to huge lengths and spending 70 80 quid on a luxurious mat from wherever you get those for you can tell I don't go shopping very often can you but just like yoga mat down yoga mat yeah anything which isn't going to slip so your dog land on it safely because again touching upon like the canine arthritis management the pressure what goes through the joints when your dog hits the floor jumping down whether that's on a sofa down to the floor whether that's from your car down to the floor we really need to be thinking about that and looking at how we can support your dog in more ways but something as simple as having just a nice rug on the floor where your dog is not going to slip.
SPEAKER_00And avoiding repetitive injuries like you say jumping out of a car when I was doing the dynamic dog assessment I had to video my dog jumping out of the car. And when you slow it down and you see the force that goes through their front pores oh I thought I'd never let him jump out of a car ever again. It's terrible any so you can use a ramp. Obviously you have to train your dogs to use these things because it's gonna be a bit worrying for some of them. But also just helping them out and just so they haven't got that force and avoiding I mean now and then it's not gonna matter if they're doing it on a daily basis and that's going to affect them in the long term. So avoiding things like that as well and when they um having something underneath their feet so so they're sturdy when they're eating it's gonna make a lot of difference as well and ball throwing I think you mentioned slightly about that earlier.
SPEAKER_03Avoiding repetitive motions yeah it's I I genuinely think there's there's a few things that I think equipment wise where I think yeah it should never been never been invented for a dog but yeah the ball throwers are are definitely definitely up there. For the activity what they're what they're designed for I will say because what I have found with the ball throwers is if you fill the bit with Premular cheese if you've got what I class as a vertically challenged dog and you're struggling with loose knee to get the traits in then the ball thrower with a little bit of primular cheese is a great loose knee so that there is a use for them just not what they're actually marketing for.
SPEAKER_00I do hate that when I see people just constantly throwing and I if I watch them the dogs move and the way they they just stop every all the weight goes through the whole of the body onto the front or they could twist in the air to try and cat it's yeah not great. Yeah it's yeah it just sends shivers down the spine doesn't it's um my little Max he's when I before we because he he's a res on wine of rescues but he was he spent a lot of time being tied up on a chain unfortunately um and when he was rescued he was given a ball and that was the only thing he'd ever had and it was throwing for it constantly so when we got him he was ball obsessed to the stage where you couldn't even walk past someone holding just a ball through without him wanting to get to them and it took a while to get him past that.
SPEAKER_03So yeah again I think the other thing just to pick up on with the ball throwing is not only can it cause um you know injury discomfort to your dog because of the way they jump the way they emergency stop to get the ball as humans we get into this habitual well if I run my dog and throw balls for two hours solid my dog's going to be absolutely shattered. Yeah if you do that daily guys you are literally creating a Usain bolt elite athlete because you give them more stamina you give them more strength and then all of a sudden you're kind of wondering why your dog's like well I've done two hours but I want three hours and you know and they're buzzing and that leads to they can't they've got that adrenaline in them is high it never gets a chance to go balls are great if you hide them and get the dog to go look for them. Yeah absolutely yeah use it use them in the right way to get your dog's brain engaging rather than just constantly lobbing a ball for your dog to go and fetch it.
SPEAKER_00If you hide the ball in in long grass so your dog is going to be head down sniffing moving from side to side using all their muscles in the correct way rather than going charging head to chase a ball and you know stopping you yeah putting all that strength so there's yeah ball's good in a emergency stop bit yeah
SPEAKER_03That's been absolutely brilliant, Lorraine. It's so good to touch base with you and to and to find out more about you guys and what you're doing over in Norwich and things like that. So you you do so just so if anyone is listening, because we're gradually getting more listeners onto the show, so thank you very much for everyone that is tuning into these episodes. If anyone is close to Norwich, what can you help them with? What is your I know your training behaviour? Is there anything you I mean is there anything you don't do, Lorraine? Probably grooming, you're not grooming.
SPEAKER_00No, I don't do grooming, yeah. I don't do dog walking. I do do reactive dog walking, or if uh if someone yeah, but yeah, so I just do training behaviour, um, dynamic dog and galen. So they all sort of lead onto one another, really, especially with the behaviour, because I know it's so much behaviour is pain related. So it's yeah, I think they all link together nicely. It's nice when I get to go and do a training thing where it's just a simple like can you teach my dog to just do normal stuff? Yeah, yeah. Although saying that, we went to the dog the other day, which was meant to be loose lead walking, and when I got there, the poor dog, you could see the problems it had with its gate. It needed it ended up being a dynamic dog assessment, having to go to the vet.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah, which is quite sad. But it's not going to walk nicely on a lead if it can't walk normally without a lead.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. So, guys, if you are listening, if you are over towards Norwich Way, what we'll do is I'll make sure Lorraine sends her business details over to me. We'll bang those into the show notes underneath um, all the details of this episode. So you've got an amazing contact over in Norfolk. Uh, someone that can help you, not just with training and behaviour, but with your dog's movement. Um, Lorraine can come and do that dynamic dog uh assessment, what we've talked about there, and then if suitable, again get you into a Galen setup as well. Um, guys, I just want to say a huge thank you for everyone that does tune in and that listens to me. Uh, if you are listening on Apple, on Spotify, anything like that, again, please hit the follow button for me. If you are watching this on our YouTube channel, give us a big like and subscribe, and please share that love. And finally, just a huge thank you to Lorraine again for coming on um to the show today. It's it's been such a pleasure to have a chat with you, find out more about what you do, um, and and just give our listeners another exciting topic to listen to.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thanks for having me on.
SPEAKER_03You're very welcome, very welcome. Um, guys, that's it for this edition of Barks, Bites and Behaviors. Uh, stay tuned, there will be a lot more coming up on the show very, very soon. But for now, take care, have a wonderful week, and we will catch up with you soon. Bye, guys.