Marty was one of our foster greyhounds who got to have regular massages during his 4 and a half months with us.

Marty had a few behavioural issues we needed to work through which meant he ended up staying in foster care for a bit longer. He was also an enormous 43.5kg, so he needed to find a family who were willing to work through his anxieties and be ready to take on an energetic ginor-hound, who we affectionately called Little Horse.

Marty had a regular massage for anxiety. He was wary of strangers, would resource guard his food and beds and had some sleep startle, so massages were beneficial in reducing his stress hormones and boosting his seratonin levels. It would help to calm him down and get him used to people being in his personal space.

Massage was only part of Marty’s health care for anxiety along with veterinary advice, behaviour training and canine enrichment activities. There was nothing more satisfying than seeing Marty go from being a highly strung dog to snoozy and dopey during his massage sessions.