Bobby is our very own Gumtree Greys foster fail. Bobby was a very shy dog, terrified of everything when he first arrived with us and reasonably lame from an untreated racing injury.

As an anxious dog he initially benefited from canine remedial massage to accustom him to human touch and bond with us as his foster carers. This wasn’t necessarily easy and was a slow process. Even now, Bobby has a reasonably low tolerance to touch sometimes. Fortunately for Bobby, his foster mum is a canine therapist, and he can get treatment from someone he trusts. If Bobby was not our dog, he wouldn’t be a suitable candidate for massage as he is so intolerant to touch from people he doesn’t know. Canine massage has got its limitations and one of those is that we can only massage dogs we can get our hands on! If you have a shy dog like Bobby, they may be better suited to different treatment types.

Another benefit for Bobby was that canine remedial massage helped to increase happy hormones like serotonin and decrease stress hormones like cortisol. In a calm, relaxing and safe environment (and in Bobby’s case, delivered by a safe human) massage was an adjunct to the behaviour training we began with him which included pack walks with other greyhounds and confidence boosting games such as “Go Find”, “Touch” or even snuffle mats and Kong Wobblers.

Bobby’s unhealed injury was a broken accessory carpal bone, a small bone in his wrist, which fortunately for him put an end to his racing days. Unfortunately for Bobby we were not in possession of a laser unit when he first arrived. This would have been the perfect treatment to encourage the bone to heal, to reduce his pain levels and inflammation. So, we used massage alongside a vet prescribed course of anti-inflammatories, Zydax injections, supplements, modified exercise, acupuncture and herbal medicine to help his bone to heal, reduce the pain of the injury and the secondary pain caused by limping as well as hopefully reduce the impact of arthritis in his later life.

On an ongoing basis, the benefit for Bobby of having massage and laser on-tap is that we can treat injuries quickly if they arise, prevent musculoskeletal injuries from happening in the first place by keeping a look out for tight muscles or imbalances arising and stave off the inevitable effects of arthritis when they arise for as long as possible.