CC410: Helping Dogs Thrive: Aging Dogs

Lifting a Paw and Shifting Weight

One thing I'm hoping you'll do this week is tell me whether you are able to easily lift each of your dog’s paws. I'll show you how to do this below by video.

Please do this on a surface that isn’t slippery. We want to know if one particular paw or two of your dog’s paws are consistently more difficult to pick up. If you can ask for each paw to be lifted on cue, even better.  Important note: please DO NOT FORCE a paw up.  If your dog doesn’t want to lift a paw, try again later. We want to see whether your dog can easily do this weight shifting exercise while standing.

If you can’t lift a paw or two, then no worries, i.e., we can’t assume anything other than it’s not easy or comfortable for your dog at this time. You can try again at another time, e.g., when she first gets up or after she has been walking around a bit. It’s always good to check in with your veterinarian to make sure there isn’t a medical reason for her to want to keep her paws on the ground.

If you can easily lift all four paws, one at a time, then let's just try this as a simple exercise.  Lift the paw, supporting the elbow or stifle, and hold for 5-10 seconds. This is actually a fitness exercise. The dog has to stand, shift her weight, and balance. This requires strength. You can increase the time gradually up to 30 seconds over the next four to six weeks by adding up to five seconds each week, assuming your dog can do this easily. If she can’t easily handle this, add five seconds every 10-14 days.

When you lift a front paw, support the elbow joint. When you lift a hind paw,  support the stifle/knee joint. I will show this in the following video.

The weight shift: when you lift the front right paw, weight shifts to the left hind paw. Can you see this happening?

Video of Cassie lifting each paw:

TTouch Bodywork for Aging Dogs

TTouch bodywork is a gentle form of bodywork. The approach is one of letting the dog decide if they are ready for the touch and when they are ready to stop.

When doing TTouch, your dog is likely to notice that this is a different method of touch from what  you normally do. And because it’s new and non-habitual, it gets your dog’s attention in a different way. Sometimes it looks as if the dog is listening or paying attention to this type of touch in a way that they haven’t noticed touch before. With older dogs, I tend to teach the methods that are more comforting or warming, especially since older dogs are likely to have arthritic joints. These methods are also the most calming for many dogs.

Often after a bodywork session, I notice that the dog is moving better. I think a few things are happening here:

• Bodywork increases awareness in all areas of the body.

• The warmth of your hands feels good and therefore the dog feels better.

• Bodywork can release formally-held tension in the body.

This work can have a calming effect and there’s little doubt that oxytocin is produced.

TTouch bodywork is —complementary to veterinary care, fitness training, massage, acupuncture, laser, etc.

We have already covered a sliding touch called Noah’s March. This week I’ll be talking about technique for circular touches.

TTouch Technique for Circular Touches 

The TTouch technique takes a bit of practice to get used to. It’s different from petting, patting, and rubbing; it’s more like a form of massage. Instead of working on muscle tissue specifically, we are working in the skin and fascial layers. How deep you are working depends on the amount of pressure you use. TTouch bodywork likely affects muscles by relaxing the fascia above the muscle.

Let’s try this: roll up your sleeve and place your hand over the top of your arm such that your thumb is in contact with your skin as are all of your finger-pads. You can start with using the pads furthest from the palm of your hand, i.e. the pads on the underside of your fingernails. These four pads will have contact with the skin, as will the thumb.

Now choose a landmark, e.g., a freckle or mole, that one of your finger pads can cover. You want to make sure it stays covered and that you don’t slide off it. We are going to practice moving the skin around with a relaxed hand. Try not to overthink this part. Just move the skin up and down and side to side while keeping your fingers from sliding over the skin. Notice whether you changed the amount of pressure you used when you moved your fingers.

Next, instead of moving your fingers up and down and side to side, move the pads of your fingers, which are maintaining contact with the skin, in a circular motion. Try making a circle and about a quarter of a circle more—that’s right, one circle plus a quarter. Or a circle plus a bit. Do the circular touch slowly enough that you can tell when you are making a circle and when you are making a circle plus a bit.

Did the pads of your fingers slide over the skin? If so, then start again and remember to maintain contact in starting position but move the skin and your finger pads together in a circle plus a bit.

We’ll keep adding to the technique part as we go. Try different parts of your arm or leg. Notice areas where the skin moves more easily.

Next try doing this on your dog, using one hand to make contact with your dog and the other to move your fingers around in a circle plus. For the hand that is active, all five of your fingers should be in contact with your dog. Try exhaling as you place your hands on your dog. This will help you breathe :)

Does your dog get up and move away or give you body language that indicates she isn’t sure? E.g. yawning, licking her lip/nose, turning away? If so, remove your hands. Just give her a break and try again.

The next thing we’ll work on is your wrist. We want your hand relaxed and your wrist in neutral—meaning we don’t want your wrist bent in either direction. Two things can happen when you bend your wrist: your fingers may not be as soft and flexible AND you can get pain in your wrist. Go ahead and try this: flex your wrist (bend your hand down) and move your fingers, then extend your wrist (bend your hand back) and move your fingers, then don’t bend it either way (it’s in neutral now) and feel how easily your fingers move.

As we learn the technique and more of the bodywork, we’ll use different parts of your hands and fingers.

Tag Points for TTouch Bodywork (practice these one at a time for a few iterations each)

• Do a circle plus a quarter

• Place two hands on the dog

• Breathe

• Keep wrist in neutral position

• Don’t slide fingers over skin

Video of circular touches and slides: