Alaska News

Lucky dogs: Massage acupuncture

Earlier this summer Amber Poe wanted to go camping with her 9-year-old Great Dane, Loki, but Loki wasn't walking right. She was concerned about his hips and considered canceling the trip.

"I don't feel good until he feels much better," she said, as the grey and black dog pushed his massive body against her legs.

Poe had tried massage for her own body and it helped ease her aches and pains, so she decided to try dog massage for Loki. The effects, she said, were almost immediate, and they happily went camping.

Loki's masseuse is Amanda Miller, who shares retail space with Poe's dog boutique in South Anchorage. Miller earned her certification in small animal massage from the Northwest School of Animal Massage, where she learned about dog anatomy and had practical lessons working with animals. She opened Compassionate Canine Massage in December 2014 and has about 35 regular clients.

Miller reached down and rubbed around Loki's hips as he melted into her. "When I'm actually massaging the dog, if you get to an area that's sore, they'll let you know," she said. "They'll turn back and look at me like 'hey, hey!' and I'll know it's a sore spot."

Miller is careful to say that though massage helps dogs recover after intense workouts and relaxes muscles, she cannot make any therapeutic claims about the technique. She emphasized all animals should receive proper veterinary care.

Going under the needle

Massage isn't the only alternative therapy available for dogs in Anchorage. A number of veterinary clinics offer acupuncture.

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Tina Simmons first learned about the ancient Chinese practice in 2000, when she and her severely arthritic dog were living in Colorado, and Simmons was going to veterinary school.

"I originally found it because nothing else worked with my dog," she recalled. She said while the acupuncture didn't solve his problems, it helped.

Simmons became certified in the technique, which was originally developed for farm animals, and now offers it along with more typical veterinary treatments at VCA Alpine Animal Hospital in Anchorage.

Acupuncture stimulates nerve bundles that can then relieve stiff and sore joints, help reduce nerve dysfunctions like seizures, or even help treat organ troubles like inflammatory bowel disease. Simmons said the number of sessions depends on the individual animal; she works with both cats and dogs.

Unlike human acupuncture, the animals don't have to lie still on a table. Some older dogs like to pace, Simmons said, so she just puts needles in them as they walk by. She also uses electrodes and medical grade lasers to do similar work.

In her experience, the dogs are not afraid and after a few appointments, they figure out that it helps and are happy to see her.

For Simmons, acupuncture is just one of the many tools she relies on to improve the quality of life for the animals she sees.

Taking the plunge

In 2014, Kim Lawrence brought her old lab-mix Mocha to K-9 Aquatics. At first, it was just for exercise. The aging dog needed to lose weight and didn't walk very well. But Mocha is not a water dog. "We had to put her in—drag her in," Lawrence recalled.

Even now, more than a year later, Mocha will enter the water wearing a life jacket and a neck float, but a human has to join her to make sure she doesn't try to cut corners when doing laps in the pool.

At one point, Mocha's back legs stopped working altogether, and she couldn't walk independently. She had diabetes and pancreatitis. Lawrence tried massage and acupuncture for her then 11-year-old dog, but nothing helped. She ramped up the number of times Mocha went swimming, and now, five months later, Mocha can walk on her own again.

Lawrence attributed her dog's recovery to her time at the indoor swimming pool built exclusively for dogs.

K-9 Aquatics owner Martina Richardson said that people often bring their dogs to the center before the canines undergo ACL surgery. It gets them used to water before they use a water treadmill at a vet's office. They also come after surgery for low-impact exercise.

Like Miller, the dog masseuse, Richardson emphasizes that she and her husband are not trained in veterinary medicine or physical therapy. They decided to build the pool when their own dogs started aging. One had severe arthritis and another had knee surgery. They felt a pool would help them transition into old age more smoothly. And now, with help from area vets, the idea is catching on.

Whether it's traditional veterinary medicine or complementary therapies like swimming, massage or acupuncture, in the end it's about finding a therapy that helps your furry companion live a healthy life.

"Part of my belief is you don't want to give up until the very end for something you love," said Simmons.

This article appeared in our Fall 2015 issue of 61?North. Contact 61? editor Jamie Gonzales at jgonzales@alaskadispatch.com.

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