In fact, like humans, dogs often experience emotional tension, excessive stress, physical fatigue, poor mood, etc. I believe that the owner must know that massage can help the dog relieve physical discomfort, relax the muscles, and smooth blood circulation throughout the body, so as to achieve the effect of eliminating fatigue. Let’s learn about the reasons and methods of dog massage.
1. Sort the nervous dog
When the thunder makes your dog start to whimper, pant, and hide under the bed, what can you do to prevent it from being so nervous?
The answer may be massage. Use a stroke-like method to relax the nervous system. Gently spread your palms flat on the dog's head or neck, gently stroke them along the spine to the tail, and slowly repeat them multiple times. If your dog likes this massage method, you can gradually increase the force. After the massage is completed, place one hand under the dog's head and the other hand under the pelvis. These two parts are corresponding to control rest and relax the crest nerves that are reacting. Such steps are very helpful when your dog is nervous or scared by trimming his nails or getting vaccinated, or when he is feeling restless or upset.
2. Increase blood circulation
Massage helps the blood transfusion dilate and improves blood circulation. Blood circulation is improved, and more oxygen and nutrients can follow the blood to flow throughout the dog's body. In addition, by strengthening blood flow, more substances and toxins that may make dogs sick can be excreted from the body.
3. Warm up for lively dogs
When you go out to do exercise, you may often hear people advise you that warming up is important. In fact, lively dogs love competition, running, playing hide-and-seek with their owners or just playing hard. They should also have a good warm-up exercise to avoid injury.
4. Improve muscle health
If the dog's muscles are in a state of tension for a long time, it may start to have difficulties whether it is standing, walking or running. Because the blood flows to the muscles is reduced, it is more likely to feel the muscles are tightened, stiff, and even painful. Massage can soothe tense and contracted muscles, reduce pain, and make the dog more flexible and recover.
5. Relieve joint stiffness and soreness
If you take your dog to the park for several hours on weekends and climb the mountains all day on Sunday, then on Monday, the dog doesn't look so active!
Does the dog come out with a limp and drink water or refuse to play with you? Indeed, if the dog consumes too much physical strength in the short term, or if the dog gets older, it will cause pain and joints and muscles to become stiff. To help your dog relieve joint stiffness and soreness, start stroking the joint junction to warm the joint tissue, then cover your hands around the joint and apply gentle pressure.