Hands on Pets

25/06/2025

Gorgeous Finn having his monthly massage today. Love my life at the moment-I really enjoy the kids I am teaching (real job) and I am luxuriating in lots of golden retriever clients in my weekends and after school. Sooo lucky!!

21/05/2025

Today I had the opportunity to provide massage therapy to the exquisite Chester, who is undergoing a series of closely spaced sessions to alleviate the widespread muscle tension in his body. Following a cruciate operation last November and a meniscus tear cleaned out two months ago, he has not really returned to his old self or his previous level of activity.
Chester looks uncomfortable getting up from laying to stsnding and takes a few steps to get going. He has been transferring weight onto his front limbs and his unaffected hind limb. Consequently, these compensatory muscles were extremely tight, having worked diligently to reduce stress on the affected muscles of the quad and thigh in the operated leg.
Going forward I will work on gaining better muscle balance between the hindlegs, loosening up his spine and reduction of swelling around the stifle. It is my absolute pleasure to work on him and enhance his comfort level. Much gratitude to Carl and Jo for granting me permission to post and for great coffee today. I do love goldies!!

04/01/2025

What is canine remedial massage?
Touch has been used for centuries to provide relief from pain. Massage lowers the heart rate, and therefore stress levels which gives a reduction in pain perception. This allows the dogs own endorphins to provide natural pain relief. Canine remedial massage uses a range of techniques to address muscular tautness and imbalances giving you a more balanced dog who can move more freely.

Conditions that benefit from Canine Massage:

Arthritis -Improves ease of joint movement and reduces secondary muscle compensatory soreness

Elbow and/or Hip Dysplasia-Reduces tension and soreness in muscles in close proximity

Neck and Back Pain-Reduces muscle spasm and pain

Spondylosis-Improve spinal mobility through reduction in muscle tension

Limb Amputation-Ease compensatory muscle soreness

Senior Pets-Reduces generalised stiffness and soreness

Neurological
IVDD-Surgical or conservative management - management of compensatory muscle tension in non–affected limbs, and maintain circulation in affected limbs

Wobblers-Management of compensatory muscle tension and soreness in the cervical spine

Degenerative Neurological Conditions-Management of compensatory muscle tension and soreness, and increasing circulation to affected limbs

At Hands on Pets, I provide a personalised treatment plan tailored to your unique canine's requirements.
I can't wait to meet your four legged friend and help them to move and be happy again!

Call now to connect with business.

30/12/2024

Animals are very sensitive to energy and Reiki (channeling of universal source energy) is an incredibly powerful modality for healing. Animals absorb a lot of our human issues, some might say they are our spiritual helpers. Therefore, often the animals issues mirror that of their owner. They are wise beings and as such, in a session, I will let the animal lead and always request their permission. Reiki activates the parasympathetic response, creating stress relief, deep relaxation and a strong sense of well-being. It can balance and nourish the physical body and balance mental and emotional energy. It is particularly effective in helping animals who have been traumatised or who are experiencing behavioural or physical difficulties. Please see proof of qualification.

28/12/2024

II am back on deck as of the 5th of January. I am available more hours in 2025 so please text or message me if you’d like me to work on your dog. Thanks

05/12/2024

Hello. I hope you are all managing to gear up for the Christmas season. I am pleased to have made it through my first year of business!! Things are getting busy now with my other work so I will be unavailable for dog massage as of Friday 13th December until the new year. Nods of gratitude to:
Ohana Animal Physiotherapy for giving me your maternity cover this year and taking me to Huntly! So much fun. It was a wonderful start to this year.
Kate Hocking you are incredible at what you do. Big thanks to you for your encouragement and collaboration. Kerryn, thank you to you too!
Nicole Berry- the most awesome ex-colleague, graphic designer and friend who does my taster posters at a ridiculous price.
Creative Printz in Stratford- Amy you are so awesome to work with. Thank you for sorting my logo and business cards. I got goose bumps when I saw them when I actually realised this business was real!
All of the vets, vet nurses and receptionists who are interested and supportive of what I do.
Thank you to all of the pet owners I had the privilege to meet this year. Your love for your dogs gives me more faith in people. To those of you who have lost your dog this year, thank you for sharing your journey with me.
To the four legged friends: Mickey, Lexi, Neve, Jaco, Sylvie, Ivy, Nahla, Lydia, Suki, Bazil, Arlo, Wolf, S'mores, Beau... Love you endlessly.
Merry Christmas everyone.

02/11/2024

Kate is kindly letting me use her office for a second 'Taster' session in November. Kate's K9 Help is located at 1662 Carrington Road, Koru, New Plymouth. If you would like to book a session please get in contact with me. Last time the day booked out quickly and we had to offer a second day.
For your dog's comfort, I only offer bookings for a 1/2 hour session. If you decide this is something you would like to do, after we touch base and set a time, I will require you to email your vet to give them permission to forward your dog's medical history to me. As you can appreciate it takes me a bit of time to read the entire history of each dog, so if you book earlier rather than later I would appreciate that. It gives me time to read and process these. Of course, if you attended the first taster you have been there, done that and I would totally love to see you again.
I look forward to hearing from you and meeting you and your dog. I greatly value your patronage.

11/10/2024

I have just completed a professional development course on Fascia. Fascia is a thin casing of connective tissue which holds every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve fiber and muscle and cell in place. It is so important for human and canine movement. When it is healthy it is flexible and stretches with us. However, when restricted it will affect movement locally and also can restrict movement away from the issue due to networks of fascial lines. Inflammation and trauma can cause knots/trigger points. These knots can be latent or active (which cause pain) and they will be there long term unless they are worked out of the body. Myofascial pain is often an overlooked cause of pain and restriction.
This was a continuing education online vet course associated with the American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB) to help me be the best practitioner I can be.

06/10/2024

A big thank you to Kate Hocking for hosting me this weekend at Kate’s k9 help and swim fitness for a ‘massage taster’. And a big thank you to the people I met over the weekend who trusted me with their fur babies. Such a large variety of dogs and I was totally in heaven! This weekend has gone waaayyy too fast.

20/09/2024

Today marked the end of my massage services with Mickey. He was one of my maternity leave cover dogs. After 6 months, the bond is pretty close and it is extra special as Mickey was my first paid massage client. Just as all firsts are special, the memory of this extra cool dog will be with me always. Thank you Ohana Animal Physiotherapy for the opportunity to look after your clients and to Mickey’s owners for permission to post and being the amazing humans you are.

26/08/2024

I am now available to work Thursday-Sunday. Please do not hesitate to get in touch.

28/07/2024

It was my pleasure to spend this weekend at the NAMC (Northern Alaskan Malamute Club) Northern Speedway Classic held at the Huntly speedway. I got to watch mushing of 6,4 and 2 dog rigs, scooter racing, and a weight pull event where I watched a dog pull a weighted trolley. The winner pulled over 500kgs!! This was a completely new experience for me to see and hear these dogs in action. Boy they love it and get super excited- nothing like some healthy competition.
In addition to the entertainment I got to get my hands on many of these beautiful dogs like Cookie and Blaze pictured . Thank you so much NAMC for having me, Ohana Animal Physiotherapy for inviting and taking me and the owners for letting me work on their dogs and allow me to post these pictures.
Would love to come back next year.