Interview: Animal Massage Author and Educator Megan Ayrault

Megan Ayrault, author, educator, and massage practitioner for both people and animals, recently agreed to an online interview with Your Holistic Dog. In addition to her extensive training in various massage and bodywork techniques, Megan has written two books on animal massage, The Dog Lover’s Guide to Massage and The Horse Lover’s Guide to Massage. Megan continues her role as educator through her website All About Animal Massage. Some of the topics we cover include massage for prevention, massage for rescue dogs , and how senior animals can benefit from massage.

YOUR HOLISTIC DOG:  Megan, how did you become involved with animal massage?

MEGAN AYRAULT:  I was working as an instructor at a therapeutic riding center, and a colleague of mine took a horse massage class. I was so impressed by how much she had learned, and how much she was able to help the horses, that I decided to take a class myself. I got totally hooked and have been learning more and more ever since, including going to massage school to get licensed in massage for people, but mostly I work with horses and some dogs. Most of the few people I do are owners of my animal clients.

YHD: What types of animal massage training do you have and where did you study it?

MA: I’ve taken courses in dog and horse massage, and also other forms of bodywork such as acupressure and Myofascial Release, from a number of different teachers and schools. One of my main teachers in the early years was Lola Michelin, with the Northwest School of Animal Massage, though I was never technically a student of her school, but rather an apprentice and an assistant. Before and since starting to work with Lola (which I still do), I’ve also learned from classes with Equinology, Integrated Touch Therapy, Tallgrass Animal Acupressure Institute, Equissage, The Equine Natural Movement School and The Equine Touch. I’ve also been able to apply what I’ve learned from various studies of bodywork for people (massage, Myofascial Release, Shiatsu, Craniosacral Therapy, Lymphatic Facilitation, Structural Integration, Reiki) to my work with animals. It’s such a huge topic, there’s always more to learn, and fortunately it’s also really fun to learn and to practice.

YHD: You have training in both small (companion animal) and large (equine) massage. Although you may apply many of the same techniques….are there different approaches you use for each type of animal?

MA: The basic process of the techniques, of making observations, and making decisions about which techniques may be most appropriate for each individual on any given day, that’s all pretty much the same thought process. The anatomy is almost the same as well. The big difference is the behavior and handling aspect, including different safety concerns for the both the animal and for myself, depending on the species I’m working with. Also body mechanics for the practitioner is fairly different, since we stand for the horse bodywork sessions and for me I’m usually sitting for the dogs, so that changes how I use my body quite a bit. And of course, the time needed (or advisable) per session for a small animal is generally less, or even a lot less, than for a horse. The biggest misconception is that the horse massage takes a lot more strength than for small animals, and I guess for some styles of work that would be true, but the techniques I most often use are gentle for both large and small animals.

YHD: In what ways can animal massage be used for rehabilitation for dogs?

MA: Working with scar tissue can make a big difference for reducing soft tissue restrictions that affect range of motion, muscle function and joint health after an injury. Scar tissue work is a specialized skill, though even basic massage techniques can help some. Likewise, basic massage will help lymphatic circulation, but special techniques focusing on this can really help even more with reducing swelling or supporting the immune system for dogs recovering from an injury, illness, or surgery. The other very important benefit that massage can offer a dog during rehab is to support the rest of the body that’s been needing to work harder to compensate for the injury, or whatever the problem area may be. I can also add at least one more benefit to the list actually. The rehab process often means reduced activity, which can really stress a lot of dogs who are used to being active. Using massage to relieve boredom and also the tension and stress that comes from their frustration and confusion, that can really help the dogs a lot, even if it’s not specific techniques for the injured area.

YHD: In addition to rehabilitation, how can canine massage be used as a preventative?

MA: There are lots of ways massage can help prevent or reduce the severity of any number of problems, including injuries and illness, but maybe the top of the list of how it does this, is it’s value in helping to detect problems earlier, often much earlier. Without regular massage, we typically don’t notice problems until an obvious symptom has already developed, such as limping or a big behavior change. But unless there was a sudden trauma causing an injury, most problems develop very slowly over time, even over years, before the body’s efforts to compensate are no longer enough, and the bigger symptoms “suddenly” appear.

Massage can also help with prevention by promoting circulation, reducing stress (mental and physical), balancing muscle tensions, and helping with body comfort and good quality movement so the animal can stay more active and move more efficiently and correctly.

YHD: Many rescue dogs benefit from massage. Can you suggest a few ways people with rescue dogs can calm them by them using massage techniques?

MA: Actually I made a free, 1 hour recorded webinar people can watch on this very topic, and then I also made a couple of additional videos to further demonstrate the techniques I describe in the webinar. Anyone can sign up as an e-mail member at my website to get all these materials, plus a lot more, including more free videos and e-books. My website is All About Animal Massaage, and they can sign up right on the home page there.

But very briefly, I would suggest two things to include:

1. Massaging the chest, which works well for a number of reasons I go into with the free webinar.

2. Working with the paws, which will help again in many ways, including building trust and affecting acupressure points.

I also have an on-line class, Rescue Dog Massage, which is all pre-recorded for convenient access anytime someone wants to start. That’s a 4 week class teaching more techniques (including work with the paws) to build on what is learned in the free webinar. ($20 of the $37 fee for this class is donated to animal charities.)

YHD: From experience, I know how valuable animal massage can be for senior dogs. Talk about the senior dogs you’ve massaged and how it helped them.

MA: I actually just had my dog, Jessie, euthanized this month at age 15 ½ years old, which is older than any dog I’ve had in the past. I don’t know whether bodywork contributed specifically to her longevity, but I have to assume it didn’t hurt! In Jessie’s case, she was always hypersensitive to anything other than the most gentle techniques, so eventually I learned with her to focus on things like acupressure, gentle rocking, and even simply holding her paws. In her case, she preferred the hind paws, which I was happy to focus on for their connection with the Kidney Meridian, an important meridian for aging issues. I also tended to do very short sessions with Jessie, sometimes even just a few minutes at a time, which doesn’t work so well for a professional traveling to clients, but works great for owners at home.

As dogs (or people) age, they do tend to lose muscle mass, which can be a good reason to massage, to help slow that process (by stimulating the muscles), but it can also mean that typical “massage” strokes that focus on muscle tissue manipulation may also be uncomfortable, so you often need to be especially gentle. And as I’ve mentioned, there are many, many bodywork techniques that focus on other aspects of the body and health, such as lymphatic circulation and immune function, stimulating joint fluid which helps nourish and lubricate the cartilage, soothing the nervous system to reduce stress or anxiety, and acupressure points that can support organs and much more.

I think it’s important for people to learn that often the more subtle and gentle techniques can actually have bigger effects for the animals, especially the older ones, but really any age. It can often feel like you’re not doing anything, but the more you learn about the body and how it can respond to touch, the more you realize how much is going on while your “doing nothing.”

YHD:  One of the goals of Your Holistic Dog is to empower dog guardians with information and tools for helping their dogs. Your book The Dog Lover’s Guide to Massage provides people with a great resource for providing relief for their own dogs. How did that project come together, and what was your goal in writing this book?

MA: My goal was originally to write just a book that would explain more about how massage works and how it can benefit the animals, so that people would then want to learn more from the “how-to” books and schools that already existed. I guess my motivation for this came from the fact that I was constantly having clients and students marvel at how useful the information was in caring for their animals, so I wanted to share the same information faster than just one client or one small group at a time.

But then I did also get an idea about a different way of organizing the “how-to” portion in a way I thought would be more interesting and accessible that the traditional approach of teaching the standard categories of strokes, identifying all the muscles, etc. Instead I decided that with each specific technique I would teach, I would also include some pertinent anatomy to help explain what was really happening with that technique and exactly how it would benefit your dog. Then I also include some specific coaching tips for that particular technique, before moving on to a new one. So the book ended up being Part 1, which explains more the “how it works in the body” so that the techniques taught in the “how-to” section (Part 2) would make more sense and be more motivating and enjoyable. I also designed the on-line resources to complement the book, so people can keep learning more on-line.

YHD:  As mentioned, you are very involved with animal massage education. Would you outline some of your teaching projects?

MA: Now that the books are finished, my main “projects” for animal massage education are creating on-line classes, and also a lot of free materials so people who may not be ready to sign up for a class can still get a great start on learning about it. The on-line classes have been so much fun to make, and I will continue to make more in the future on specific topics. The ones available for dogs so far are Helping Your Dog’s Hips (an 8 week class), and the Rescue Dog Massage class (4 weeks) I already mentioned. All on-line classes are made into recordings, so once I make the lessons for the first group of students, they can be accessed by anyone else, whenever you sign up. You just start receiving your lessons by e-mail on whatever your “Day 1″ is, click on the links to watch the videos, and go from there. And of course, students can always e-mail me with their questions as they practice.

I don’t offer “professional certification” with these classes, because I don’t believe that’s really appropriate or legitimate without at least some in-person instruction and evaluation. But I do find (in hearing feedback from my students) that the content of my on-line classes is not only accessible for beginners (because of how it’s presented), but also still interesting even to my students who are already professionals because of the depth and range of information I can offer with the on-line technologies.

I do also teach some of the in-person professional certification classes available at the Northwest School of Animal Massage, for those who are interested in more extensive training. Though I mainly teach horse classes myself there, I can also certainly recommend the dog classes very highly.

For more animal massage resources, books, and education, visit All About Animal Massage.

In memory…Jessie.

(Photo Credit: Ann Chase Photography)