HTA-0624: Dog Massage — Canine Wellness

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Summary

Henry reports on dog massage therapy, exploring the growing trend of canine wellness treatments.

Full Transcript

00:12
live from the bay areas news station this is corn four news weekend

00:20
hello everybody welcome back to our second live hour of corn four news weekend marty

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gonzalez is off this morning well remember the day when the bay area gloried in its winning

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teams from the nineteen sixties through the nineties they were scooping up

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basketball baseball and football championships but that was then and this

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is now one of the bay area's greatest barry bonds is indicted and none of the

00:42
local teams has been doing too well should we say we're gonna have a recap

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so how about thinking shopping not baseball bargain hunter sally sokolich

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joins us with some artsy fashion for the sophisticated woman and the new

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presidential orders to improve your holiday travel we're gonna have that

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and a lot more. But first let's travel to Santa Clara where Henry is standing by.

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This is P. Joe. We actually have two special guests today. P. Joe is one of

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them and Buzz Bertolaro is the buzz. Get off the phone. Will you talk? My risk management counselor was on the phone.

01:17
I got your risk for you. So Buzz is going to be answering your gardening

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questions give us a call 800-448-KRON I believe it is and that's yeah and so

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Buzz is going to answer regarding questions call early so we can get them

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and Pijo is going to be undergoing the rigors of being massaged that's right we

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have a pet massage therapist standing by but I'd say he's already relaxed Pijo

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Pijot, come on. Up here, Pijot, come on.

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Yes, good dog.

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Aww.

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That's coming up.

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Oh, look at that.

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He's well-behaved.

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You know, Beverly Ulbricht is going to be by in our next hour, animal behavior.

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She would say that dog is well-trained.

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Well, plus he loves Henry.

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I mean, did you see the way he looked at him?

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God, our dog's terrific.

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He doesn't know Henry well, does he?

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That's right.

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He wants to get into show business, right?

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But dogs, they make us better humans.

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Anyway, I have, talk about a rebel, a renegade, and an eccentric, one of my favorite people, Anthony Bourdain.

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He's going to be...

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Well, let the stressors of the holidays begin.

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That's unless you're making it a howly day.

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Right, Henry?

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Does this look like a happy dog?

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Well, he ought to be a happy dog because he's about to get a massage.

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That's right, he's about to get a massage from a certified small animal massage person.

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Shalat is going to demonstrate how he can be even happier.

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That's coming up on Cron 4 News weekend.

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Can he be any happier?

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Resting up for his big television debut here is P. Joe.

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Pijo is our volunteer massagee.

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We'll go with that.

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Our massager is Shalabar, and she runs something called Happy Hounds Massage.

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She's a certified small animal massage practitioner, which means that she massages anything smaller than a pony.

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Right.

03:26
So you've massaged like what kinds of other animals?

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Sheeps, goats, more commonly cats and dogs.

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Right.

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rabbits, guinea pigs, and in my internship we worked on lizards. On lizards. I'll bet that was

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a satisfying experience. So Shala is going to be giving complimentary massages to your pets,

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not to you, at the San Francisco annual canine holiday soiree, which is going to be happening

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November 28th. So we have invited, we'll give you details on that, we've invited her here to

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to demonstrate her art. Now we all give pets massages. I mean when I do this I'm giving a

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massage. Yes. And at this moment he's giving me a massage. A tongue massage. Mutual therapy. What

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do you do that's different? Well demonstrate. Sure. Right now I'm just giving him a light rub down

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and getting a feel for his muscles. I was working on him before and I noticed his back legs are tight.

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Peejo's a dancer. He does freestyle dancing so he tends to get tight in his back legs. Hold on.

04:25
Sorry, professionally or as an amateur?

04:28
Amateur.

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Amateur.

04:30
But he is a dancer in what environment?

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Is he part of a dance troupe?

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Yeah, and they turn nationally.

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No.

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Freestyle dancing is an activity that people do with their dogs, and it's fun.

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It gives the dogs something to do.

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Right.

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And that's where they get all the dogs there, they get the music.

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Oh, exactly.

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So you've seen it.

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Right.

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So Pito does that, and he's up on his hind legs a lot, which isn't really a natural position

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for dogs.

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not for very long. So he gets sore. So what I do and what my training has helped me do

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is help detect and alleviate some of the problems that dogs have due to their lifestyles because

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they're so active. They like to run and jump and crash into things. They're very reckless.

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What specifically would you do to alleviate that problem? Well, right now I'm just feeling

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and like I said, I felt before that he has some tight muscles. So what I'm going to do

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is go in there and if he'll sit still help him stretch that out a little bit get the fluids moving

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manipulate the muscle somewhat to soften it up and a dog not very hard at all and because he's

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very small not very hard it's a very very light pressure but I'm going specifically in certain

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muscles that I know are tight so for example like like where well in the back of his leg he has

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hamstrings like you do. So if you take your finger over mine and you press right in here,

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where here, over my, over my thumb, right. And you go in there lightly, you'll feel it's very tight.

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I feel a hamstring. Exactly. Just like you would have a tight hamstring. Does it bother you? Is it

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hurting a little bit? Look how he's suffering. Oh, you poor dog. He's going to kiss you again.

06:09
Sorry. See, now, if you're going to give a dog a massage, don't get intimate. Okay. Just try,

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Just try to keep it on a professional basis.

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If one's dog were not necessarily hurting in a particular place,

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but one just wanted to give a massage that was somewhat more beneficial than your average,

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hey, good doggy, can you give us a quick blessing?

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Sure.

06:31
Well, what you want to do is start out very slowly.

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And basically, if you feel anything hard, that's a bone.

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You want to kind of stay away from that.

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If you feel something soft, that's probably muscle.

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And you want to stay on that.

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So basically you want to stay on the muscle and go around the bone.

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Okay.

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And you want to go slowly and it will help relax them and stay on those soft parts.

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And you want to maintain contact with the dog also.

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You want to go all the way down to his feet and then back up.

07:04
In addition to dealing with physical aches and pains, are there other benefits to this?

07:10
Yeah, there's a lot of emotional benefits.

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For small dogs or dogs that have been emotionally traumatized, it helps them get used to human touch.

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It teaches them how to trust again.

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It lets them know that touching, besides being petted in more of a clinical way, is safe and doesn't hurt them.

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And it's very calming.

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For the masseur and masseuse as well as for the dog.

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Absolutely.

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So, Shala is going to be giving complimentary three or four minute massages to your dog at the annual Canine Holiday Soiree, which is a benefit for Pets Unlimited.

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It's a big deal.

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It's going on Wednesday, November 28th, 530 to 830 at the Ritz-Carlton in the Terrace Courtyard at 600 Stockton Street.

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For information, give them a call, 415-773-6167.

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And if you would like to avail yourself of Shalaz services, or if your animal would like to avail itself of Shalaz services, you can get her at happyhoundsmassage.com.

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Right.

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Great.

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Well, thank you so much.

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Why am I thanking you?

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He's supposed to be thanking you.

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He'll thank me later.

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He'll kiss me.

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Thank you.

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Does he look happy?

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He looks like I'd like to feel about now.

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Well, up next on Cron 4 News Weekend, a check of this morning's top stories, including which beaches are reopening this weekend after the forced closures from the disastrous Bay oil spill.

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Plus, a look at this week's Democratic debate and the zingers coming from the mouths of candidates present and past.

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And we have this live look outside.

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That heavy fog still out there will be with us for a good part of the day.

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It's 8.56.

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We'll have to check the weather when we come back.