Just about everyone pets their dog, but has your dog ever had a massage? An increasing number of Americans are answering yes.
A recent survey found that one in five owners pursue some type of alternative therapy for their pets, such as acupuncture, chiropractic treatment or massage.
Practitioners feel that massage offers dogs the same benefits that people get, namely stress relief, improved circulation, better digestion and maybe even heightened immunity. But many animal-health experts note the lack of hard evidence that massage offers concrete benefits.
However, all can agree that massage can strengthen the human-animal bond and that dogs like the attention. It may also ease the soreness of arthritic joints among canine senior citizens.
Interested? Classes, books and videos can all help you learn the art of pet massage.