News & Information

As we continue building our on-going education at NKYK9, we’re broadening our perspectives and solutions. With decades of training experience and extensive rescuing of Weimaraners, we concluded a long time ago that the majority of the aggression cases we see are fear based behaviors. There can be many contributing factors to fear based aggression however, one that many overlook is pain. We often overlook pain because dogs typically respond to it differently than we do. A prime example of this is when a female is spayed, she’s up and moving around, almost normally, within the first 24 hours. Unless there’s a complication, they are back to acting completely normal within 5-10 days. When a human has an equivalent surgery, we often spend many weeks recuperating. A dog hasn’t had the luxury of being able to take this time or show the weakness of the pain to the extent we have and doesn’t know how to do so in the manner we do. Because of this, the fact that you can’t always see what’s causing the dog’s pain and he can’t verbally speak up to say “Hey, that hurts!” I think we often miss this potential cause of fear based behavior. When something on me hurts (e.g stiff, aching back) and someone reaches for that painful area (goes to pat me on the back), I react by either wincing or ducking away and explaining to the person why. I may even be cranky as a result of not feeling well. A dog obviously doesn’t have the same language and communication skills we do so they have to let us know in different ways. We just have to be willing to listen, observe and maybe even feel for the answers. We joined a group of trainers and friends this summer to expand upon our knowledge in this area by participating in a 3 day, very intense, workshop on Canine Kinaesthetics TM, offered by founder; Maryna Ozuna with over 25 yrs of experience in the field. (Visit www.dogbodycare.com for more online info.) We learned so much about how structure relates to behavior. Truly, it was amazing and very eye-opening! We learned answers to questions that we never even knew to ask! Just as people experience pain due to repetitive motions, a physical injury or a structural impairment, dogs can too. Through the holistic approach of canine massage, we may be able to relieve some or all of that pain. Canine massage is used for many reasons toady; behavior challenges, physical challenges, less than sound structure and of course, the sporting and working dogs that have a high physical demand on their bodies. Canine massage can improve movement, reduce pain, increase comfort and reduce fear aggression or act as an assistant to training and behavior modification. This now allows us to bring more insight, perspectives and solutions to every situation we encounter. If you have questions or are interested in additional information on Canine body work and massage please call or email us!Happy training!Belinda Perry