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Sir: From Shuffle to Hip-Swinging
I met Sir, a twelve-year-old Shepherd/Malamute cross the day that he and his family, the new owners of the barn where I was boarding my horse, were moving into their home. His owner had told me that Sir wasn't doing very well, that despite the numerous drugs his vet had prescribed, it was very painful for him to walk because of degeneration of the cartilage in his hips, that he had allergies that caused him to chew the skin on his legs, that he had fairly severe stomach problems. In fact, a few weeks earlier they'd almost put him down to end his misery.
When I first saw him, Sir had just stepped out of the car after a day at the groomer's; when I watched him walk, I nearly cried. You could see the pain in every shuffling step.
That evening, I lay with Sir on the kitchen floor, gracelessly wedged between his beautiful self and the kitchen cabinets, and tried to help him find some comfort. I used Reiki, an ancient Japanese method of energy healing, because I felt he was in too much pain for me to touch him. Within minutes, Sir's breathing had slowed and his body had softened and relaxed.
The next day, Sir's owner told me that several hours after our Reiki session, Sir had walked down to the barn to check on the horses with her and was even able to climb the large front steps to the house on his own.
Several days later, Sir and I had another Reiki session. By the end of the week, his appetite had returned, his elimination had improved, and he began making the trip to the barn two or three times a day.
By the end of the second week, I felt it was time for Sir to have a SENSE session. SENSE (Strength with Elegance through Natural Somatic Expression) is a method of movement education developed by Feldenkrais practitioner Mary Debono. My job as a SENSE practitioner is to show the animal (dog, cat, horse) how easy and elegant his or her movement can be. Using a type of gentle touch, my goal is to get the nervous system to say, "Oh that's how that moves!"
Because the main source of Sir's discomfort was his hips, I began at the head, the area farthest away. Sir's body needed to become accustomed to the touch, needed to experience it as non-threatening and pain-free. If I had begun with his hips, he might have tensed up, which was the last thing I wanted him to do.
Because this was our first SENSE session, what I basically did was outline Sir's body for him. I began at the head, making small "rhythm circles" on his skull. I then moved to his shoulders, down his legs, along his spine, around his hips, down his hind legs. The idea was to make him aware of his entire skeleton and, in particular, to reunite the front end with the hind.
I had wanted to work a bit with his ribs as well, but when I touched them, his breath quickened, which told me this was not comfortable for him. So I moved away from the area. I ended the session by gently grasping his tail and pushing it towards his head, a movement which relaxes the neck and connects the front and hind.
At the end of the session, Sir's walking was noticeably improved. Because he had a better sense of his hind end, he had stopped dragging his toes. By the end of the week, he was actually swinging his hips as he walked.
Sir and I continued to work on freeing up his movement for several months. With each session, I was able to touch areas I had previously been unable to touch and to help Sir find more comfort. Ultimately, Sir's liver failed and his owner made the difficult decision to put him down. But his last few months he became quite the barn dog, making the trip from the house several times a day and following his owner up and down the aisles.
Sir is an extreme example of the animals I work with. I've worked with many dogs in the beginning stages of hip dysplasia in order to teach the animal to move more efficiently so as to slow down the degeneration. I've worked with animals with limps and shuffles, stiff necks and sore backs, grouchy dispositions. Most often with heartwarming results.
Pam Sourelis
PO Box 1681
Woodstock, IL 60098
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Phone:
815.351.8155
Email Pam
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