another session of Bowen therapy for dogs

Here's a photo of Penny taking it easy after another session of Bowen therapy for dogs. (It's rather hard to see, because she was so comfy in the darkness that I didn't have the heart to use the flash. And the strange colour is  a wash of light from the television set.)

We have been given notes by our therapist, Deb from Bow-Rei Me. (Don't you love that business name?)

Some tips for an after-Bowen day:
Allow Penny to rest undisturbed for as long as she needs, because the body integrates the work best during rest or sleep;
no brushing or bathing for couple of days;
no vigorous stroking or patting for a couple of days (that's a hard one to remember!);
don't give Penny other sorts of treatments for about four days;
tell the vet about the Bowen treatment if we are on medication.

Penny has become increasingly happy with the therapy. In Bowen treatments, the practitioner sometimes moves away from the dog to allow the body to respond to the treatment.

Whenever Deb moved away from Penny, Penny eagerly looked at her, or even moved close, as if saying, 'I'd like more of that, please.'

It's a lovely non-invasive treatment.

is that fish for rolling on or for eating?

I'm hoping that the Bowen therapy will help with Penny's itchiness and her licking. However, we've also been to the vet and he suggested a short course of anti-inflammatories, so we'll try that too.

A friend suggested that more fish in Penny's diet might be good, so I picked up this little bag of treats the other day. (I hope they were sustainably fished and dried without some horrible chemical process.)

But Penny doesn't get it. Treats shouldn't have eyes. These little fish got the same treatment as the raw fish she found in her bowl so long ago.

Yep. The fish got a good rolling-on.

Her technique's not that good, because I think I can see the fish peeping out from under her head. (BTW, it seems the best place to acquire a fishy smell is behind the ears.)

The little dead thing looked kind of lonely after Penny loomed up at the camera to see what I was doing, before wandering away.

I don't like to think of a fish dying for no reason, so I broke our rule that any uneaten food will be removed after a couple of minutes. I left it there.

And what do you know? When I came back later it was gone.

Here's hoping it's not buried somewhere in the house. I think not, because later Penny actually deigned to eat another little fish when I offered it to her.

a dog has Bowen therapy

Today Penny went to a cottage in the hills for her second session of Bowen therapy.

When Penny had her first visit last week, the practitioner suggested we monitor her reaction, and I must say we did think Penny was walking better even after just that one session. For a long time now she has tended to 'hop' along when she hurries, with her two back legs moving together. We think her lower spine is becoming a bit arthritic.

But when we walked last week we thought she was moving more freely. I'll also be interested to see whether it has any effect on her itchy skin.

At this second session, Penny once again seemed relaxed and happy during the gentle hands-on treatment.

At times the therapist took a break, to allow Penny's body time to respond to the treatment, and Penny would look up, as if saying, 'More, please.'

You can see how relaxed Penny was. (This photo was taken after the actual Bowen treatment was finished.)

Here's a bit of info about how it works for animals.

This video clip showing the work of Maddy Casey in the UK is very similar to what Penny experienced.

dogs look for magically disappearing treat

I can't resist reposting this hilarious video I found on Slavenka's blog. BTW, she says the dogs got a treat before and after the tricks.

Dr Who as a dog

I just followed a link from At A Steady Trot, and looked at all the Doctors from Doctor Who as they would look if they were dogs. I love David Tennant's character best of all the Doctors I've seen, but I have to admit I'd choose Christopher Eccleston's dog as the most resembling his human counterpart.

BTW, The Eccleston one sort of reminds me of the spooky Egyptian dog in Honey's mystery, The Curse of the Scarab.

wombat, dog and no rain in sight

When is it going to rain? Our garden is desiccated, and so are the parks where we walk. Here's the soil last week at Yarra Bend.

 

 For the first time in weeks, we decided to take a stroll in Darebin Parklands a couple of days ago, and it sure is dry. The ground is cracking open.


 

The ranger does a terrific job looking after this huge area, and it's great to see the historic mulberry trees are surviving so far.


 

We received an email on Sunday evening warning us to be aware of the wombat that has been released in the Parklands. We'll certainly respect its right to live safely, and won't knowingly disturb it.

To be honest, I'd be a bit scared to meet it unexpectedly. When we go to the hills for our holiday, we don't go too near the huge wombat that lives around our house, except that Penny loves to gobble up his poo. I usually leap out of the car first, gather up the heaps of grassy poo and put it in the compost bin, but occasionally I miss some and Penny delights in it. One time, I closed a gate in the daytime not realising the wombat might be in that paddock. I remembered, went down in the dark to re-open the gate and a humongous giant - the wombat - rushed past as soon as it was open. Penny and I took to our heels in fright.

Australian magpie plays with a canine friend

I loved this clip that a friend sent me, of a dog and a magpie playing together It reminded me of some photos I took years ago of magpies in a local park. It sure looked to me like they were playing, or perhaps the parents were 'disciplining' the baby.

I assumed the grey-backed birds were younglings, and the white-backed ones were adults (though I'm not sure about that). It's interesting that it was not always the baby who was upside-down. Looking around the internet for information about whether Australian magpies do indeed play, I came across this hilarious site. Here's a photo of two youngsters playing while an adult keeps watch.