ABOUT

A little bit about me

Sarah Whittaker

RVN, Dip AVN (Surg), Dip VNRT, CCMP, CCMN

Fully insured with Balens.

Hello, my name is Sarah Whittaker, and I am the proud owner of Chilterns Clinical Canine Massage.

I was born and brought up in the Chilterns and still live in the beautiful Chiltern hills with my Labrador cross Working Cocker, Sorrel.

My whole working career has been centred around animals. When I left school I trained and qualified as a Registered Veterinary Nurse. I have now been nursing for 32 years with the last 21 of those years being at an independent practice in Henley on Thames.

I have a keen interest in orthopaedics and neurology and as well as my nursing qualification I also hold diplomas in Surgical Nursing and in Rehabilitation. In recent years my passion has been the management of canine osteoarthritis and I run dedicated clinics for our arthritic pets. Chronic pain is so debilitating and it is in running these clinics that I have seen the huge difference a multimodal approach, including massage, can make to the management and wellbeing of dogs with arthritis.

I have also experienced the profound effect of physiotherapy and, in particular, deep tissue massage for myself when I tore a disc in my lower back. The pain was excruciating and required several weeks of treatments to aid my recovery.

These experiences inspired me to complete the two year Clinical Canine Massage Practioner Programme with the Canine Massage Therapy Centre. This has allowed me to help not only senior, arthritic dogs but also those troubled by acute or chronic orthopaedic and neurological conditions.

Since completing the course and setting up Chilterns Clinical Canine Massage, I have joined the Canine Massage Guild, the professional body representing Clinical Canine Massage Therapists. This is a network of highly skilled and professional therapists which supports its members and ensures that skills, knowledge, safe practice and high standards are maintained.

...and Sorrel

Sorrel came into my life in December 2016 when a litter of puppies came into the veterinary practice that I work in. It’s a long story but mum, a beautiful black Labrador, was mated without her owners knowing and Sorrel was the end result. DNA testing later revealed that dad was a working cocker spaniel – a truly bonkers mix but by that point the decision was made and there was no going back.

Sorrel is hard work, challenging and keeps me on my toes all the time but I would not be without her now!

Sorrel accompanied me to all of my practical weekends whilst training to be a canine massage therapist. All of the other students had beautifully controlled, calm, relaxed dogs that were stars for their massage treatments. Sorrel on the other hand was the total opposite – a live wire and coiled spring waiting to great everybody that dared to come near my massage couch. She was that excited that I had to keep the lead on her whilst working on her!

And then the switch happened. By the third practical weekend she seemed to understand what she needed to do and why she was there, and from that point on, I too had the model patient.

If the canine massage practitioner programme has taught me one thing it is that even the craziest of dogs, like Sorrel, can and do settle for massage. It just takes a little bit of patience and understanding. In class we were taught a variety of techniques to help settle dogs - gentle passive touch and stillness between therapist and dog, an anxious and fidgety therapist will result in an anxious and fidgety dog. If you have a mindful therapist with a calm demeanour you will have a calm and settled dog.

So far Sorrel has led an extremely active life – when she goes for it she goes for it big time. In recent weeks I have just started to notice some subtle signs of osteoarthritis creeping into some of her forepaw digits. I have made some adjustments to her Activities of Daily Living such as lifting her out of the car and have put her onto a joint supplement. And of course, she receives the occasional massage too.

How does it work?

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