How to Massage a Dog's Back Legs

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Mary with expertvillage.com and this time we're going to look at the back legs. The thing about the back legs and the hips of course is that this is where a lot of dogs get injured. This is where a lot of arthritis happens in older dogs, also hip dysplasia in certain animals. If your dog has hip dysplasia, please make sure it's okay with your vet before you try massaging, you don't want to hurt your dog. In using the back legs, the very first thing you want to do is your long slow strokes. Oh, you might see your dog stretch in reaction to doing that and a lot of times their legs will suddenly do that, the dog will pull away from you but that's okay. When he pulls away from you, that's your signal to start doing the sponge, in and out again, in and out again and go down to the knee. You want to push this leg up just a little bit, we will talk more about this later."