On a related subject to the whole stiffness / muscle question on my other thread, I was wondering if there are any canine massage courses I could take. As well as my older girl with the stiffness in sitting (though she can jump up for treats and leap on and off the sofa perfectly well), I have a 5 year old who occasionally seems to pull a muscle or have some sort of problem with her shoulder or leg, where she spends a few days occasionally squeaking if she moves suddenly and not being able to jump, and then improves again to normal fitness. She's been to the vet when she's had a bad episode (it's only been 3 or 4 times in her life, not a frequent thing) and he gave her some anti inflammatories. So I wondered if learning to massage would be a good way of soothing this occasional stiffness and soreness that she has, plus the older girl's stiffness. How do I go about finding out if there is such a course and where they might be?

Not sure it's exactly what you want but have a look at galen therapy for animals and tellington touch.

Can't help re massage courses, but have you considered acupunture for your dog?   We had a couple of sessions for our Basset when he was experiencing pain associated with the premature growth plate closure (ulna, both sides).   It pretty much put him to sleep - certainly didn't do any harm although I'm not sure about good!!  It was better than resorting in drugs!

My hubby would probably be even less keen on acupuncture than the physio haha, but that wouldn't stop me investigating - will see if the place near me that does the physio and hydro does anything like that. I'd have quite liked to find a course to teach myself the basics of therapeutic massage, as this stiffness is only dropping us points in rally, not affecting her day to day life at all. :-)

I haven't used acupuncture on animal but have had it for me . I was amazed at how much it helped  my back even more than the osteopaths original treatment ( she did both ) and it didn't hurt . There are different types and the one I have had is western

I was looking at this one yesterday http://www.k9-massage.co.uk/main/events.asp

Ooh thanks! That might be just what I want - bit of a trek but then everywhere is from Suffolk!