Janice Mann slowly moved her hands from the middle of her 8-year-old Golden Retriever's forehead, down the dog's spine checking for hot spots, lumps, or excessive cold. If she found something, she would immediately stop to analyze the situation and make a correction.

"I have no standard or cookie cutter way of what I do," Mann said. She examines each of her patients closely, looking for signs that healing needs to take place. "I'll look and say, what's the coat condition? The front might be great, but in the back it's really bad. I'll say, OK, what organ is affecting this?"

From there, Mann might use some of her training in acupressure to stimulate a certain organ to bring the dog's coat back to a lustrous shine. Or she might incorporate healing touch into her treatment. "If I could have a crusade of my own, it would be the helping of our dogs," Mann said.

Mann's crusade actually began with Joanne Lang, the founder of the Lang Institute for Canine Massage in Loveland. In the spring of 1996, Lang, along with a few other women, began making the drive to the Land of Ahs Kennel every four to six weeks in order to do canine massage for pet owners in the Fountain Valley area.

It was around this time that Mann began her apprenticeship with Lang at the kennel. What she learned would have profound effects on her life and livelihood.

"They were coming down here for several years," Land of Ahs owner Eileen Maser said. "After they left, Janice took over."

She had been employed as a dog trainer for many years, but Mann, a self-described "learning junkie," has seen the amazing results of incorporating other more holistic healing practices, like massage, into her work.

"I saw so many reports where owners were told their animals would never walk again, and then they walked. Animals recovering after surgery had massage and recovered so much faster," Mann said.

Mann has expanded her knowledge base to incorporate such divergent fields as acupressure, healing touch, Reiki (a Japanese stress reduction and healing technique), and massage.

Being trained in so many different fields has been a boon for Mann's business. She is the only person certified as both a pet dog trainer and canine massage practitioner working in Colorado Springs. "Between the massage and the training, I'm all over the place," she said. "I go north, south, east, and west. I have a client in Peyton I go to regularly. I even go up to Monument and beyond."

Mann does quite a bit of work in the Fountain Valley area, due in part to her listing as a resource on the Land of Ahs Kennel's Web site (www.landofahskennel.com). It's probably due in larger part to the high quality work she does for all her clients.

"Every single dog that I work with, whether in training or massage, I give it my all. [I give] 150 percent," Mann said. "A lot of people have heard of me by word of mouth. Clients will refer other people to me because they've been pleased. That means so much to me that people will tell their friends and family."

It was word of mouth that brought Mann into Josefa Truscott's life. Mann came to treat Toby, a 7-year-old Lhasa apso, through volunteer work she does for hospice. When Truscott's husband Ralph passed away five months ago, she told a hospice bereavement counselor that they had always wanted to be able to take their dog on walks with them. An incident in Toby's youth had prevented the couple from walking their dog for many years.

"We took him to the groomers every two weeks when he was a baby," Truscott said. "We got him back and he just didn't look like our dog. He didn't act like our dog. I think they put a kind of noose on him to keep him still, and maybe he fell. But of course they won't tell you that. He used to walk on a leash before that."

Emotional trauma. It's a term that gets thrown around a lot in reference to humans, but not so much with animals. But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Toby had been through a traumatic experience, but before Mann could begin to deal with the issue of the leash, there was an even more pressing issue at hand.

"On the first day, I could see that the dog was not moving well. He wouldn't put weight on his back legs at all," said Mann. "I said to her, you know we could work on this dog behaviorally from now until kingdom come and this dog still is not going to want to walk because he's not comfortable."

It turns out Toby had recently broken his leg. Mann was attentive enough to spot it. She got Toby the leg surgery he needed and then began coming over once or twice a week whenever she had time to massage Toby's leg and speed the recovery process. During these sessions, Mann also began to incorporate working with the leash.

"I started slowly, slowly, slowly getting the dog used to the leash. Slowly getting the dog used to the collar. Just doing a lot of gradual desensitization," Mann said. "To make a long story short, the dog is going for walks now. It's a perfect example of how both methodologies (training and massage) really tie into one another. It's such a neat story because she now is able to walk the dog. The first time she was able to walk Toby, she said, 'I just wish Ralph knew.' I said, 'I think Ralph knows.'"

Even though business is booming, Mann said it's not all about the money. "The reward is in helping the person and helping keep the dog in a home. I would much rather see a dog kept in a home than that dog taken to a humane society just because that person couldn't afford a little bit of training," she said. "Sure, this is my living and I need to feed myself and my own dogs. But there's more to it than just the dollar amount."

Mann said she prefers people call her with inquiries about her rates because "some people will look at a rate and say, 'They're very cheap. They must not be very good.' Other people will say, 'That's very high. They're only in it for the money.'" Mann prefers to speak with potential clients so that they understand her qualifications and the type of service she will be providing to their pets.

Mann said that, in addition to her current work as a trainer and massage specialist, she would also be giving behavior classes at the Veterinary Specialty Center at 5520 N. Nevada beginning in March.

For more information, contact Janice Mann at 264-1267 or janmann99@aol.com.