ITT Instructors     ITT History

Patricia Whalen-Shaw
Integrated Touch Therapy ^® Inc. Instructor

Patricia Whalen-Shaw, the primary instructor for Integrated Touch Therapy, Inc. has been riding and working with animals for over 40 years.  She has taught equine, canine and feline massage since 1992.  She's the president and founder of ITT, Inc.®, a company dedicated to the ethical and high-quality instruction in the art of massage for animals.

Previously, Patricia was co-founder and past-president of Optissage, Inc.   She has been a recipient of Who's Who in Executives and in Businesses from 1998 to 2000.  She's a licensed massage therapist in Ohio, nationally certified by the NCBTMB and is sports-massage certified.

Her massage career highlights include being chosen as a massage therapist for the 1996 Paralympics Games in Atlanta, the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Manatoba, Canada, and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She has taught equine massage at Otterbein College through the Equine Science Department and has written and published three books, 2 videos, and 2 DVDs.

Patricia holds a B.G.S. from Ohio University, an M.S. from Indiana University, and has taken graduate course work in sports psychology.  She is a graduate of Central Ohio School of Massage, and is an associate polarity practitioner, and registered cranial sacral therapist.

Besides having had the honor of training thousands of students about massage techniques for animals and how to apply these techniques while honoring the animal, Patricia has personally worked with Grand Prix Dressage Horses, 3/Day Eventers, ropers, reiners, as well as racing greyhounds, dogs participating in agility and obedience, nose work, Schutzund, guide dogs and performance felines.

Patricia currently resides at Synergy Farm.

Click here to see an article on pet massage.

Click here to see an article Pat authored, which appeared in the November 09 issue of Massage & Bodywork.

Maria Duthie

Maria K. McManus Duthie completed her massage training through the Optissage program in Circleville Ohio. She has studied animal science at the University of Florida, exotic animal management at the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo program, and animal behavior at Indiana University. She has owned horses for over twenty years and has worked as a stable manager, groomer, trainer, and exercise rider in a number of stables with a variety of disciplines.

She was a zookeeper for four years during which time she wrote several papers on behavioral enrichment. It was while in this position she began to see the correlation between physical pain and behavioral problems first hand. She then began to study several forms of healing touch and behavior modification.

In addition to exotics, she studied dog, cat, and horse behavior. The combination of behavioral knowledge, anatomical knowledge, and massage techniques in addition to several years of practical experience allows Maria to work with animals on several levels. Annisage promotes healthier animals from the inside out.

Currently, Maria is teaching monthly classes in How To Massage Your Own Dog. Additionally, she is involved in giving speeches for both national and local groups.

The History of Integrated Touch Therapy,^® Inc.

The use of massage for health and wellness dates back as far as recorded history. Massage therapy, an ancient healing art, seems new for us, especially when applied to an animal companion. The concept of animal massage is relatively new as a field of practice in the U.S.

Animal massage as a profession was what directed Patricia to attend massage-therapy school after she moved back to Ohio in the 1980's. Upon completion of her training and licensure in human massage, she co-founded Optissage, Inc. and held the first clinic in animal massage at Synergy Farm in 1992. The increasing number of related modalities of animal touch therapies resulted in the evolution of ITT^®Inc.  ITT^®offers high-quality, intensive-teaching programs held at the beautiful Synergy Farm facility, just south of Columbus, Ohio. Integrated Touch Therapy,^® Inc. holds a service mark and trademark for teaching massage and performing massage and bodywork. The goal is to achieve health and wellness through stress reduction, relaxation and performance enhancement using massage and touch therapy.

Patricia believes strongly that all living beings should benefit from the  healing and pleasant experiences derived from the art and science of massage and touch therapy. Her students learn to combine the styles of Swedish massage and sport massage, pre/post event theory, and techniques combined into a logical and progressively deeper choreography. The workshops are designed for, and have been presented to, massage therapists, body workers, veterinarians, veterinary technicians, animal professionals, and others from all around the world.