A little story about my own dog, Star

A little story about my own dog, Star.

Many of you have probably met Star over the years as shes always out and about with me.

This shoot season she just hadn't been right. Looking very stiff and sore after a days work, sometimes coming up lame on her left hind leg, measuring or refusing to jump and bunny hopping up the stairs. The symptoms would come and go and, obviously I've been attempting to assess and treat her throughout....BUT....treating your own dog is sooooooo hard!!!!! Especially when the answers aren't clear. I often only partially treat her, not giving her the time and patience I would give to any of your animals which makes her suspicious of my intentions, anxious, and generally the situation descends into her spinning around like a nutter while I get angry and frustrated ending up with no idea where the issue actually is

This is when I gave in and contacted the lovely Laura Cole from Paddock & Paws Veterinary Physiotherapy . I was booked in to treat one of her horses so we agreed on a treatment swap and she would also look at Star. Collaboration between therapists can give the ultimate treatment approach for your animals, combining our knowledge and skills for the optimum outcome and this has certainly been the case for Star! Laura has a stance analyser, a useful bit of kit, which showed Star was unloading her right hind limb, the limb I've always suspected her to be weaker on but the most recent lameness was on the left! And all her assessments pointed towards a primary issue in the lumbosacral area of her back.

This has given me so much clarity as to where to direct my treatment and I've made an effort to put time aside to treat her with patience and compassion, as I would any other dog I saw within my practice, and the last week there has definitely been a break through Star is more comfortable and has relaxed and let me treat her without the bonkers behaviour!! She is starting to jump onto the furniture again without measuring and is starting to take the stairs in single steps rather than bunny hopping. I have given her an 8 week program of rest, treatment and controlled tailored exercises and will reassess how she is once back to full 'spanielling' mode after this period. It may be that we need to get some images of what's going on under the surface but I'm so much happier with the progress she's now making!

Massive thank you to Laura for helping me see through the emotional fog that clouds your judgement with your own animals