brooke's blog

For many of our aussie pooches they love swimming but find entering the pool or water without walking in a little disconcerting.

We are looking into an appropriate ramp to help with the safety of this for the owner and the dog and make swimming less stressful.

Have a look at: http://pupgearcorporation.com/Products/doggydocks for an option (though a little costly).

I find the ruffwear portage float coat has been fantastic over the years to provide just enough buoyancy, last for years and fit snugly.  This helps you safely get your dog in and out of the water also.

Happy swimming!

It was great to see Roisin this week. We have been working so hard this year to get her back on track. Roisin had a total hip replacement earlier this year which unfortunately had complications.  After implant removal she needed a lot of work to slowly build her stability and strength.  With acupuncture and massage for pain relief and intensive physiotherapy and swimming at home she is finally getting back on track.  With hip dysplasia it is important to keep working on her at home and maintenance with physiotherapy to ensure we are minimising the effects of arthritis.  She is certainly a lot happier. Feel free to watch her progress in the underwater treadmill this week.  If you compare to my blog entry to October 8th you can see she is much better. 

As I reduced the height of the water you can see it becomes more difficult for Roisin as she needs the strength in her hip flexors to break the surface tension of the water. 

 This is something we can work on for her with exercises at home e.g. walking through long grass, stepping over logs, walk through ladders etc.   We also need to improve her fine stability so she can support herself standing on the leg better (a bit like pilates for dogs if you like) for her deep gluteal muscles. She is doing so well considering she was on 3 legs for months!

Well done!

Well summer is almost here. Rosy and Gucci had a lovely relaxing acupuncture session this week after her workout in the underwater treadmill.  Gucci with her chronic arthritis in her spine and hips is enjoying the warmer weather and getting to the water more often.  If you wonder if acupuncture is well tolerated (she is also having electroacupuncture here)... have a look at his picture!  Thanks for my kisses again this week Gucci!

cheers

My day is certainly full of variety. I left my equine acupuncture course to come to NCVS to treat this little fella. Nelson has survived being hit by a car with severe pelvic injuries.  He is slowly recovering and has tolerated all the steps I have put him through in the last week.

We sent him home to his keen owner up north to carry on getting his legs moving again.  He will need a lot of work but such a gorgeous fella deserves to have all his 4 legs working for him. I wish him all the best and look forward to hearing how he gets on!

Cheers