Detective work is sometimes necessary when working with a dog

Ronnie the Golden Doodle is coming up to 5 now. Last year he was left blind by an unknown illness. But since then, he had been getting on with adapting to being a happy dog again. He can even find stones thrown in shallow pools by tentatively patting along the bottom until he finds it, dives down like a heron and brings it back up with a “Found it Mum” expression. 

We first started seeing Ronnie due to his mild hip subluxation. But his Mum said that recently when she has been massaging him, he has been putting his front arm up almost in a “I need it there now Mum” pose. This puzzled her but think about the way Ronnie is now moving. He is still charging around after his brother but when he knows things are close by, or when he is looking for something, he is ‘feeling’ with his front legs. Imagine a puppet dog – they walk with stiffer front legs – rather like the Lippizana Stallions. That will place extra stress and strains in different parts of the body. The chest muscles will be used for different purposes – in Ronnie’s case, to help with feeling his way. 

He was clearly asking his Mum to concentrate the massage there to help open his chest. He loved his entire therapy session going into, what his Mum calls, his Happy Coma.