I first met Corkie, his amazing Dad and the unique Corkie Stair Lift at the end of the year in 2017. Since then, we’ve met a couple of more times when his Dad organised some training sessions for other Mums and Dads over at St Leonards.
In 2017, Corkie had just been diagnosed with OA and his Dad wanted to know how he could help with this new issue. Physical therapy via massage and exercise, was a perfect fit for Corkie and his Dad started a routine of daily sessions with him.
However, Corkie’s condition is degenerative as is his mobility. His Dad had become aware that the work he was doing with him probably needed a tweak to match these changes. Corkie is beginning to drag his hind leg a little, he is finding it harder to get up after a sit and is less likely to settle.
The first thing to do is to have a pain medication review – which is what his Dad did and Corkie is now on Galliprant and Paracetamol. Both are helping but new things are needed to help stabilise his ongoing OA.
Treating OA is rather like trying to find the pieces to build a jigsaw – you are adding items to make the whole more stable. Therapy is multi-faceted and adaptive to changing conditions. Corkie has the pain medication, now he has a new targetted massage routine, he is soon to have his first session of acupuncture from the wonderful Tim Couzens and will probably start hydrotherapy in the near future.
All these pieces of the jigsaw will look after his discomfort, his energy levels, his cardiovascular and muscular fitness.
At the end of this session, Corkie was certainly happier – he was wagging his tail (which he hadn’t done in a while) asking his Dad to collect his lift and carry him downstairs to the park. He fairly bounded across the road.
My Luther is the dog I’ve worked with longest – over 3 years. When he was first referred to AchyPaw, his Dads had run out of ideas to help with his increasing arthritis in his hips. He had gone off his back legs and they feared the worst.
When their vet first told their Dads of us, they were a bit sceptical to say the least. His Instagram comment in 2015 was “Luther hardly moves but I’ve got a canine massage therapist coming on Saturday – I kid you not. Can’t quite believe I’ve even shared that – that’s SO Brighton”.
One week later a video of me massaging his handsome boy went up on the same Instagram feed (search #lutherweimaraner) with a comment of “Luther having his weekly massage with Dr Les. This stuff works!”. Well that didn’t take long to convince Dad did it?
And 3 weeks later the comment went “Luther having his 3rd massage….Luther actually RAN along the road when he saw him”. So that’s Luther convinced too.
Since then Luther and I have shared a journey. He still has his bad days – that’s the insidious nature of osteoarthritis. We’ve been through hydrotherapy and various medication regimes. On his really bad days, it’s easy enough to just get on the AchyPaw bike and go to give him an extra boost of massage benefit.
His mobility is greatly helped by his Help’Em Up harness which he wears all day now. It gives him the confidence that he is not going to slip or fall as his Dads can support him from the front and back. Plus being massaged daily by his Dads benefits too and all the household adaptations they have put in place.
He’s just celebrated his 13th birthday. He walks less than he used to 3 years ago – but so do I. He has even gained a new brother, Hugo (Instagram #hugoweimaraner) who I spotted on Waifs & Strays website and thought would make a great addition to their family. The boys get on as though they have always been together. Massage sessions HAVE to be done with them both side by side.
Every 4 weeks Hugo now gets his own massage from me while Chris works with Luther, or the other way round depending on which dog picks who. But on the days Chris is not there, his Dad massages him using the tools we have equipped them with over the years.
Thanks for the journey Luther. Looking forward to much more.
...don't just wait until they are senior or suffer from arthritis. You can help manage and maintain their mobility at an early age.
We love working with our senior boys and girls but equally enjoy working with the newbies. Frank is only 10 months old but had already had 4 homes. His current carers adopted him 5 months ago. Not surprisingly he was initially not happy with other dogs as he had missed out on much puppy socialization.
He is now a lot better and goes to Debbie Peters of Schooling 4 Dogs to help catch-up with his training. Recently she noticed his back seemed a bit stiff and sent a video to our colleague Cathie Forbes who, in turn, referred him to us as we are more local.
By the way, 10/10 to Debbie for taking the video. It helped us see what
she meant. Videos are great. They help you explain your concerns to
your therapist or vet and they give you comparators for monitoring
progress or change. My phone is full of videos of our Sarah walking
which I can show to her specialist vet to explain what I see every day -
we only see him twice a year and this way he can monitor her progress.
Frank is a Chihuahua/Jack Russell cross and as cute as a button. Chris was able to visit quite quickly after we received the vet agreement form (another benefit of having two therapists in the team).
There didn’t seem to be any specifically out-of-balance issue with Frank on initial palpation although he did have a trigger point found in his shoulder. Despite being energetic and bouncy, Chris was able to perform a full massage routine on him which released a lot of fur and tension and created a lot of yawns.
One of the things both Chris and his owners noticed was that, when walking on the massage mat, he held his back relaxed. On the floor, however, he hunched slightly. He also learnt that he could use the cushion to jump on the sofa and then our massage mat to get back down again rather than the wooden floor. Runners, mobility islands and mats will be re-instated.
Chris demonstrated some back-stretching exercises and our special quick-but-efficient warm-up/cool-down Locomotion. Although no specific issues were found, Chris recommended that if the stiffness continues or they are worried, the vet should be the next port of call.
By maintaining his balance, as Frank matures this should help him avoid having issues. This is what Cathie and I will be discussing in our winter workshops on ““Supporting your dog to reach their full potential through every stage of their life”. Give me a call if you’d like to come along.
“Apologies for all the mats and rugs Les” said Oscar’s Mum when I visited. Apologies? Oh no.......she deserved an AchyPaw Good Mum medal.
She said that the wood flooring in her house didn't help with Oscar’s mobility. She found he was wobbly and slippy. Putting mats, rugs and carpets all around might not look co-ordinated but Oscar didn’t care. He just saw safety islands and places to walk.
When dog Mums and Dads have opened the door to us, asking to be forgiven or explaining their irregular mats and carpets, they are met with a beaming smile from us and a “well done”.
After Chris’s visit to Henry, we received an email saying “Here’s Henry on his new massive rug in the lounge - no more slippery lounge floor. His grandma and grandad bought it for him. Spoilt? Never!!”. And the rug matched his colouring. That’s cool.
When I made my visit to little senior boy Blue, the floor was covered in dustsheets – not for re-decorating – but so Blue could walk around the whole house without slipping on the wooden floor. Now that was a great use of stuff you’ve probably already got around the house somewhere.
And recently, handsome chunky Hector’s Mum mentioned the carpet but it was exactly what he needed to walk without worry of skidding or sliding.
It needn’t cost the earth.
Use your imagination and those bits and pieces you have around the house, as long as they don’t slide across the floor. Old mats, rugs, off cuts of carpets, yoga mats, dustsheets, anything is better than slipping legs on your dog.
Don’t apologise – celebrate the multi-colour irregular mats, carpets and rugs. We do!
Go bright - walk safe
Your dog is a family member. If one of your two-legged family members had a mobility issue (and that includes crawling babies) you’d do the best to make things safe for them. The same should be for your four-legged friend. When we make our AchyPaw Canine Physical Therapy home visits, we don’t just offer massage and exercise advice, but also give advice on appropriate home adaptations which might help their dog feel more comfy and safe.
Here is a simple A, B, C to help make some improvements.
A is for ACCESS. How many steps and stairs does your dog walk up and down daily in your house just to get around or to get in and out? Are they human sized steps? You can make simple and inexpensive improvements to ease their access.
If you’ve got full sized stairs, buy some Half Steps (they are used for human mobility aids). We’ve got an old house with clumsy sized steps. No more – we have half steps everywhere which are more dog sized. Some are bought, some are home made. The dogs don’t seem to care how expensive they are, just how safe they now feel. And they must work as when we have canine visitors to our house, they always go straight to Sarah’s Steps rather than the bigger ones.
Sometimes, a ramp might be necessary. There are many varieties available but check the size and weight they can hold – and how manageable they are for you - or you might not use them. You could even make your own. To get from our back door to the car, there were many different sized steps. We made a ramp by cutting decking planks to size, fixing them to a frame, and placing it over the offending steps.
If your dog goes up and down stairs on their own but is now getting a bit wobbly, buy a stair guard to put up when you’re out so they don’t try to climb and fall down.
B is for BOREDOM. If your dog is slowing down a bit in their senior years, you can hide the ball that finds its way under the sofa and introduce some Mind Games. Again, you can find all sorts to buy or make one with tennis balls in a muffin tin with treats hidden underneath. The dogs will spend ages picking out the balls to get to the treats. Snuffle Mats, perhaps hiding low calorie treats, can encourage mind stimulation.
C is for CARPETS or lack of. This is the top way to keep your dog injury free according to Natalie Lenton of the Canine Massage Therapy Centre (http://www.k9-massageguild.co.uk/the-number-1-way-to-keep-your-dog-injury-free/). I know, laminate floors are easy to look after, but they can be very tricky to navigate if you’ve got aging joints or small paws. You don’t need to completely carpet your house, just provide islands of runners and mats so the dogs can get safely from their bed, to the door, to their food bowl. Otherwise, to the dog, it can be like walking over a glacier. I always carry a number of carpet runners in my car for visits for demonstration. Every time the dogs see it, they walk straight to it and on it.
D is for DRIVING – (you not the dog). You’re going to take your dog for a walk. How do you get them in the car? If they are light enough, you can lift them. But this is not always possible. Again, there are many ramps and portable stairs to help them get into the car. The main requirement for me when I bought my new car, was the height of the boot. Not too high and enough to fit our drive perfectly. We even built a bridge for the dogs to get in and out. Simple but effective. While you’re there, warm them up before you drive them for their walk and cool them down when they’ve finished. We use the simplest but effective warm-up / cool-down called the Locomotion.
E is for EXTRA HELP. Some dogs with mobility problems or getting senior, find it hard to get up from lying down. Try a harness. There are several that have handles front and back which will give your dog that little extra assistance and thus confidence to stand up. Some can even be left on all day but check out how comfy they feel before you do. If you haven’t got a harness, a towel or a strong scarf also works wonders.
F is for FOOD BOWL (and water bowl). Try this. Get on all fours. Imagine your food is on the floor. Bend down to reach it. Ouch – your neck starts to hurt, your back aches. If that food was raised a few inches it would make the whole process easier and comfier.
Z is for ZZZZZZZZZ (sleep and bedtime). Is your dog sleeping comfortably? Try sitting on their bed for a while. Do you feel a bit numb? It might be the bed needs more padding, to be firmer or perhaps a memory foam mattress. Again, you can buy all sorts of these or make them yourself. We bought some memory foam offcuts, some cheap bed covers, cut the foam to size, slip them in the covers, dogs love them.
A few simple but effective ways to help your dog feel safer getting around and about the house.
