I have a special interest in sports injury prevention and rehabilitation. We ask a lot of our sports dogs, and owe it to them to ensure they are fit and strong enough to withstand the stresses placed on their bodies by the sport they compete in.
I have trained and competed in a number of dog sports including agility, working trials and obedience. This helps me appreciate the demands that specific training and competing bring, and also understand exactly the sort of tailored rehabilitation exercise programmes necessary to bring a dog back into full training following injury.
Is your agility dog missing weave entries lately, or knocking poles or taking unusually wide turns? Is your obedience dog breaking sit stays for the first time ever? Suddenly your working trials dog would rather not do the long jump or has gone off tracking?
You know your dog better than anyone. If your gut feeling is that something is wrong, then there probably is. I can help you catch and resolve a minor issue before it becomes a problem.
But all dogs can benefit from an occasional MOT. Is your dog getting older? Maybe they don’t look quite as comfortable as usual? They aren’t quite as active? Not as keen to go for walks?
Or maybe there is nothing to worry you at all about your dog, but you want to keep it that way?!
I will never know your dog as well as you do, but I can get to know their gait, their behaviour and their potential issues and together we can keep on top of any problems. If the worse does then happen, I can work more effectively with your vet to treat and rehabilitate your dog.
Look out for workshops I am running at Dig It Dog Training Club, which aim to help you help your dog, and speak to your vet about referring your dog for a physiotherapy check.