Ironing out a few tweaks

Yesterday turned into another long day as I set off down to South Manchester after tea to take a few of the dogs to see our friend from flyball, Kath. Kath is not just another friend from flyball she is also a McTimoney-Corley animal practicioner (see her website for more details). I've had Mac seen to a couple of times before with strains and muscle tears here and there but I was particularly worried about Faith and Ethan. I was suprised by how unfit Faith has come off this litter but watching her move I realised it was more than this and that something is just not quite right with her, she's not extending her back end at all so getting no drive when running and finding it difficult to jump/hurdle. Ethan got very stiff after racing at Easter so I've been very careful to warm him up and down before and after exercise but I just wanted to get him checked over, at only 3 half years old I don't expect him to be like this!

Well, it transpires that Faith has sustained some muscle/ligament damage around her left hip, during either pregnancy or labour, so doesn't currently have a full range of motion on that side, this is what is causing her to 'tuck' and preventing her from extending while running. We're going to continue with the lead walking this week and Katherine will have another look at her at Drax on Saturday...fingers crossed! I would prefer to rest her this weekend to make sure she's fit for Belgium if need be but we're running out of time to make an assessment and declare the teams so we'll see how she is. We have to declare which dogs are running in which teams and what times we expect them to run 3 weeks before the Championships!

I had been worried about Ethans' hips by the way he was(n't) moving but Katherine says he has a good range of movement in both sides so this isn't what is causing his stiffness. Compression of the veterbrae in his upper spine is where the problem lies, probably something to do with the way he charges around like a bull in a china shop all the time!! Ethan is quite short backed so is likely to be more prone to these sort of impact/compression issues. He was very funny being gone over, kept having a real good stretch involuntarily, firstly from his front legs and then stretching right out to his back toes, you could almost hear him saying 'ooh yeh, that feels good...yeh...that's the spot...just up a bit....down a bit'... funny dog...he didn't want to leave, I had to practically drag him out the door!

Mac is the one who least enjoyed the experience, he hates having anything 'done' to him and immediately tenses as soon as he thinks someone might want to do something to him that he might not like, before he even knows what that something might be! He has areas of scar tissue in the muscle on his inner thigh and above his left hip from previous injuries which are very sensitive to the touch but he is in fine fettle at the moment so no worries about him. I'm actually very pleased by how quickly he has lost his winter weight and regained condition this spring. Hopefully as he gets fitter over the season his form will continue to improve.

So...Faith is still a concern at the moment but at least we know why she's moving like a slug now!