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Update!!!
Starting the next part of Knight journey. Knight officially started his fitness course today. We will be starting out working on his core. Various basic exercises such as Head Nods, sit walk forward down, paw pods, Posture it, adducted Stand, etc.Also Harmony gave him a massage when we completed the evaluation. I figure since we were there and he did have a class last week plus being more active this past week I wanted to see how his little body held up. He was in great shape. His right front was a little sore and his hamstrings were tight.
Moving ahead
More good news! Harmony only found one area around the left shoulder that was sore. She believes it was just residual from the chiro appt. She just asked me to put heat on. Other than that he looks good! She also gave the green light to do agility. Will be starting fitness on 4/21. Between now and then we discussed what I can start from a fitness standpoint. — Figure 8s – cone and between legs, ladder work, sits and downs, sits and stands, stand and down, put front feet on low plank and stretch. Also will do the exercise that Dr McCall requested.
Feeling good!!
Just quick update! He had class yesterday. Two quick sessions (about a minute each). Just did easy lines with him and he sped through along with going into tunnels. He did go do a dog walk and will admit he did the weaves. He saw the weaves and went right to them. Bottom line. I was able to feel the positive energy from him while he was running and seeing the determination on his face was amazing.
Now this afternoon at 3pm he sees the Harmony for a massage. Will keep you updated.
Also got the Chiro notes. This is the exercise she requested me to do.
Proprioceptive exercise: Ipsilateral lowering of R side from standing (R side only) aprox 2 to 3 cm down to floor from raised pad/board, etc while L front and hind remain elevated on raised pad/board. SLOW. This is a sensory proprioceptive exercise to stimulate neural re-patterning, NOT a strength building/fitness exercise.Again will send update after Knight sees Harmony this afternoon.
Just want to let you know that Knight got the okay to do agility again. The Vet Chiropractor was really happy with him. Suggested I put both his front and rear left paws on the fit bone and his right side on the flow to help his balance. (hope that makes sense).
Tomorrow is class so taking it slowly with him. Sunday I do have class at Five Point.
Any suggestions GREATLY APPRECIATED. I AM IN NO RUSH GETTING HIM INTO COMPETITION.Also, I do have another massage session on Thursday and then most likely will start conditioning program.
Yes a BIG SIGH OF RELIEF.
Went for Knight’s massage yesterday. Harmony was REALLY pleased with his progress. The areas where he was tender last week were healed. He had 2 trigger areas though, one on the left and one on the right side in shoulder area that she was able to release with no issue. Going to give him another week of rest. Knight will be seeing Dr McCall, Vet Chiro, next Tuesday. If she feels he is good, then we will start class back up. Also next week Knight will see Harmony next Thursday.
Great! Following up is good to track how he is feeling. Since he was still showing some pain, I recommend skipping class this week – even trying to keep things easy might be too much (he might do something like put himself in the weaves LOL) and since he has been showing a pain response for a few sessions in a row, skipping class til there is no more soreness or tend spots will be the quickest route to feeling better.
Thanks for suggesting not to go class. I decided not to go. Definitely want to stay on the conservative side on this process. FYI He was playing tug with me again this morning!!! Love seeing his eyes shine!!!
Thank you again for suggestions!! Will keep you in the loop
Update:
Took Knight to class on Sunday. He was hesitant at first. But he took it upon himself and did the weaves. After that he was back to his normal self. I just let him run and be happy.
He did see Harmony yesterday. She palpated him and found couple tender areas and massage them out. Harmony believes that these issues were residual from the chiro treatment. To be on the safe side Knight will be seeing her again next Monday since he has a class tomorrow which he will just have fun. (Not going to work hard with him). Also setting up another chiro appt in 2 weeks to be on the safe side. FYI I know he is feeling better because he is engaging with me at home more than he has since Montana passed away. Yes I am doing a happy dance!!! But being cautious!!!!!!!
Now keeping my fingers cross that someone does not attend one of your seminars (Nail it or Young Dogs) at Christine Fleischmann location in May so we can see you!!!!! and hoping to get in a Paws for Thought.
Since he had some big stuff going on, I would wait as long as possible and when he does go back into the ring, have a ton of treats and do jumps without bars. No tunnels (he could slip!), no contacts (hard on the body, especially the a-frame and teeter) and no weaves (too much bending). That way he can move safely while his body recovers a bit more. Then see if you can have him seen again before doing ‘real’ agility – we don’t want him to feel any pain and have that associated with agility.
Made the decision not to run in Speedway on Saturday. Give him an extra day of rest and also did not want to immediately put him in a competition environment. So I will taking him to class on Sunday at Joels and just look for him to be happy. Know Joel will let me do whatever I want to.
Also just made an appointment with Harmony, massage/canine fitness, for a massage on Monday to see how he is after Monday’s class. During this time, I will be also chatting with her about a Canine fitness program for him. I know a fitness program really helped my one dog, Zach who is now retired, for his last 2 years in sports.
And Dr McCall, Vet Chiro, did say it is up to me if I want to have her see Knight again in 3 to 4 weeks. Of course I will schedule an appointment in 3 weeks.
Just took him and the rest of the crew for a long walk about an hour before it rains here to keep the energy level down!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Update Dr McCall saw Knight this morning. His right side/hip area quite tight. Since this was an intense adjustment, she does not want him to do any agility for the next 2 to 3 days so the adjustment can integrate. Minor adjustment in the back area. When he gaited after the adjustment for Dr. McCall, I could just tell he was moving more freely.
I will make a decision if I want to do CPE speedway run through on Saturday or just wait until class on Sunday with Joel.
Poor little dude! I am glad Harmony found this. Were his back and shoulders feeling ok?
Super! The vet can prescribe stuff, and also maybe check patellas with him lying on his side. A common source of iliopsoas ouch in smaller dogs? Patella! I know this firsthand with one of my dogs and also with a bunch of student dogs. It is good to rule it out and if he is standing, he might be strong enough to clench everything tight LOL!! So checking that when he is lying on his side will give a true picture
Back – Harmony found minor issues. Shoulders fine.
Will ask the vet to check the patellas.
Went to see Harmony, massage therapist, yesterday. Knight’s right illopsoas was very tight possible reason is his left hind leg muscle (don’t ask me the name!!!!) was also very tight. Icing and putting heat on areas per Harmony. Next stop Vet Chiro for adjustment. On the road to recovery!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just a quick update.
Took Knight to class on Wednesday and he was his dynamo self. I did give him down time yesterday and I massage him along with my other 2 critters. (Getting back into the swing of things. Yea Spring even though it is still cold! Next week going to climb to 60)) Today going to work on more tricks.
Sunday he does have a class at the place I go to every other week (Five Points).I do have a massage appointment set up with a Vet Tech/Certified Canine Fitness trainer on Monday. Last time he saw her was in early November time frame. The following week on Tuesday I have an appointment with the Vet who does chiropractic work. Last time he has seen the Vet was in October. Next get an appointment set up to run blood work.
– volume dial! What tricks get him moving a lot – can be spins, barks, hopping up for a nose touch, high five, leg weaves, etc… first we get them with food, then without food (remote reinforcement).
Ok. He does spins and nose touches. I am working on leg weaves which he loves. And truly never thought about them in the run throughs.
– leash off, engagement on. When he is concerned, he wants to move away as soon as the leash is off. So pumping up the value of the leash off, engagement on game will really help: this can start with taking the leash off and running a few steps, then giving him a cookie or two or three 🙂 That way, the leash coming off becomes a cue that great things are going to happen and he automatically engages in that moment.
okay will do!
Back to the stress… it is hard to know exactly *why* he is stressing about it, because the triggers are not always the same. This time, there was no one back there. Yes, people were at the front of the ring but also – there was food in the ring with him and he was still concerned. Is it because the tunnels were dark? Did something weird happen back there, at some point in the past? Is it the weird visual od all the other stuff back there? Hard to know. But we need to help him out 🙂
Again this is the same location he has trained at for the last 3 years on a weekly basis. So he has seen all the stuff in the back. Same tunnels that were used in the run through are used in class.
When this issue began is when he went into a tunnel at a trial in Cato and he just stopped when he came out. Something happen inside the tunnel. I assume he slide in the tunnel. After this occurred his confidence was shot totally. It took about 3 weeks to gain it back in class. I say he was normal in class about 6 weeks later.
In order to get his confidence back running I rented at Premier in Lancaster NY and took him and Montana then. Since no one was around he ran his speedy self. (Note before Cato he ran there in competition with no issue.)
I also started doing drop ins at PFTF with Deb. Again at first no way. Then his confidence came back and runs in class fine. I did a seminar there and he at first did not want to run. There was a dog walk included in the seminar. I had him run over it and after that for the rest of the seminar he was awesome. Another seminar there he did a total shutdown that is when I signed up with you. (Note: again before Cato he ran there in UKI competition.)The class I attend on 2 Sundays a month I took him there to get his confidence back. (This is the place I had people come out on the floor 2/23). He started the same way and then confidence came and was fine. The only time I noticed a difference is if there were different people in class his confidence dropped. One time Joel had a seminar in the building and he started in total shutdown mode but ended up on the second run, etc with confidence and speed.
I also took him to 2 other locations as drop ins to help build his confidence. Same scenario. The one location also has UKI trials. This is where I captured him in late October doing the pattern games outside the ring but total shutdown inside the ring.
During this time I thought it was just getting his self-confidence back, but guess it is more. Just hope we can get him over whatever the issue is. After the run through my thoughts was no trialing at all. Going to work on games and get them going. but with your comments maybe once I feel he is happy during the games in different location and a class, I will bring them to the trial and do NFC and do the games per your comment.
A few ideas for you –
– did we ever talk about getting a thorough physical work up for him? I scrolled back through your initial thread and couldn’t find anything. Getting a full physical check up (soft tissue check, blood work ((thyroid, tick stuff, etc)), joints check) is definitely on tap – his stress might be based in pain or illness. That is pretty common in sport dogs: we only see symptoms when they are under the ‘pressure’ of being in the ring. There are also some good probiotics you can consider to help balance gut health and reduce anxiety. One of my dogs is on Purina Calming Care and he is a much happier dog in life and sport!Since Spring has kind of arrived in the Rochester area, I am scheduling a massage for him and my other 2 dogs. Once I get the massage appt. nailed, I am going to get to the vet that does Chiro. Last time he saw both of them was in late October. (I also do massage on my dogs myself, but like Harmony to go over them since she is the expert and have to admit after losing Montana in January really turned everything upside down.)
I can also have my vet do blood work on him also.– for now, take out the pressure of trying to run courses in that building in a trial setting, even when you can have food. Get him going with tricks in the ring and having fun in the back of the ring (no obstacles needed for that) and then work him up to going to the back of the ring… but with remote reinforcement (food left in the front of the ring). When he is happily partying with tricks with you in the back of the ring, then add a jump or tunnel! Then we can gradually build up to the agility.
ok
Also yesterday since the weather broke here sunny and 35, I took Knight for a walk around the neighborhood and once he got out of the house and walking he was jumping and barking like a little puppy and through the walk which was about 15 minutes. Never saw that much happiness and joy in a long while. I then had to go to Lowes so I took him along. He was happy. No stressing. As a matter of fact there were 2 employees standing and chatting in a crowded area and I had Knight do a come front and come to heal and did couple spins. Could see in his eyes he was a really happy boy no fear so I know there is light at the end of tunnel. (Yes I do not give up!)
Good morning!
Well learned more about this little guy this past weekend.
The first video is from Speedstakes on Friday night. I wanted him to go throw the first tunnel and the second but he went to the jump and wanted to exit. Because of what we discovered this past Wednesday, I just decided to exit and work with him in the runs throughs on Sunday.
The next series of videos is the Speedway run throughs. The courses were awesome.
For Knight for the day I had him with him best part of the day instead of his crate in the other building. Thought maybe getting him acclimating to the noise, etc would help him. Again he did have rest time in his crate to relax. He played outside of the ring with no issue. He went up to people and dogs very politely. Guess what I am saying not afraid. I did do pattern games at the entrance.
Note People were around the entrance. I did a quick pattern game. When we went into the ring, I immediately threw food once I open the gate to get him through the threshold to get him stimulated. At first I kept the leash own and doing pattern games in the front. Then took the lead off. Positive he stayed with me. Did not want to run to the exit through all the runs even when he stopped in the course. Pattern: Going to the back tunnels. Looking at the videos in the evening I noticed he just stopped in front of the tunnels going to the back and no one was there. As a matter of fact no one was in the ring the whole time.Thought: I got the course for this week and we do have a tunnel in the back. Thinking of having people around the tunnel and just take him in the back and see if he will go into the tunnel. Also at the start line which is a jump work him with people around. Your thoughts.
