Puppy Findings
12 May 2018
This week’s blog is just to relate a story to you!
As many of you would be aware (if you’ve been following me for a while), I highly recommend that breeders bring in their litter of puppies for a full assessment when they are about 6 – 8 weeks of age and before they head off to their new home. In any litter, I tend to find about 50% of the puppies have wee minor issues (in their spine, ribs, or pelvis) which are very fixable!
To NOT fix such things, I think puts the puppies at risk of growing abnormally. For example, a pain the butt (i.e. Sacroiliac Joint Issue) could cause the puppy to stand in an antalgic posture, and subsequently grow with a ‘roached back’.
Additionally, within that time frame, we as rehab practitioners, can look at structure and conformation. Shoulder layback and rear end angulation at that age is reported to be very similar to the structure you will see in your dog at the age of two. So, why not check that out as you are checking out the spine and joints?
Okay… but on with the story. So, last week I had one of my regular breeder clients bring in her 3-week-old puppies! Two boys, one big and one small. The small one just wasn’t walking quite yet, while the big one was starting to truck around. Ironically, this same breeder had a similar issue 10 years ago with a group of 4-week-old puppies (one of the three wasn’t walking), and I found a sacroiliac joint issue, mobilized it, and the next day – puppy was walking!
This time around, the finding was the same. The puppy had a ‘cranially displaced’ ilium & pain at the sacroiliac joint. It was mobilized, a wee bit of crying, and then no pain on testing afterwards. The breeder messaged me the next day that the puppy was more upright and moving better! Yah!
But wow! What a difference! How would that puppy have grown if he hadn’t seen me (or someone with similar manual therapy skills)?
And the morale of the story is Educate your breeders! Get them bringing in puppies. Create a lifetime relationship! For the benefit of the dog throughout their lifespan!
On that note! CHEERS!
And Happy Mother’s Day!
Laurie
PS. Here’s a related blog from my clinic website: What about Mom?
http://www.caninefitness.com/index.php?pid=35&name=Blog&bid=96&title=What-about-Mom?
