Back to doing what dogs love to do – run and play!

Buster is an 8-year-old Kelpie who I saw in July last year at a working dog training event.  Amy had only had Buster for a few years but was struggling with Buster’s mobility.  His walks were getting shorter as he was pulling up sore afterwards in his back and hind legs.  He was also struggling to get up and down and wouldn’t jump into the car.

Amy had taken Buster to the vet and he was diagnosed with Arthritis.  Amy was shattered as she couldn’t believe that it could happen to a dog of 7 years young.

A gait assessment with cavaletti poles proved that Buster was short in stride.   With hands-on body assessment of the spine, he moved away abruptly when applied finger pressure on the lower back.  He also had discomfort when we applied flexion to his back legs.  Unfortunately, Buster was overweight which was not helping his discomfort.

Canine massage was applied, and discussion about diet, nutrition and weight loss and a plan around how much walking Buster should do.  Supplements were recommended daily.  Amy had to make some adjustments to Buster’s life which were hard to do at first.  Due to distance, we didn’t follow up other than via email.

6 months later we saw Buster again for a massage, WOW what a difference, a completely different dog.  Buster had lost 8 kgs by eating a natural raw home food diet with supplements every day.  Buster was very eager to receive this treatment as he lay on his side and we were able to passively stretch out all legs and spine.  Amy was still walking Buster once per day for 30 minutes.

The small changes Amy made to his daily life have made Buster a happier dog all around.  Happy Buster, happy Amy.

Arthritis is completely manageable and Canine Balance has been able to assist Buster with a low-pain lifestyle by doing all the things he loves like running, jumping and light sheepdog work.  Now that Buster’s pain is reduced significantly, we will try and increase his daily walks to two twenty-minute walks as moving more regularly is more beneficial for arthritis.