All of us who practice Galen Myotherapy® are keen for everyone to learn as much about their dogs as possible; because the more people that can interpret what their dogs are indicating using any signs or signals, the more they can help manage a situation or get appropriate treatment quicker.  There are so many signs that dogs present and many that can be so easily missed.  The most obvious is that their movement is not as good as it perhaps could be, therefore they are not performing or just moving as well as they potentially could.  Gait assessment is a difficult skill and some people are so much better at it than others; some can see ‘something’ but not identify what or where the issue is arising.  Often people take film to watch their dogs move but this too is not easy as dogs move so quickly and in and out of frame before you can actually spot anything.

In our ‘Enhance the health and performance of your Canine Athlete’ workshop what I suggest to all the attendees is to take still photos of your dog whilst they are in movement.  It is amazing how much you can see from studying a point of movement.  This we go through using many different scenarios.  To give a demonstration of how great a photo can be I have used two and labelled their possible stress points; one active and one static.

The dog below (picture 1) is between jumps at a competition; I have labelled three key areas of interest that would indicate to me that this dog is just a little restricted in his movement.

1. Tension in his shoulders.  If this area is studied this can even be seen by how the coat/skin is lying over the region, it doesn’t look at all relaxed through the shoulders to his neck.
2. His lower back or lumbar region, this looks ‘flattened’ and also not good flexion through to his pelvis, so the forward drive could be reduced because his stride will not be as long as it could be with better mobility through the lower back and pelvic regions.
3. Tension can be seen all the way from his head and through into his neck (on his underside), that could very easily reduce his forward movement.

If I were to see this picture and watch this dog run, I doubt if he would show any lameness or even look particularly unsound but his movement is slightly compromised so his performance would not be at its best.  He may fatigue early and therefore not have the drive for a fast twisty course; he may find short take-offs or tight cornering a little difficult.  These types of issues would slowly develop and become more noticeable if he continued to compete without these areas being addressed.

                          Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 2 is interesting because the ‘sit’ can give all sorts of signals and some are not as obvious as they may first appear.  The picture on first glance looks like the dog is sitting just slightly off centre to the camera, which I believe he is but this is irrelevant; the two key points for me are 1) the tail that is not straight out behind him, it is at a right angle with his body. 2) the front right leg is slightly in front of the left.

When I look at this two possible scenarios strike me immediately, one being most likely and the other being less likely but possible.  The most likely scenario is that the dog has an uncomfortable back left leg because the tail is supporting this region and also the front left is put in a position so he can stand up using his front left thus taking more weight off his back left.

The other possible but less likely reason for this sit is that his front right is not comfortable nor his back right.  There could be other possibilities because we are only looking for indicators.

I hope that by just going through a couple of photos it can give a bit of an insight into how much a still picture can tell you; obviously it is helpful to understand what is being presented but at least it can demonstrate an ‘issue’ and this can then be coupled together with other signals, signs or even ‘hunches’ that you may have had about your dogs mobility.  Take photos of your dog doing different actions and compare; it is amazing what you will see!

Most muscular issues are insidious and creep up on our dogs, so identifying any signs early will make a huge difference to the time it takes for their recovery.  Muscle takes about six weeks to change and remodel with treatment, so the sooner these indicators are recognised the quicker a resolution or management can be sought.

If you are interested in anything within this article please email julia@caninetherapy.co.uk or if you are interested in finding out more and attending a workshop go to our website www.galentherapycentre.co.uk and go to workshops.  You can also contact: 0845 3751767 and ask for Natalie.

Fascia is what is known as a connective tissue and that describes a big part of its role; it can be a fine web like structure that supports tissue or it can be a dense flat sheet that connects muscles to bone.  It can also interweave with muscle and muscle groups to provide the additional stability and strength to bone and muscle.  The intricacy of these structures, and their interrelationship within the movement and mobility of the dog makes their understanding highly complex (ask any student!); with that aside the understanding and then management is very important as treating all this tissue has huge impact on managing dogs comfort, performance and physical stresses within their body.

So many people say to me “my dog loves me to scratch over their back, and they have a ‘funny’ spot” meaning if they rub or scratch over their lower back they start to dance!  This ‘dance’ is a sign of fascial tension therefore not something that I would not regard as a funny spot but another one of those indicators that does need attention.  This particular indicator is one that is so common and in itself is not necessarily a serious issue but coupled with other indicators could form part of a picture that could be impeding your dog from performing at their peak or feeling tension through their body that is culminating at that point.

Fascial tension is difficult to ease unless the true point of where the stress derives can be located because like so many cases of stress points they have a place of origin that can be far from where the signals are exhibiting.

One common signal of fascial tension impacting directly on the skin that can cause all sorts of visual indicators.  One of which can be the change in direction of the coat, your dog can over time develop a nice ‘wave’ in what was once a flat coat.  This is more difficult to detect in curly coated dogs but can be clearly seen in most long or close coated dogs.  The pictures below are a bit of an example, they are of my 15 year old terrier, George, who always has tight shoulders due to his valgus front legs (otherwise known as Queen Anne legs!)  I think it can be seen that the wave in his coat after a treatment eases, in the second picture his coat then lies in a more natural way.

(George before treatment)

(George after treatment)

Fascial tension follows different lines of stress to those that could be caused through neural issues.  Neural or nerve issues generally follow nerve pathways that travel from the spine of the dog to which ever muscle they serve, usually this is a path that travels through an organised route,  from where the nerve arises in the vertebrae to the affected region.  However with fascial tension or dysfunction it can travel from one front leg over the top of the shoulders and down the other front leg, from the shoulders to the tail and many other configurations.  These paths can form very confusing symptoms when assessing a dog for mobility issues, especially when coupled with specific muscle tension and neural issues.

I had a dog in to see me today who has a chronic bilateral stifle problem, this arose from a past cruciate operation that sadly went wrong and the joint became terribly infected which made the dog lame for many months.  This had further implications by impacting on the dogs other leg through compensation; the stifle and hock of this compensatory leg are now both arthritic.  The treatment I gave to this dog was to ease the fascial tension through his back due to the lack of stability and drive of his back legs.  The fascial tension presented through his skin feeling like an elastic body suit with the skin after being lifted just ‘pinging’ back.  By treating this fascial tension the overall muscle and joint tension through into both his back legs has eased and he is so much more comfortable.

One of the items we are highlighting this year at Crufts is our newly upgraded Diploma course. One of the key feature is a One day private tuition day involving half a day of functional anatomy and half a day of development of techniques.

(Investment cost for the course will increase from April 2013)

We are delighted that our DVD has been recognised in America.

Buy a copy of Tongue to Tail here

I am delighted to have been asked to speak at Crufts in the new seminar pod that is being organized by KCAI. This is a fantastic idea for people attending Crufts to listen and meet different individuals within the canine world, all of which are dedicated to improving dog’s lives and conditions.

I will be speaking on Thursday about Puppy Exercise with my colleague from Galen Natural Progression, Elisabeth Pope, then on Friday on Veteran Dogs and how Therapies can help, then on Sunday about common stress points of the working dog.

Anyone who knows me will know how passionate I am about raising awareness of muscle pain and its implications, in dogs. This allows me the opportunity to discuss the same issue but within a different context.

Muscle pain seeps and indeed cascades into all of our dogs lives; because we all need muscles both to move our bodies but also hold us together; they are completely fundamental to our being. The problem is that the diagnosis of muscular dysfunction is not always understood, therefore not always managed or treated correctly.  How your puppy’s muscles develop will have an impact on their future life.

Puppy Exercise is the foundation of everything to do with muscular health and is the first seminar we are conducting. By just understanding a little about how a puppy grows and the exercise and exercises that can possible encourage good development of both the muscles that hold them together and those that move them, could set them up for life.  This is especially important if you are looking to go on to work or compete with your adult dog.  To set the foundations of a robust frame (irrespective of conformation) will help to prevent injury by assisting the dog to maintain balance and spatial awareness.

Veteran Dogs – how therapies can help – during my years of treating dogs and over 6000 treatments I can categorically state that Myotherapy helps mobility issues with veteran dogs.  The word ‘helps’ is on a sliding scale because it is dependent on what underlies the lack of mobility.  If it is something such as osteoarthritis, it can help massively, other joint impacting issues, such as in the spine, yes but depending on where.  The reason why is because it is all about the extreme and painful effects of secondary or compensatory issues of muscles that can in themselves be completely disabling.

Common Stress points – the Sunday seminar, this will cover what stress points are, how they can be recognised and what can be done about them.  This will give some very useful ideas and hints as to how to recognise if your dog is suffering from stress related muscle problems that affect their performance to a negative degree.  So often I hear that a dog is having their eyes tested because when they are jumping they are mistiming or measuring before a jump, in a belief that it is the dog’s sight that is compromised not their physical ability.  There are so many scenarios when muscles indicate a dysfunction but so often are missed, yet if recognised, relatively easy to manage.

Our rationale for Crufts is to ‘raise the awareness of muscle pain in dogs’, so people can begin to understand their dogs better through seminars, discussion at our stand over all the days, plus attending the lecture pod after all our lectures.  We have to make adaptations in our lives for our dogs to enhance healthy, long lives, as they do for us, all the time!

Galen Therapy Centre has a stand in Hall 3 28a where we will be meeting and discussing our treatment and training.  We will be also involved in warming up and warming down dogs that are competing at Crufts and performing Muscle Balance Assessments if required.

If you would like to talk to me personally then please make an appointment as I may not be on our stand the whole time. Please email natalie@caninetherapy.co.uk to book a 10 minutes slot. I would be delighted to chat about any issues regarding your dogs, our training that we offer and anything else you may like to discuss.

Ways that you can contact us:

www.galentherapycentre.co.uk

‘Like’ our Facebook page ‘Galen Therapy Centre’

Contact phone: 0845 375 1767

 A key feature of the Career Zone is a lecture theatre which will offer hour-long lectures, delivered by industry luminaries and covering an extensive range of subjects that everybody who works with dogs can benefit from. There is also the opportunity to attend as a general visitor to the Career Zone, where you can speak to lecturers and industry leaders on a one-to-one basis through the KCAI Expert Panel, as well as utilising resources in the KCAI Lounge.

  We are speaking on:

Thursday 7th March  about:   Exercising Puppies- Julia Robertson and Elisabeth Pope

Friday 8th March: Veteran Dogs – How Therapies can help – Julia Robertson

 Sunday 10th March:  The Common Stress Points of a Working Dog – Julia Robertson

We believe that all the pre ordered places are full but if you are interested in attending contact the Kennel Club and ask for KCAI tickets.

Canicross Trailrunners  Warm up /down Demonstration in Main Arena

We are delighted to be demonstrating warm up and warm down techniques in the Main arena on the Friday of Crufts.  This will be part of the demo on Canicross Trailrunners which is taking place from 13.00-13.30  hours.

This provides the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the importance of a warm up before an event as the Canicross Trailrunners demonstration will involve a side by side race. We also want to show the essential warm down after the race.

 Visit Canicross Trailrunners website for more details on the sport.  Canicross Trailrunners

Meet your local Therapist 

We would like to give everyone attending Crufts this year a chance to meet your local therapist. 

You can book an appointment for your dog to recieve a treatment at home or an MBA at Crufts. You could discuss the therapist holding a talk/warm up and downs at your dog club or even just to chat about your dog!

Find your local therapist  – Please get in contact with us to book a meet and greet.  

If you would like to meet up with Julia or any of the team over Crufts email natalie@caninetherapy.co.uk or the therapist from their own web page.