Chan did something to his hips running away from a doodle on August 8th.
He hasn't been getting much better so I took him to a canine physical therapist yesterday.
She was quite nice about my tale of woe, although there was a miscommunication with my vet, and she was a bit surprised that Chandler was not an Old English Sheepdog. *long suffering sigh*
So far, she is the only person who has been able to lay hands on Chandler and say which muscles are bothering him. Apparently his pectineus, iliopsoas, and lower back muscles in the lumbosacral area are all really owtchy.
We've got homework to try to get his muscles back in working order.
1. Steep hill walking. Go up and down a steep hill 3-4 times, every other day.
2.Exercise ball work, and not of the kind Chan likes. This is going to take some +R training. He put his front paws on the ball a few times, and then decided we were totally bonkers! I'm going to be borrowing one of the "eggs" from a friend, so he's got a delay before we try it again.
3. Daily leash walks, and I'm supposed to apply an ice pack to his hips for 10-15 minutes after we get home.
4. Backwards walking. Whee! More R+. Chan will at least be liking the treats. His "back" command is all rusty since my Mom uses it all the time without making sure he actually backs up. She's fine as long as he gets out of her way.
5. Absolutely no playing fetch, fence running, quick turns etc.
(Urgh...managing him in NC is going to be FUN!)
6. Come back in about 3 weeks for a recheck.
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