Does your dog need Physiotherapy? Part One.

The vast majority of my behaviour cases over the last couple of years have had pain as a cause or contributing factor without anyone realising, despite annual vet health checks. Now you might be thinking that your dog does not have a behavioural problem and isn’t limping and therefore they have no need of physio. Hopefully that is true, but my experience tells me there is every chance it isn’t, because the behavioural signs can be misinterpreted. Let me explain.

“He has always been like that” is an expression I hear over and over again from an owner, when I broach the subject of their dog’s behaviour being a clue to a deeper physical problem. For example, the dog that has always barked hysterically when it is playing. Its just having fun – right? Well maybe not. It may be that, via that very behaviour, the dog is displaying signs of not coping due to a physical problem. From the owners perspective it is just something the dog has “always done” and is just “who he is”.

What is very possible is that the dog has “always been like that” because, for example, they have ‘always’ had a luxating patella (kneecap), or mild hip dysplasia, or arthritic joints. They bark hysterically when they play because they are in pain and/or feel unbalanced or unsafe. It doesn’t necessarily mean they would refuse to play. If they are very driven to pursue a behaviour they will often work through a great amount of discomfort to do so. They will also work very hard to please us when we ask them to do something, despite their own discomfort, and this is why it is possible to not ‘see’ considerable pain suffered by them, because they don’t react like we would.

At around 8 years of age Jake was stuck in a rescue centre because he had been repeatedly returned, due to behaviour problems. He would guard the stairs at the top and guard the sofa. He would be unpredictable and could snap for seemingly no reason. Yet he was friendly, in that he seemed to like people, as long as they were in his space on his terms. He also loved to play with a football and could certainly run – fast!