Well, no secrete the last two weekends we were having weave troubles and they got worse each run. At first I was just frustrated and thought it was a training issue. I thought she was practicing them wrong and that was the reason we had more and more difficulties.
On the day after the trial I noticed Breeze standing and her back looked really rounded upward (roachey) like a mad cat when she was standing and I had thought I had seen her left rear leg sort of stiff and not moving just right during the trial but sometimes I think I just imagine things so I had sort of pushed that out of my head. I did notice on the day after the trial that leg was definitely moving funny and she would hold it up and sort of out at a weird angle. When I laid her on her side she really fought me doing the stretches, and she loves her stretches. She also kept her back left leg flexed up and away from her body, very odd looking. When I tried to massage her she would flinch when I touched her back end, and kept putting her face by my hands trying to get me to not massage her.
I took her to the vet today and sure enough, her spine is way out of whack, her vertebra are all out of whack and she definitely is roaching her back. She flinched and was really not wanting to be examined and the vet was very sure she was in a lot of pain. Her left hip was way out of whack and she is holding that leg at an odd angle.
Poor Breeze, gosh I just feel so horrible for her. Can you imagine how it must feel to try to weave when your back has been thrown and is sore? Not to mention jumping and hitting contacts and turning tight in the air with a bad back? No wonder she seemed so off, and no wonder she was only trying to weave every third pole. I should have known because we have issues getting the entries of poles, but once she gets the entry or if we go the second time they are always great until this last two weekends. I think as the two weeks with that much agility wore on her back just started hurting more and more to the point she would not even try the weaves. I am so glad the last two runs I just went on past the weaves, I tried to load her but as soon as I saw it would not happen we went on.
So Breezie girl got an acupuncture and an adjustment and is on some pain meds and is getting ice packs, but she still gets to swim with the life vest so it helps support the back. We are supposed to give it until the end of the weekend and see how she is doing, she might be ok to go back and she might need more treatments and more rest, it will all depend on how she is feeling.
At Breeze's point in training it is so hard to tell, is she hurting, or are we having training issues? How do we get the weave entries trained without tons and tons of reps? I guess my gut feeling is that when she is doing weaves well, gosh they are gorgeous, she really does not know to do them very well once she gets the entries. It is just the entries that can suck, so maybe I just use three or four poles to train those (which is what I was doing...) and try to really think about training so that each repetition is doing something. I also think she is just not going to be allowed into the 21 inch weaves, all the classes have them because people are still switching over to the 24 inch poles, but I think they are just too hard on her, so not sure how I will handle that in classes but...now that all the trials we would do have 24 in poles there really is no reason to keep putting her into 21 inch poles.
14 comments:
Poor Breeze! Well that explains her issues over the weekend! But it is impossible to know at the time if it is an injury or a training issue - we all have the same problem with that. Hopefully she will respond quickly to the therapy and feel great again quickly!!
Poor Baby! I'd bet you it was more her back than training. I hope she's feeling better soon.
We're off to Oreo's chiro/acupuncture this morning. We missed our last appt, because my hubby threw his back out and I had to bring HIM to the ER. LOL. Oreo's behavior has been a little crazy this week, and I think it has a lot to do with that misssed appointment.
Poor girl. She seems like such a sweet girl from all your posts. I'm still very new to agility...Has USDAA switched to
24" weave poles like AKC? That would be awesome if both organizations use 24" weave poles.
USDAA JUST switched to 22 in poles with a lee way of 2 inches, something like that so around here the USDAA trials have been using 24 inch poles ;-), and I am HAPPY about that!
I think we all have that issue. Is it training or pain. So glad you got her to the vet and found out. Now she can feel better. Im lucky, our training poles are 24 inch. At home I use those stick in the grounds too so you can adjust those. Maybe you can bring them to class occ. and switch them out. Diana
Oh no! Poor Breeze. I hope that she gets to feeling better soon. Back pain is no fun. :(
It's so hard to know if it's training or physical! you are aware of your dogs though, and know what to look for, which helps a ton. I hope she gets better soon. Those darn weaves are tough, who invented them anyway? :p
Poor Breeze. Hope she's well on the mend and feels better soon!
I don't know a darned thing about agility or training weaves but...I coached gymnastics for several years and we always focused on practicing quality skills and not wasting energy on doing things incorrectly. When the girls practiced a skill wrong it 1)met that they were putting an incorrect skill into muscle memory and 2)were risking injury.
We would figure out ways to break down a skill, if need be, to make sure it was done right.
Have no idea if that would transfer to weaving, but it does seem like less could be more to save Breeze's back.
Thanks AC you always have the best ideas and I think you are totally right and that is basically what I was thinking....so now I just need to sit down and really think about how to do that .....
I'm glad you were able to figure out what was going on. I hope she's feeling better now, and you can get back to training soon, without worrying about her being uncomfortable or in pain. :-)
Aww, poor girlie! It's never fun to be sore. Good for you for noticing!
I think the 24" weaves will be better physically for all of the medium and large dogs. Even Wall-e likes them better, he can just run right through them!
Weaves can be really tricky, though!
Two years ago Sage was popping the poles every run. Turned out it was a vertebrae out of place. Once she had two adjustments, she was back to weaving normally.
Good for you for knowing your dogs!
Aww, I hope Breeze is feeling better, poor thing. I just wanted to thank you for your wonder comment on my blog! I can't tell how much it helps to hear about your experiences.I feel as if I have learned SO MUCH the last 48 hours that I have been researching this horrific condition. I immediately called the breeder as soon as Maggie was diagnosed and she had the nerve to accuse me of walking Maggie too early, too long. Mind you, I live in the northeast (MA), I took her home in January the dead of winter!! I was so insulted and disgusted with her! She didn't want to hear of any of it, she actually offered me another puppy from the next litter! The nerve of her, I demanded my money back and am only getting half back.I can't even believe they would think you would give Breeze back, how crazy!!!! I have definitely learned my lesson about doing an absolute thorough search of these breeders! As for Maggie, we are looking to going to a rehab specialist so I learn how to massage her, something I would love to learn and can only benefit her in the long run. Chiro and acupuncture sounds like great options, too. Anything to keep her comfortable and quality of life the best if can be! Thank you again for all your info and advice, looking forward to keeping in touch!!!
Kristy
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