Via’s first session on the under water treadmill was on Thursday. I should have trained her to be happy in the empty box first. Sigh.
Via (Allie/Xbox – O litter), who is bomb proof – I thought – was fine being closed in the box and with the water coming in. She was happy to stand in the water and eat freeze dried liver treats. She has done a lot of stuff with things that move under her feet so I thought be would be golden.
When the belt started moving – slowly- under her feet, however, she went stiff, her eyes got huge and she tried to jump out. When that did not work she tried bucking like a horse with a bur under the saddle. And she whined! I had not heard that from her. She would not take treats nor would she even look at her high value tug – a rubber ball on a rope.
The Vet was in the box too with a leg on either side of Via and her hands wrapped in the harness on either side of Via. So Via’s jumping and bucking and spinning – I can’t forget the spinning – did not get her out of the box but it did rattle the Vet’s teeth (more than once.)
Via also tried opening the door by hitting the latch -repeatedly – with her paw. When that didn’t work she sat in front of the door. The vet got her standing again and centered on the belt which continued to move under Via’s feet.
We gave her a break by turning off the belt after the first two minutes. She stopped whining but still was not interested in liver nor balls. We waited for her to relax and judged it by her heart rate coming down to normal.
On the next start of the belt, I cued Via to WALK which we have been working on both on and off lead since her injury. I had been cuing WALK, TROT and ZOOM before her was injured and was working on stimulus control with the speed changes.
It seemed that the light went on. Via stopped struggling and started moving her feet. I praised her for each front foot fall. I was standing outside the box in front of Via. She walked nicely for the last 3 minutes but was not interested in food nor toys.
When she was done, and the water was drained, she offered a sit at the door to came out of the box! And she immediately stuck her nose in to the bag of liver. When I was done drying her, she ran back in to the box. I followed and feed her liver. I had to lure her out of the box.
Today was her second session. It went much, much better. She, happily ran into the box, was able to play with a toy and eat liver while the belt was moving. She walked well for 6 minutes without needing a break. When the belt stopped moving the Vet Tech turned on the spa jets for 5 minutes. Via could sit in the water and eat with all the noise and all the water movement.
She has at least 1o more sessions and will be there three times a week. Sigh.
Stop torturing that poor Via! 10 more?? I hope the Vet survives the 10th session.
Sign me up for the spa jets.
I hope it helps her.
The vet says that she is already moving much better. The hamstring was very tight. I just wish that you or Julie were here to assess her movement! I have no idea what I should be looking for however even my untrained eye can see when she limps and when she doesn’t.
Also the injured muscle is the one in the hamstring set that takes the longest to heal.
How did she hurt herself to begin with?
You are a good dog mom. These injuries take so long to heal and and I am sure it is difficult to keep her from re-injuring.
LOL! I have to tire her to me to keep her still and the works – sort of.
Via’s motto is why go around when you can leap over?
That should be TIE her to me
Lisa,
There is not way to know. She inured herself well be for she started limping at the National Universal because her triceps on the left side grown bigger than on one on the right by a cm to compensate. She had not limped before however she wasn’t asked to hold a flying trot for several minutes before either.
Even as a small puppy she was serious wreck-less with her body.
Hope everything turns out well for her. When are you moving to Mass? My B-I-L lives there and hubby and I are thinking of a trip this fall. We would like to visit any A-T relatives we can while there. Maybe Libby can visit big sister Via as well as brother Ivan . Not sure where Alan lives-he has Libby’s littermate Koda.
The GOAL is to be in the new house by mid August but since I am sitting her surfing the net instead of packing…
We will be in Framingham.