CHARLIE

“Originally, I began working with Mandy for some basic training with my 1yo rescue, Charlie. He had been with me for 4 months and was showing increasing reactivity, especially towards certain triggers such as novel situations, men and strangers, as he settled in.

He was assessed for pain by our vet and by myself in his home environment. I have worked as a Registered Veterinary Nurse for 8 years, so felt confident in assessing pain in dogs, and in both instances we found no pain responses to any limb or spinal manipulation.

We continued working on his behaviour, with little to no improvement, including medical management and training. When offered the opportunity to have a Dynamic Dog Assessment (DDA) with Mandy, I thought it would be unlikely to find anything, but worth a shot. The DDA process was easy to understand and to complete - I take photos and videos of my dogs constantly, so gathering evidence was no problem, and Mandy was available with help and advice throughout the process.

During his assessment so much became clear that had been completely hidden before. There was visible evidence of posture, stance and weight-bearing abnormalities, and once I noticed them there was no way to not see him constantly displaying these signs of discomfort.

Following his assessment, we went back to the vets with all of this new evidence that something was not quite right, and a week later he was diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia and arthritis in his left hind leg.

The knowledge of these conditions has allowed me to better manage Charlie and make him more comfortable, and his DDA assessment allowed us to reach out to specialists and get advice on his conditions and how best to manage them. He is now on pain medication, anti-inflammatories and joint supplements and goes to regular hydrotherapy sessions with a registered veterinary physiotherapist.

His behaviour has improved dramatically, his reactivity has reduced and he is better able to cope in situations that would previously have caused us both a lot of stress. Without having the vital information from his DDA assessment, I don't know if we ever would have known about his condition, at least not until it was much worse, or been able to get his behaviour under control.

The entire process has opened my eyes to just how much dogs will hide signs of pain and how well they compensate, and how behaviour can be a direct indication of their physical discomfort”. Kirsty.

TILLY

Tilly had been living with another dog, TJ, in the home for 4 years and they were very closely bonded - sleeping and sharing a bed together during the day and night and always playing together.  Tilly would even try and herd TJ into the bed during the day so she could snuggle up close to him for comfort.

However, Tilly suddenly started to display unprovoked attacks on TJ in the middle of the night (caught on home video cameras by the owners).  Her owners discussed with their Vet the possibility of pain being a factor in Tilly’s sudden change of behaviour, but after a physical examination their Vet could find nothing wrong with her, suggesting the sudden onset of aggression was behavioural rather than physical or medical.

Tilly’s owners subsequently contacted me for behavioural support. All my Behaviour Consultations include a Dynamic Dog Assessment, which revealed Tilly was displaying a number of behavioural and physical signs of potential pain and discomfort, including some consistent postural and gait adaptions indicating a possible issue with her right hind.

Tilly’s owners returned to their Vet along with my assessment, which prompted them to carry out further diagnostics, revealing that Tilly had a Grade 2 Luxating Patella in her right hind.  Luxating Patella can be a very painful condition where the kneecap regularly dislocates from the socket causing very sudden and acute pain. This is likely what was occurring at night, causing Tilly to wake suddenly in acute pain and disorientated she re-directed onto TJ lying next to her.

Surgery was not an option for this little girl for a variety of reasons, so her condition is currently being managed conservatively with pain relief, supplements and environmental management.  After a few months Tilly’s owners reported that she was no longer asking to be picked up on walks and her whining during the day has significantly reduced. The fights with the other dog in the household during the night also stopped.