Last Friday Sampson started his physical therapy. But before he did, we saw the surgeon because the physical therapist isn’t entirely pleased with the way Sampson is using his leg, specifically the way his knee sticks out when he walks.
After watching him walk and examining his knee, the surgeon wasn’t entirely pleased either, BUT he wasn’t too concerned because we aren’t entirely sure how long he’s been having trouble with his knee. He also said that some dogs recover more quickly than others and some dogs just walk bow-legged. His exact words were, “He’s a B, not an A+, but a B.”
In two weeks he’s got to go back and have an x-ray of his knee to gage his progress and see how well it is healing. IF there is a problem with it, we’ll find out then.
In the meantime, we continue with Physical Therapy. His physical therapy started out with some basic massage and stretches, then she moved on to Cavaletti’s and finally the underwater treadmill.
I didn’t know what a Cavaletti was, but in my mind it’s very similar to the tire exercise you see athlete’s do. Because of the way the Sampson walks the Cavaletti, he ends up putting his whole weight entirely on his bad leg, if only for a few seconds. It will help him build up muscle in that leg again and give him some confidence that the leg will not fail him or cause him pain.
The course is set up with about five to six Cavaletti’s set about fourteen to fifteen inches apart. He’s supposed to do ten Cavalettis, take a break and then do ten more.
I priced Cavaletti’s online and they were about $20 each, so I came up with a plan in my mind as to how to make my own, but it requires a trip to Home Depot, which I’m planning on later today, so in the meantime, I totally improvised with some pairs of shoes and pieces of wood.
The stick is about two to three inches off the floor.
Phew, someone needs some baby powder in their shoe.
While I can create Cavaletti’s at home, I cannot recreate the underwater treadmill. So I did what bloggers do, I took pictures.
Hey, do you realize this tank is filling up with water?
You want me to do WHAT?
Other than the fact that Sampson kept trying to drink the water, he did quite well. I’ll work on getting the video up for Thursday’s Barks and Bytes.
And I’ll work on perfecting those Cavaletti’s too. 🙂 Not too bad though, huh?
I like your ingenuity at creating the Cavaletti’s! Sampson seemed to cope fine.
Hydrotherapy is excellent for problems like Sampson’s, you should keep it up, as it will strengthen his knee in time.
Was your trip to Home Depot fruitful? Can’t wait to see what you got!
We so hope Sampson does well with his therapy and will not need any further intervention. Our fingers and paws are crossed real tight. We did chuckle when you said he tries to drink the water. Onwards and upwards. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly
Glad to hear he did ok – although i love the idea that he thinks that the aim of the water filling tank is to drink the water before it fills up – hee hee! BD has a really random walk, he sort of swings his hips and it really worries me (he has slight leg issues but the ex won’t treat it tot he extent that I would.) Bd also has his little querks, sometimes when he is out walking he decides to stop bending his legs and instead keeps them straight and just looks like a little piglet out walking – it is the cutest thing!!
Well done for recreating the hurdles!
I would totally drink that water too, but I would also love it I think. Hope his knee is okay and that is just the way he walks. I know Katie’s bad front leg is simply bowed these days, but she walks on it anyway. Getting old is not easy.
Glad you can improvise some therapy equipment. He looks so worried about that water tread mill, but I know it will help him. I saw some bow legged dogs over the weekend. The judges didn’t seem to see it though. 😉
Good to hear that Sampson has moved into the phyiscal therapy side of things. Hope his x-ray turns out good. We use Cavelletis while training horses for jumping and dressage. I’ve used a ladder laid on a bricks (to get that height off the ground) for Teach in preparation for agility training. That is very similar to Cavalletis but for Sampson the rungs of the ladder may be to close together.
Excellent improvise. Norman loved the water treadmill cuz she put peanut butter on the front is that what I see on the picture? You can also put a broom on two chairs and have him duck under the broom.
WHat a great idea with clever!
Paws crossed that at his next X Ray they are pleased with his healing!
That underwater treadmill thing look like fun! BOL i have never seen one before!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
We think the sticks and shoes thingy is BRILLIANT. We would NOT like the water torture much though.
On the road to recovery. He’s probably happy to be able to get out more.
That’s some good therapy. We thought that was a ginormous water bowl
Lily & Edward
Aww! His face in that last photo is priceless!
Glad to hear he’s coming along. We’d definitely go for a DIY Cavaletti, too!
I would think that the improvised Cavalettis would be the most effective just because of the familiar human odor it provides. You are always so ingenious.
He did NOT look happy about the water. Chewy actually walked over little hurdles like that in puppy class yesterday. The teacher used a cut up two by four with notches cut in them, and skinny PVC. Yours is just as effective. 🙂
Sampson, your face says it all. “What in the world are these demented lunatics up to???” Your mom is creative making her own Cavalettis. I’m glad you got a B in leg healing. That’s a good grade!
Love and licks,
Cupcake
You are so clever! I think you have that DIY instinct of a lot of native New Englanders…I wouldn’t have been surprised if you DID improvise the underwater treadmill….LOL! Now you’ve given me some ideas if we want to try some agility stuff with Luke.
I’m glad Sampson is coming along and hopefully they don’t find any problems at that next x-ray. Our beagle Cricket is super bow-legged…watching her walk from behind is kind of funny….she totally doesn’t bend her back legs!
Blueberry thought the water therapy was torture. She would cheat and try to stop on the edges of the underwater treadmill – the therapist had to body block her to get her moving!
I sometimes wonder what it must be like to have a mind like yours…seriously – your improvisation skills are amazing! I never would have thought to use shoes and pieces of wood for the Cavaletti! I think the closest I came to your level is when I used old kitchen chairs in the garden as trellises for my tomato plants (I was such a rookie gardener back then)…
Your underwater treadmill pictures came out so much better than mine did!!
Interesting on the Cavaletti and very creative of you to create one at home!! I do small hills with Sherman to try and help keep his muscle mass up but I might have to give this a try!!!