The Vizsla has weak elbows!

And by The Vizsla I mean my Vizsla, not all Vizslak.

We survived the Pat Hastings Structure in Action seminar! Amber was evaluated and found to have weak elbows, and legs that are slightly longer than what they should be. Both of which could be why she injures herself so frequently. A vet was in attendance to help answer some questions and after looking her over asked me when Amber was spayed. Well, she was spayed quite young, at 5 months. I knew nothing about dogs then and just thought I wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible. I wonder how much that early spay has affected her.

Also, the vet that was there was feeling around on Amber's neck and shoulder area and asked if she had ever had a neck injury. She has. She once ran full force into a tree chasing a squirrel. With her head. The vet said she was pretty stiff and could possibly do with some massage and acupuncture.

I was stupid and didn't ask all the questions I should have. I wish I had asked what her opinion on Amber doing agility was, what I could do to strengthen her elbows, how these things might affect her later in life, and what she thought would  be the best thing to prevent injuries considering Amber's weaknesses.

Miss legs in her new coat. My co-worker was going to throw this away since the zipper was broken so I took it and turned it into a Vizsla coat. It's Talbots.

Canine athlete

All she wants to do is run.

It seems like at least once or twice a year since Amber has been about three years old she has injured herself in some way. Usually just minor things that result in a limp for a few days but several times it has lasted longer and we took her for acupuncture twice. Both times the acupuncture seemed to fix the issue and it's never been such a great injury that she's needed surgery but it's driving me crazy! We've missed agility trials because of a few of them. 

Last week on a hike she came running up a hill back to the trail and I saw that she was holding her hind leg in the air. I put her on leash and we walked back to the car. I work at a vet clinic so of course I imagined all the worst things it could be right away. I made her rest with no walks whatsoever for three days and the lameness went away. Now we're back to regular LEASH walks.

I have been reading about strengthening exercises for agility dogs in particular and have started doing them with Amber every day. I hold her front legs around my waist and she walks slowly backward about 10' at a time. I have her back up onto our step with her back feet and then sit and stand, sit and stand on the step. Things like that. I don't know why I wasn't doing them all along. I guess I figured all the hiking we do was enough to keep them in good shape.

I am looking forward to a one day seminar on "Structure in Motion" this weekend, put on by Pat Hastings, a famous "puppy evaluator". Amber gets to be evaluated and she will tell me what she should and shouldn't be doing as far as activities! I am excited, maybe I won't like what she has to say though!