 Skittles, a Norwich Terrier, with grade two medial luxating patella subscribes to a conditioning exercise program to help manage her condition. (Mary Young) Have you noticed a funny little hitch in your dog’s movement or temporary or occasional lameness? Intermittent lameness can have many reasons for occurring but one of the most common cause of lameness is a condition known as luxating patella.
This condition can grow to be quite painful for your dog and puts them at greater risk of a CCL injury or developing arthritis later in life. While this is a lifelong condition there is much owners can do to manage luxating patella and help reduce their risk of further injury. In this week's blog, we'll take a closer look at what luxating patella is, how to identify it, the common treatments for the condition, and how early intervention can slow the progression of the condition and reduce injury.
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 Dove, owned by Sarah Anthon, at a recent visit to the MCR clinic. Dove recently had a TPLO surgery to repair her cruciate and meniscus injury. Have you ever been out enjoying the day with your dog, maybe on a trail or at a show, only for them to suddenly start limping? It can be a gut wrenching moment when your normally happy and free moving friend is suddenly showing signs of pain or discomfort.
A limp or gait issue is a common visual clue that something is wrong with our dogs but unfortunately our dog's can't communicate with us directly to tell us what's wrong. The challenge with a limp is that it can indicate a simple issue that may go away with time or some easy care or a limp can indicate something much more complex! Which means we as their trainer partners sometimes have to put the puzzle pieces together to get a clear idea of what's going on. In this week's blog, I'll cover some of the common reasons why your dog may be limping and what we can do in our conditioning programs to reduce the likelihood of a future limp or gait problem.  Hustler owned by Jess Martin (Karie Elizabeth) Have you ever woken up in the morning only to find that you somehow "slept wrong" and now your back hurts? The spine is a complex system and back pain sufferers can tell you just how debilitating injuries to the spine can be! Like us, our dogs can also suffer from back pain and knowing how the spine works and how to help our dogs avoid injury to this area is a crucial part to conditioning our dogs and keeping them healthy.
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AuthorCarolyn McIntyre Archives
September 2025
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