Subtle Signs of Injury in our Agility Dog - Part 1

What if I told you that many of the canine athletes I assess at my rehab clinic started showing minor, subtle signs of their injury MONTHS before ever booking an appointment with me?

Could you recognize these signs with 100% confidence? 

I wrote this blog to help owners, trainers, and health professionals identify the subtle signs of pain in agility dogs so that injuries, compensation patterns, side preferences, and weaknesses can be identified earlier. With over 15 years of practice as a physiotherapist, one cornerstone of my approach is educating and proactively managing human and dog health care. When injured dogs come into my clinic, and I review the history with the owners, there are generally many signs that start to show up weeks and even months before the owner notices that something is “off” with their dog and an injury is brewing. 
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Let’s dive into the WHY.​

Why do so many injuries go undetected?

1. Adrenaline and motivation mask pain perception – dogs are not hardwired to show pain! They have DNA that is 99% similar to wolves/coyotes.  Therefore, showing  weakness in the wild does not increase one’s chances of survival. 
   
   
2. We aren’t sure what we are looking for. It is hard to identify if something is wrong with our dogs if we aren’t sure what to watch for. 
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3. We assume it is a training or behavioural issue. When a dog fails to complete an obstacle as desired, we blame its personality (e.g. the dog is stubborn) or chalk it up to a training gap. Although the latter could be the case (I don’t believe dogs intentionally want to be stubborn or complex), if their completion of the obstacle was previously rock solid and then subsequently started to decline, ruling out a physical problem should always be considered. ​

Signs of pain in ANY dog can be classified into acute and chronic.  

What is acute pain?

It is a sudden onset pain that you can’t miss. It is known as adaptive pain and makes our dogs aware that they are injured or ill and should start to slow down to prevent damage and protect the body. Dogs with acute pain will vocalize and show signs of lameness with various posture changes. In these cases, getting your dog to its veterinarian is usually required.​

What is chronic pain?

• Chronic pain is pain that occurs for over three months. It is considered maladaptive and no longer supports healing, repair and recovery. It places prolonged stress on the dog’s body and creates changes within the body and nervous system in addition to psychological changes. 
• Secondary injuries can also develop due to prolonged changes in our dog’s posture and movement patterns. 
• This pain can be tricky for the untrained eye, especially if you aren’t sure what to look for.​ 

It is critical to understand the signs of chronic pain in your dog. Failure to do so can result in more significant maladaptive changes in our dogs (e.g. compensation patterns, further muscle imbalances), which can increase pain severity and puts our dogs at an increased risk of injury. In addition, it should be noted that you are looking for deviations from your dog's normal mental and physical behaviours.

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My puppy, Siren, started to display a forward right-hind limb stance, which was atypical of her normal balanced stance. Upon further evaluation, she had an asymmetrical pelvic alignment causing her to shift one leg forward to reduce discomfort. Following physio treatment to correct this asymmetry she has returned to her balanced standing position.

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Subtle signs of general pain in our dogs:

• Sudden behavioural changes (e.g. grumpy, reactive, aggression, restlessness, clingy, aloof, less willing to jump into cars or shows hesitation).
  
  
• Nighttime grouchiness:
  • Even a minor pain felt first thing in the morning can become significant by the end of the day, as daily activities can exacerbate discomfort. 
    
    
• Reacting negatively to touch (e.g. growling, avoidance). 
  
  
• Difficulty or slowness with transitional behaviours (e.g. slower transitioning from sit/stand to down or vice versa), less overall standing time (more time spent sitting or lying down).
  
  
• Changes in dog’s posture - lower head carriage, tail not being held up anymore, tucking hind paws more underneath the pelvis, foot turned outwards (e.g. new splayed sit).
  
  
• Difficulty or hesitation going up or down stairs.
  
  
• Unwillingness to play or avoidance of other dogs.
  
  
• Sudden changes in play style with the owner or other dogs. 
  
  
• Intermittent lameness:
  • Often not present within the activity we are doing with our dogs as they are motivated and focused on the task at hand. 
  • Often, this is found after a rest or spending time in a crate – watch how they come out of the crate in the car, get up from lying down, and stand up. 
• Standing with a staggered posture (e.g., can be an indication of tight/weak muscles).
• Looking at or biting a painful area or reaction to palpation.
• Looking at or biting a painful area or reaction to palpation.
• Excessive or long-term licking of a particular area.
• Reduced muscle mass when comparing left versus right side (e.g. front end or hind end).  
• Slightly offloading of a limb in standing, sitting or during fitness exercises.

CAN YOU SEE THE OFFLOADING IN THIS LIMB?

Do you think this 5-year-old GSP has a balanced muscle tone in her hind end? If you guess, no – you are right. She is 0.5 inches smaller on the R to than the L at the proximal thigh, indicating a leg preference and potential injury to the R hind limb.

In addition to these general signs of pain, there are subtle signs specific to our agility dogs. It is first vital to understand how our dogs normally move and complete the various obstacles in agility. Why? This will help us detect possible deviations from the expected (correct) movement patterns. The list below assumes your dog’s performance has been reliable and trained. Remember, you are looking for deviations in how your dog moves typically, runs and completes each obstacle. 

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Subtle Signs of Pain in Our Agility Dogs:

• Missed weave entry. 
• Popping out of the weave poles (any time after pole 3).
• Dropping bars.
• Hesitation when completing a jump. 
• Taking extra strides before a jump (often done when the dog anticipates pain coming).
• Avoiding jumps (e.g. going around or even under). 
• Missed contacts (e.g. teeter, dog walk, or frame). 
• Wider turns to one particular side.  
• Reduced deceleration/collection – not wanting to stop abruptly. 
• Changes in weave pole mechanics (previously demonstrated single leg form, switched to slalom or double step, or crosses with the wrong leg).  ​  
• Yards per second start to decrease (in turn, course times increase!). 
• Not moving on the correct lead leg or avoiding it (e.g. when moving to the L, they should be moving on the left front lead – the front lead leg that advances to a greater extent takes on more load than the trailing leg).
• Shortened stride when running. 
• Not powering off equally when jumping (e.g. one leg stays behind or comes up quicker). 
• Collapsing on their shoulder when landing or turning after a jump. ​

Our agility dogs often display several of these signs – not just one. Just because your dog turns wide on one jump does not mean they have a pain issue and must be pulled and rushed to the vet! You have to look at the whole picture – was your timing off? Did you give your dog your physical and/or verbal cue in time? Is this a new problem? Does your dog have the proper training to execute the desired obstacle or sequence? 
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Agility is a complex sport that heavily relies on the proper timing of our cues for our dogs to navigate a course successfully! Therefore, we have to be critical in our thinking and approach any performance deviations logically. 

In Part 2 of our next blog, we will provide tips to help you detect the subtle signs of pain in your agility dog sooner! Knowledge is power. The more aware you are of your dog’s typical movement patterns both in life and in sport, the more likely you will detect deviations from this earlier which can help your dog: 

• Correct a side preference
• Improve muscle imbalances 
• Minimize pain 
• Decrease the severity of an injury (by seeking early rehab treatment)
• Reduce potential prolonged issues and long-term damage chronicity ​

SPOILER ALERT!

Not only will you learn my top tips to help recognize these subtle signs of pain, BUT we will be offering a glimpse into our NEW Fit Dog Home Evaluation (FDHE) to help detect your dog’s side preferences, imbalances, weaknesses or avoidances to specific movements. Would you like to know your dog’s tendencies and if they are moving correctly and balanced? 

You are going to want to take advantage of this blog. So be sure you have subscribed to our page to be the first to access the second part of this blog, coming out on May 12th.

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