regular Bowen therapy

We are so lucky to be able to go to Deb at Bow-Rei-Me for regular Bowen therapy, because it keeps Penny active and happy.

Yesterday we noticed she had started to head-nod, always a sign that she is in some sort of pain, so I was glad she was already scheduled for a session with Deb today.

I'm not good at figuring out just where Penny's pain is, but I assumed it was at the 'front end', because of the head-bobbing. When we arrived, I told Deb that there was some pain but I didn't know where. Sure enough, Deb zeroed in straight away to the left shoulder, which is actually where I thought it might be.

We can usually tell how Penny's feeling by how she goes down the back stairs to the yard. If she's stiff, she bunny hops all the way down, and we feel bad to see that, I can tell you. If she's just a bit uncomfortable, she'll bunny hop a couple of steps and then left-right, left-right smoothly the rest of the way.

Well, I'm super pleased to report she just went outside for her evening visit to check the possums aren't getting away with anything, and she walked smoothly the whole way down.

Thanks, Deb!

Now, should I admit...

Yep, confession time...

Deb treats humans also, and I follow after Penny's session with a delicious, long Bowen session for myself, usually accompanied by soft woofs and snores as Penny relaxes beside the table.

Then it's off to Yarra Glen Cafe and Store to have a leisurely lunch. After all, if I'm going to drive forty kilometres to visit Bow-Rei-Me, why not make a day of it? If it's hot, Penny lies at my feet, seeing the outer part of the cafe is dog-friendly, but lately she's been happier to snooze in the car, because the weather is so cool. (Suits me fine, because I get to sit inside by the fire.)

On the way home, if Penny wants to get out of the car, we might go for a brief stroll along the river at Warrandyte, or even wander around the gardens of Heide Art Gallery. (Best kitchen garden in Melbourne, in my opinion.) Deb says it's important not to go beyond what Penny feels comfortable with, after a Bowen session.

Bowen therapy for skin conditions and for joint aches and pains

Another pleasant trip to Yarra Glen today for Penny's Bowen treatment and for Reiki. We go there regularly.

And I'd better confess up front that her human - me! - has a wonderful Bowen session too, and loves it. (After all, it's my duty to check out what Penny's experiencing, isn't it?)

Penny's featuring on the Facebook page for the therapy studio - Bow-Rei Me. Doesn't she look relaxed and happy?

I'm optimistic that the therapy is not only making a difference to her joint pains, but also helpful to her itchy skin.

Penny meets a famous outback dog

Today when we went to Kepala for a swim, we were joined by Rosie and her human, Jane Coleman. I noticed Rose had difficulty with some movements, and asked Jane whether Rosie had been injured.

It was heart-warming to hear Rosie's story. Jane lived in Alice Springs at the time of Rosie's injury, but was visiting Canberra when she heard her beloved companion seemed to be paralysed.

You can read the story of how Jane abandoned her dream of a national violin tour and raced 5000 kilometres around the country to bring Rosie here to Melbourne for surgery. It seemed Rosie would never walk again, but I can tell you she looked fantastic today at the pool.

After the operation, the next phase of recovery involved ongoing therapy, once more an expensive and stressful time for Jane. You can read about it here.

I felt privileged to spend time with someone who put her life on hold to save her friend.

physical therapies in the treatment of dogs

PetMD has a great article today on physical therapy for pets.

When Penny damaged her cruciate ligament, I searched for reliable information about what to do, and I would have loved to have read this article.

Eventually we settled on a traditional repair of her cruciate ligament damage, and were happy with the surgery, but the vets did not emphasise the necessity for follow-up therapy. However, from research on the Net we decided it would be helpful.

I'm glad we did, because I don't believe Penny would have recovered as well as she did, without the underwater treadmill, swimming and canine physiotherapy. We followed it up with a long period of home therapy, using exercises given to us by the canine physiotherapist, from Dogs in Motion. (And I'm excited to see that Dogs in Motion now has a blog!)

Dr. James St. Clair's home therapy booklet was a godsend also, and it became our bible for more than a year.

Penny still swims regularly, but looking back through my blog to compose this post has alerted me to the fact that perhaps we should also be doing ongoing home therapy. I'm going over right now to check out the Dogs in Motion blog.

wheelchair for dogs

I received an email today from Dr. James St. Clair, whose booklet about home therapy after cruciate surgery was a wonderful resource when Penny had her cruciate repair.

He included a link to this YouTube clip showing a wheelchair for dogs with crippled hind legs. I was amazed to see the dog running around, climbing down stairs, and even lying down while still in the apparatus.

a dog hunts rats

Penny has been taking it quietly lately, because she seems to be limping quite badly at times. We've been sticking to short street walks. I think I might have overdone it by taking her on a two-hour walk in the Upper Yarra Valley recently. (But she had a great time!).

We'll go to the physio next week to see how her recovery from cruciate surgery is going. And we've started doing her home therapy more regularly. I think we had become complacent, even though we have been told her leg will never be the same as it was before she injured it.

But today she spent her time rushing down the back steps to check out some intruder in the lush growth in our backyard - growth that is the happy result of all the lovely rain we've had lately.

I think we have rats in the garden once again. She stalked them (or it?) around the garden beds for ages, her slowly waving tail the usual indication that she was on the hunt. It was good to see she was using all four legs to go down the steps, but she did hop the last step on three legs.

home therapy after cruciate operation

One of the problems with a recovery after surgery is boredom, and maybe even depression - and that's just the human, lol!

Anyway, back to the needs of the patient... having to do therapy three times a day helps pass the time. Here we are trying to follow the instructions we were given for the next few weeks. We don't go back for a review until another three weeks, so I sure hope we're doing the exercises correctly. But at least we're having fun.

Though I must admit Penny didn't seem too happy about the last exercise on this clip, to judge by the height of her tail.

our dogs teach us to see how special ordinary places can be

Building on yesterday's success in taking Penny to a place where there are no other dogs, I put her in the car today and simply drove off to have a look around. I had the idea of going to a quiet on-lead path near a creek, so I pulled up and lifted her out.

To a human it was a rather ordinary, if not, horrible, place.



Except for the gorgeous street art...



As usual, Penny showed me that every place can be interesting, if you just stop to smell the flowers.



Some spots required quite intense sniffing.





The good thing about it was that she was walking slowly, which the physiotherapist says is important if we are to build up the strength around her possibly injured cruciate ligament. (I always say 'possibly', because my gut still tells me to doubt the diagnosis.)