12 months - Chiropractor

I had been noticing some unusual behavior from Kili recently that I had initially attributed to a growth phase. She had been laying around at home a lot, not eating super well, not really wanting to work. She was still playing like a banshee with her friends but unless there was another dog over she mostly just wanted to lay on the couch. In fact she was very insistent on laying on the couch even when there was no space for her there. She didn't seem to want to lay on the very comfy dog beds that have. I had also noted recently that she seemed reluctant to sit. At first I thought maybe with all her growth that she was having more difficulty with a comfortable sit as some greyhounds can, but a couple of times she would sit and kind of whine at me. The last straw was at her agility class this week when she kept running around jumps. We thought she just wasn't far enough along in her training to understand that she should be taking them, but then I set her right in front of a jump and she just stood there, then tried to run around it. We dropped the jumps to 8 inches and she did agreed to do them. I had also noticed that night that she was not a bullet through the tunnels like she normally is. And by the end of the class (which she did not complete as I decided something was wrong with her and switched her out for Summit to finish the last exercise) I noted that her gait was very careful. She was not obviously lame on any particular leg but she just seemed cautious all around.

Our agility trainer uses a local animal chiropractor so she gave me her name and contact information. I called her that night and was able to get Kili in the next day after work. I was a little anxious as I've never become completely comfortable with being adjusted myself and have actually stopped going for the past 2 years since my problems had somewhat resolved (I am now trying massage therapy instead) and I have never had a dog adjusted before. My trainer had assured me that this chiro was very gentle with her adjustments and good with the animals which reassured me a little. The chiropractor found that Kili's left hip was very tight and Kili also seemed to be sore on that side compared to the other. We got Kili partly adjusted before the chiro elected to stop early so that she wouldn't be overwhelmed (big brownie points for her in my books!). We are going back in a week for another adjustment, but even last night following the appointment I noted a HUGE improvement. She wasn't just laying around on the couch anymore but she was poking around the house and being a general pain in my butt. When she did finally settle for a nap she did so on her dog bed and not on the couch even though there was space for her. Hurray!

We are going back on Monday so we will see how her second appointment goes.