Pretzel

Duncan has very long legs, and is not always sure how to position them properly.

Duncan and I have that in common.  

However, I've never laid like this:

At least, not that I know of.

Chiropractic Update

The Crazy-Pants himself

Duncan went back to Dr. Frick today, and we had some good news and bad frustrating news. 

The good news is that Duncan's left pelvic bone is now back where it needs to be!

The bad news is that his scoliosis is very pronounced, and she's thinking it will take longer than the original estimate of 3-5 months to correct/heal.  To help this, she has different exercises for him to do and she wants us to walk with him in the stirrups as much as possible (he hates these stirrups).  

So, looks like we will be going on lots of walks together soon!  Hopefully I'll be able to post some videos of these excursions, as I know they will be a maximum effort!

Duncan's "bunny hop" walk

To give an idea of where we are starting, here's a video of Duncan "bunny-hopping" through the yard. Over time as his gait improves, we will be posting more videos to track his progress in his rehab.

Duncan's first underwater treadmill session

One of Duncan's therapy exercises is using the underwater treadmill.  Since he is just starting out, he walks at 0.5 mph for 3 minutes, rests for 2 minutes.  He does 3 repetitions of this.  He currently goes twice a week, but as he gets stronger (and gets the hang of it) he will walk for longer and go less frequently.

Newfoundlands are bred to be water rescue dogs, and he tries to swim; he doesn't enjoy the walking part.  Someone has to be in the tank with him to keep him focused.  He has already figured out how to cheat: he puts his back legs (the weak ones) on the sides of the treadmill and "skateboards" with his front legs.  When it was my turn to get in the tank with him, I had to put my knees around his hips so he wasn't able to move his legs to the side.  He was not amused.

Our new life with Duncan

Thanks for visiting Duncan's website!

Duncan is a 5-month-old Newfoundland puppy who was given to us and we were told he had a "slight limp."  That "slight limp" was more like profound scoliosis and twisted pelvis, and he walked mainly with his two front legs and bunny hopped his back two legs. Keeping his footing on linoleum floor in the kitchen is his biggest challenge, and getting up the one step to get inside from the backyard is a bit of an ordeal.

As soon as we saw his gait, we were afraid his quality of life would be very poor.  He has the sweetest disposition and was easily accepted by the other dogs in our home (a dying Bearded Collie and an outspoken Pomeranian), so we couldn't find it in our hearts to give him to a shelter where he would be put down.

My mother is an amazing Google-researcher, and found an article written by an animal chiropractor in Florida who described Duncan's symptoms perfectly, and then listed the ways he has been able to significantly help them through chiropractic care and therapy exercises.  More research led her to Dr. Ava Frick, who practices about 45 minutes away from our house.

We took him in on Wednesday, and after her evaluation, said she thought she would be able to help him.  She thinks he was possibly accidentally kicked or stepped on when he was about a month old (when the previous owners noticed it).  He was from a litter of 9 so this is a definite possibility if there are 9 rambunctious Newfoundland puppies running around and falling over each other.  Dr. Frick said his left hip was out of alignment, and in his rapid growth it fell even further out of alignment, and his compensation resulted in his scoliosis and such a painful-looking gait.

Duncan has a vest that he wears all the time now.  It has a loop at the back that we hold on to to help him stand up better.  He also has a harness with 3 loops.  The 2 padded loops go through his back legs and we hold on to the one at the top when he walks.  This relieves 15-20 pounds of pressure off of his back legs when he walks.  Moving properly is less difficult, so he is able to strengthen his back legs.

We will be using this blog to track his progress using pictures and videos.  We hope to encourage other animal owners to consider chiropractic to help not just manage but heal their animal health issues, and to give them a second chance at life.