Sorry to hear of the limp recurrence but it does sound as if it was triggered by the additional exercise if he had been fine. With Juno I juggle her exercise to allow for different routines. For instance if on a dog walk in France, an hours walk with lots of running around, she would only have a lead walk in the morning of around 30 minutes and no evening walk just some time ambling around the garden and playing hide and seek. Or a day like Monday when we met our new trainer and her dogs for a play in the field. Juno had an off lead walk before lunch of around 45 minutes but no walk in the evening - after spending around 40 minutes running and playing with a greyhound and a Saluki she didn't need anything else. Exercise yesterday was around an hour on lead and then a shorter off lead in the afternoon. I don't know if it would work for you and Charlie the same as I am aware that Juno has quite a different character but it may be worth throwing into the mix.
Ah I've just had a few minutes to pop on and it felt like a good news day until I saw this thread come to the top...........sorry he's taken a dip,it must be on your mind such a lot...... Glad you've got a course to have something to focus on...is that pretty local to you,that drive down to Cornwall sounded a bit grim x
I don't think it's bad news, really - just a bit annoying. I don't mind too much if I have to change the type of thing Charlie does to suit him. We are still able to do lots, it's just what the dog (and the owner) gets used to doing, I suppose... Charlie is naturally a very active dog and I think he is sort of used to 'working' now - obviously, I don't mean actually working, but he is used to doing a lot of training, and so we need something to replace what we used to do, really. A full 9-5 everyday gundog training holiday makes Charlie moderately snoozy in the evenings. So 'walks' particularly on lead and 'quiet' off lead walks, aren't doing it for him, really. Of course he can and will adjust - it's not like he hasn't been on rest before! It's just boring for both of us....so finding something new to get stuck into while we wait to see how the overall exercise thing pans out seems like just the ticket.
I feel your pain Julie, that is really horrid. On the upside, I think a scentwork workshop sounds like a brilliant idea. I remember when I was doing the cold game training with Poppy, the scenting/searching/hunting work was fabulous; both she and I loved it. I bet Charlie would love it!
Just back from the vet, lovely man gave up his lunch hour to see me rather than OH tomorrow. Anyway, 4th Cartrophen injection....vet says Charlie is walking and trotting fine, and no sensitivity in his elbows. I did a video of Charlie this morning, and I do think he is walking much better. So, vet says to carry on as we are for another week, then try to do 10 mins more intense exercise, some retrieves etc. and if Charlie is ok with that, we can build it up again from there. My vet has a Labrador that goes gundog training, and does agility, so he understands that it's important we get Charlie back to training if we can.... Still waiting to hear about the scentwork workshop - hope I get on it....
Good to hear that the vet is really pleased with Charlie and no sign of soreness or stiffness. Look forward to hearing about the scent workshop. Scent training is something my trainer has mentioned and is attending seminars etc herself to learn more about it.
The scentwork workshop sounds fabulous. I'd love to do that with Willow, so I'm really looking forward to hearing about it if you manage to do it with Charlie. With absolutely no knowledge on it, I imagine that it would work the dog's mind loads, whilst not being overly physical and hard on joints. Your vet sounds really lovely and it's great that he understands the importance of training to both of your emotional states.
I reckon - hope so, anyway. It does sound good as a back up training thing....have just been reading about it and you can do various levels, and enter competitions in teams. My dog walker with a Beagle is interested, so we might have the start of a beginner's team.... I bet Beagles are super good at it! Hope Charlie's nose works ok!
My trainer is using her young Saluki as her 'guinea pig. I reckon Charlie has a big advantage on Sherlock
I didn't get on the first scentwork workshop, am now down for the next one I can get to next month. They seem so popular! I have a book though, I bought it at Clickerexpo but didn't get round to reading it. So am going to have a read of that and see whether we can get going in advance of the workshop. Charlie got a bit of extra exercise over the weekend - not a lot more, but the trip to Richmond Park was an extra, and yesterday I let him do more running around than I have been (still no retrieves though). He's fine, no stiffness....so fingers crossed as we build up more exercise at the end of the week....
Good to hear that there's been no reaction to the extra exercise and more running around. Fingers crossed here as well. Shame you didn't get on the scent workshop but hopefully the book will get you started.
Phew, I got nervous when I saw this thread had been updated! Glad to hear all is well for now and fingers crossed you get onto the next course.
Sorry! I don't know if the cartrophen has had an impact - it's probably a bias, but I do rather think it has....he seems better than before he did whatever it was that made him limp.... Tut. It's always too easy to jump to conclusions! He'll probably be limping again by the end of the week. Hope not though!
NOOOO! Don't even think that! Charlie will be fine and not limping whether it's the cartrophen or not.
So....over the last few days Charlie's exercise has been near to his pet dog normal, but we still haven't been retrieving. It's a week after the last Cartrophen injection, and we had just one morning when he was very slightly stiff that wore off pretty much straight away. We video him walking each morning first thing so we can compare over time. For the last few days, he has had a better gait at the front than before he had the limp. That makes him sound like he 'normally' has a limp - that's not the case, but his gait at the front has long had some uneveness about it. Now, I'd say it's pretty much even. I don't think it's quite perfect, but then he is not a perfect dog. Based on this, I'm inclined to think that the Cartrophen has made a difference. I'll see whether I can take him to the physio place next week and get them to look at him on the gait analysis machine, but I think he is moving really well. As far as I can figure out from the data sheets, this is about when the Cartrophen would start to have its maximum effect. He is also more full of beans than he normally is - which is not necessarily a good thing...as extremely full of beans has now become overflowing with beans.... Today, we are going to do 10 minutes of retrieving with him (as agree with the vet) and see what happens...
