What do our walks look like sometimes? Yup Riley is out in front, but she isn’t pulling the stroller. She is a Shih Tzu not a Husky!! I normally take the stroller out on walks for several reasons: 1) Trixie is overweight and she can only walk for so long without getting winded, I don’t like to push her too much 2) Katie has a degenerative disc in her back and though she can walk a long time, she will end up hurting after 4 blocks.
The purpose of this photo? When exercising it is important to know your dog’s limitations. Sometimes signs and symptoms wont be apparent while you are out on a walk, but they can show up after you get home. When Katie was first diagnosed with the degenerative discs in her back we had just gotten back into the house from a nice 6 block walk. She was a little huffy puffy when we got back, but nearly 20 minutes later she was still breathing heavily. She is not a dog that cry’s out when she is in pain, just the heavy breathing. I knew something was wrong when she wouldn’t take any water. We immediately jumped in the car and headed for the ER. Once there x-rays where taken and the vet knew what was wrong, so she was sent home on pain killers and an Rx to take it easy for a while.
She has recovered nicely since that day, but our walks are shorter, approximately 2 blocks now, and we have incorporated a great strength training program with FitPaws Strength & Conditioning Equipment. I also suggest that before something like this happens you have baselines for your dog which includes, temperature, pulse rate, respiration, hydration and capillary refill. If you would like more information on these readings and averages please see my post Pet Safety CPR/First Aid.
I would like to give a huge barkout to SlimDoggy for hosting this wonderful blog hop.
Now that Chester is senior I have to watch his limitations. I still haven’t learned his signals because he is always such a happy boy but sometimes I fear we walked or hiked too far because he does a lot of sighing when he is sleeping at home after.
Jessica@YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner recently posted…Help Us Save Animals Doing What We Love – Petties Award
Gypsy’s forever mom here. I just wanted to say that the x-ray made MY back hurt. Ouch!
Dreaming recently posted…Gypsy Jabbers: Life at the Fat Farm
Yup… I was not happy when I saw it.. She was going to be my little agility girl, she had to settle with being daddy’s little love!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. My mom has done some agility with me. We were staying at an RV park that had a beautiful agility course with regulation everything. Mom taught me to do the A-frame and the plank thingy and I will do the tunnel if I see a little light at the end. I also did a few jumps, but sometimes I got lazy and would run around them. The park also had poles and I would do the open ones on a leash, but I didn’t like the ones with the fences around them as I always hit my nose on the fence. I kept forgetting it was there. Maybe some day I’ll need to write about agility! We will be going back to that park next year. Maybe we’ll have more time to play there!
Dreaming recently posted…Gypsy Jabbers: Life at the Fat Farm
Riley sure doesn’t look like she minds leading the pack! 🙂 I bet you get lots of comments on your stroller – very cute, and very handy!
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You’re so right about recognizing limitations…A lesson I learned when Bruno got old was that he could no longer run for hours and we had to adjust our hikes to meet his abilities
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Roxy has a bad disk in her back too. Most times she is great, but I have ended up carrying her a few times. I have a backpack that I take sometimes that she can ride in if she needs to.
Roxy the traveling dog recently posted…Fit Dog Friday
That is soo cool that you have a little backpack for her, i have been thinking about getting a sling for Katie. Have you tried any of the FitPaws product for strength training? They are great for building up the core muscles in the back and stomach.
Thanks for sharing the x-rays – I think showing people what is going on under the skin is valuable in understanding how to treat it. Keep up the good work strengthening her! We love FitPAWS equipment – it is great for dogs of all sizes!
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I knew I needed to take a pic of the x-rays, though the ER did give me a copy to give to my vet. Since that visit we haven’t had a flare up, but I am very careful with her and her workouts & play. She has a super fast metabolism so she doesn’t get hard workouts, I have a hard enough time keeping her at 14 pounds. FitPAWS is the best, last year I went to their 1st Canine Fitness Instructors Course and had sooo much fun!
Oh, poor little Katie. She looks so sad…but pretty spectacular in that vest. You are spot on with your recommendations – knowing your dog’s limits is so important to their fitness. Our Becca had spinal issue also and frequent SHORT walks worked best for her. Jack is an ox and he could go for hours. Thanks for joining the Hop!
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Katie loves her little vest for her work outs… though she wasn’t sad at all, she was just a little tuckered out in the photo. There is a lot of rest time between our sets.
Because Tzus bodies are long, are there any preventative measures we can make to decrease the chances of back problems such as the way we pick them up, the way we carry them? I know jumping up and down furniture increases their risk. Thanks
Hi Sybil, once I recover a bit from losing JoeJo last week I plan on having more Strength and Conditioning Posts.And yes, it is very important to monitor what furniture our Shih Tzus jump off of. Beds are extremely dangerous as the top gets higher & higher.