A couple of years ago one of our puppy bitches called Tease, aged 6 months, broke her hip. The X-ray showed that the head of the femur had been completely sheered off. The cause was unknown but strange as it may seem, could have been caused by another dog leaping on her as they raced around their run.

We discussed what the options were with the vet and other breeders, our main concern being her quality of life after any operation. Much of the advice we received was to have her put to sleep, as the operation would entail taking the head of the femur out and leaving nothing in its place. Our vet said he could not guarantee that she would ever be able to walk again but that there was a chance.

After much deliberation we decided to proceed with the operation as she was so young and it seemed wrong to not give her the chance. Initially after the operation, Tease became depressed as she struggled to cope with the trauma and the apparent loss of use of her leg. On the vets advice we forced her to try to walk on it. His words were “there is nothing there to cause her pain any more and she must use the leg to enable the cartilage to build up around the bone that was left”.

During the 10 days the stitches were in she never once used that leg and we thought we had made the wrong decision. We returned to the vet to have the stitches taken out and updated him on how she didn’t seem to be coping. He thought that she should have been using the leg at least a little and was as disappointed as we were. As a last resort he suggested hydrotherapy and gave us some details to take away and read. We decided to give it a go. We had come this far and a little more wouldn’t hurt.

Off we went to the hydro pool where we were given a lot of spiel about the wonderful benefits of hydrotherapy and what amazing results had been seen from similar cases. Our spirits were lifted a little but at the back of our minds we thought it was probably futile.

Initially Tease was strapped into a harness and lowered into the water. Panic set in as only a collie can do but she couldn’t sink as the harness was there. She settled down to paddling with her front legs but no movement at the back at all. The damaged leg just hung limply in the water. 5 minutes later and still no movement we took her out, dried her and took her home, making another appointment for later in the week. This first session was limited to 5 minutes to gauge her reaction to it, subsequent visits built up the time to about 15 minutes per session.

On the second visit, she was made to enter the water wearing a life Jacket but without the harness. By using tit bits we encouraged her to swim to the other side of the pool and the assistant manipulated the rear leg for her to encourage her to use it. Amazingly she suddenly seemed to realise that there was no pain when using the leg in the water and she started to move it herself to propel her through the water.

For the next 15 minutes she was worked quite hard, swimming around the pool, using the bad leg more and more. It was a start. After the swimming came the relaxing part. She was gently placed in a small Jacuzzi filled with warm water and the jets were switched on, massaging her aching muscles. Surprisingly she loved this and closed her eyes enjoying the relaxation.

The swimming and the Jacuzzi took about 25 minutes and the drying afterwards took about 40 minutes. She had a huge coat and seemed to like the attention.

In between visits, we persisted in taking her for a walk with a couple of other dogs and although the vet had told us not to worry if they knocked her, it was sometimes difficult to watch and not interfere. Already she had begun to put her leg on the floor. Only occasionally and only fleetingly but it was an improvement.

Further visits to the pool saw her swimming without the life jacket and then, much to her annoyance the water jets were turned on. These jets of water at one end of the pool could be set at various strengths and were there for her to swim against. The faster the jets of water the more she had to use her leg to swim against the current.

At times we thought we were pushing her too hard, especially as her coat became waterlogged and the weight started to pull her under. We wanted to intervene but the assistant assured us that if we helped, she would expect it every time so we left it to the experts. Once or twice she began to disappear under the water until she realised that if she kicked harder she would keep afloat. Collies are also quite canny dogs and she would make a tremendous effort to reach the titbit, swimming against the current and then turn around and enjoy a leisurely float on the current back to the beginning of the pool. We are sure she was smiling at this point. After a few sessions she even managed to work out that if she swam along the far side, the jets were not quite so strong there and we would have to pull her back to the middle.

The Jacuzzi became a regular part of the therapy and it was a real pleasure to see her relaxing after each hard workout.

For us, there was immense satisfaction in watching her improve after each visit. After 4 weeks of swimming, (Twice per week) she was finally using the leg most of the time. By now she was swimming for about 25 minutes in total, split into two sessions with a 10 minute break in between We continued taking her swimming for about 10 weeks and although she had a slight limp and would never enter a show ring, (okay hold the jokes about movement in the ring today) she would be able to lead a fairly normal life.

We think all the effort was worth while and although Tease does not live with us anymore, we still keep in touch with her new owners and she is a well loved family pet who strangely enough keeps well clear of any water they are passing on their walks.

Many of you may think she would have improved with time without the aid of the Hydrotherapy, but during our visits we met many other owners and their dogs and one particular dog had exactly the same operation as Tease and had not been to the hydrotherapy pool immediately after the operation. We first saw this dog 6 weeks after his op and he would not put his leg on the floor at all. We continued to see him each week and his progress was much slower than Tease’s.

The benefits of Hydrotherapy for humans in physiotherapy, is well documented and many greyhound owners use the pools as a form of exercise, which is non-impact. As a method of treatment for dogs suffering muscular or skeletal problems, we would recommend people give it a try.
Written By John Tipper [Tiganlea Collies]