All posts by David

Lexi’s newsdesk

Hello all Little Meadower’s

Well the new outdoor season has started and I must say Springtime UKA show didn’t live up to it’s name, it was very cold, wet and very windy. I don’t do wet and windy (I sulk if I don’t want to do something!). Fortunately my mum thought it was too dangerous for me to do agility as I’m little, she said I might be blown off the dog walk and with my big ears I could fly away and never be seen again. However I did do a few good things before the wind got too strong. I was pleased to come home where I didn’t move away from the fire all evening, not even to get on anyone’s lap.

Easter Celebration was a bit better, especially on Sunday. I met up with about 13 of my brothers and sisters. Some were older and some were younger. It was great at first but then I got a bit fed up of posing for photos and annoying puppies. I was very very pleased to see my favourite sister Dilly. We playing together both Saturday and Sunday and also ran in the Grade 5-7 pairs where we came second. My mum was very pleased not only did we get a trophy and rosette but she also got an Easter egg. Julie (Dilly’s Mum) was so pleased she gave me a bag of very tasty treats.

David Cowderoy made me a very happy dog, he produced out of his pocket one of my very favourite toys, a raggy. I thought he had lost it and there it was. I got so excited tugging it and just couldn’t help barking. I hope he doesn’t lose it again it’s worth an awful lot of money!!!!
Happy training everyone
Lexi

Emily at the Royal Vet College

Guess who’s in the red uniform!
29/01/2015

RVC opens clinic for canine athletes

The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) is to open what it claims is the UK’s first specialist clinic for sporting, show and working canines.

The clinic will be focusing on an area sometimes neglected by regular vets, said the RVC.

The new Sports Medicine, Osteoarthritis and Pain Clinic (SMOAPC) will offer physical therapy, underwater treadmills and musculoskeletal ultrasound, and be led by Pilar Lafuente, one of three American specialists in canine sports medicine and rehabilitation in Europe.

Sporting and working dogs, including border collies, hounds, terriers and German shepherds, can suffer from chronic and sport specific injuries such as stress fractures, impact injuries and tendon issues that don’t usually affect the more traditional domesticated household pet canine. Therefore the college will also offer MRI scanning and scintigraphy and objective gait analysis with a pressure mat, while full-time veterinary physiotherapist Emily Cowderoy will oversee the underwater treadmill and swimming pool as well as electrical stimulation and physical therapies.

The RVC also aims to offer a “transdisciplinary specialist approach” into the treatment of osteoarthritis and chronic pain management for domestic cats and dogs, with Chris Seymour and his anaesthesia and analgesia team providing support for patients suffering from chronic pain that doesn’t respond to common therapies.

RVC staff in other departments will also provide support, including those from the orthopaedic, physiotherapy, neurology and neurosurgery, soft tissue surgery, oncology, cardiology, internal medicine and diagnostic imaging teams.

Clinical director of the RVC’s small animal referral services Holger Volk said: “As in human medicine, as doctors specialise they can lose sight of the big picture, only focusing on their own area of expertise. This can lead to patients being passed from specialist to specialist with the root clinical signs never really being discovered.

“The RVC is leading the way by building transdisciplinary teams working together to achieve the best individual care for pets and animals.”

Dr Lafuente – who is also a recognised American and European specialist in small animal surgery – agreed the injuries and ailments common in sporting and working dogs do not get the specific expertise needed from regular vets.

“For example, agility dogs have a lot of shoulder injuries, tendon and muscle injuries,” she said. “Greyhounds often suffer from stress fractures and muscle injuries, while working dogs, such as police German shepherds, can develop hip and back problems, such as hip dysplasia or lumbosacral disease. That is why this clinic is so important.”

Telephone 01707 666366 for more information or to refer a patient to the SMOAP clinic.

Read the full story by Trudi Gibson on the clinic in the next Veterinary Times (45.6).

Happy New Year

Hi All,

We hope you’ve all had a great Christmas and that 2015 will be a good one.

The new year is the time for resolutions and planning for the next 12 months.

One of my goals for the year is to help you achieve your agility related goals. It may be to remember a course, to get a clear round, to have a secure “wait”, or to win into another grade. Whatever it is, if you let me know, we will see if we can come up with a plan to achieve it.

Even when things happen outside of our control, having a clear plan will help you make progress, and most important of all, get pleasure and enjoyment from your canine partner. So this is not just for the ultra competitive, we all need to have fun with our dogs.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all again on 14th January. There are one or two class changes but come at the usual time unless we call you to say otherwise.

We have ordered a new dog walk from First Contact which is a mixture of aluminium, rubber and wood. Should be delivered sometime in January. Then we’ll have the small one for training puppies and a full size one for the rest of us.

 

All the best

David

Welcome to our new website.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been thinking about having a club website for a while – well here it is.

I hope it will be interactive which means I need input from you all.

Have a look around and give me feedback, good or bad, so we can make it useful, and the best we can.

I hope the videos of Lexi’s 2×2 training will be useful to those of you currently teaching 2×2 and to those who will go on to teach the weaves this way.

See particularly the last video from week three. Spectacular after only three weeks training.

All the best David