16/10/2026
A bit of an off topic post……
I take both my dogs to physiotherapy. I started taking Loki last year because he just looked “off”, and I didn’t know why. He has always been a really easy dog to groom and he suddenly started being defensive about his rear left leg, where he’d never been before, so I took him for a consultation. He had some tightness in his shoulders and some considerable weakness in his back left leg. Nothing major had happened to him, he didn’t have any big falls or significant event that caused it, it’s just the way he uses his body. He is an active little dog and he has much more enthusiasm than he has sense. He loves to play, he accelerates quickly, twists in the air and thoroughly enjoys throwing himself off of high surfaces that he really shouldn’t. We started weekly physio, starting with massage and laser treatment, progressing onto hydrotherapy. I saw very early on how much it improved his posture, movement and how much more comfortable he seemed. After seeing how he was benefitting, I started my other dog, Lyla earlier this year.
In my work, obviously, I talk to a lot of dog people, and physiotherapy comes up in conversation, and people often wonder why I go. They’re not working dogs, they’re not old, ill or injured. I take photos of Loki after every groom, and I compare them to the week, month or year before to look at the progress of his coat. Today, I bathed him after his physio, took his photo and then went back a year to see how his coat was looking. His coat is looking a lot nicer, but the biggest improvement is his posture, specifically his top line, and that is down to physiotherapy.
So, when people ask me why I take my dogs to physio, this photo is the answer.