Wobblers......is there an alternative to surgery?

Sylvia's Story

#7 Update: July - September, 1999

Wobbler Update---July 9, 1999

We have not had an opportunity to attend our regular agility classes---the weather has been too hot, humid and thunderstorms have managed to appear on the night of our classes. Never-the-less, Syl’s stability is evident in everything she does. I don’t remember when the last time I heard a rear foot drag, or saw her hesitate on the hardwood floors (we do still have the runners down, although she often ignores them). I have caught her standing (easily) on her back legs whenever she wants something she can’t reach on all fours.

She is so happy to be back in agility that I realize we’re going to have to practice a little control. In one of her last classes, she purposely body slammed me, something she has never done and not something I want to continue. While I’m allowing her to do all the things she enjoys, I do so with an acknowledgement of needed caution, but then I don’t think that’s a bad thing when you’re working a dog on equipment that’s several feet off the ground or a series of tight jumps with quick turns.

Since we had not been to class in a while, due to weather conditions, I decided to visit the agility field to take a look at her movement over the jumps. This evening, she was as wild as ever, over the jumps and flying up the a-frame. Then, she headed up the dog walk, heard a telephone ring and froze. You never know what is going to cause this little girl concern. Seeing her reaction, I simply lifted her off the walk and she continued on, happy as a clam. It had nothing to do with her balance, just her quirky personality. She was up and over the teeter without a problem

We had been doing very low jumps (12 inches), as I saw no need to jump higher; my desire was just to get her back into this, see how she was doing and let her have fun. Her jumping looked so strong that I decided to increase the height. I moved the bars to 16 inches. She cleared them with no discernible change in her gait, style or self-assurance. YES!!! Another step forward!!! In our upcoming classes, we will do most of the jumps at 12 inches and occasionally increase them to 16 inches now that I see how strong she is. I am also going to have to ask her for some control--I admit that I’ve let her run a bit wild, as I was just so happy to see her strong and self-assured, that I wasn’t concerned about control. We had it before, we’ll just have to work on getting it back!

Wobbler Update--September 13, 1999

Today was Sylvia's first agility trial since her diagnosis of wobblers in January 1999, and the completion of her subsequent (holistic) treatment. We entered Gamblers only, (NADAC), so I could see how she was doing and not push her.

SHE TOOK FOURTH PLACE!!!! She flew over jumps, around corners, up the a-frame, did beautiful weaves, and had a ball--she did not Q, as I was so busy observing her, that *I* blew the gamble at the end. BUT WHO CARES!!!! She's back and I'm thrilled (no, I'm ECSTATIC!!!!!)

Her PCV (primary care vet, as opposed to her 'sports vet' who treated her for CVI) was ringside to watch her every jump and turn. As we left the ring (we had a problem as Syl was trying to go back in for another run), Dr. Sandy said that if she hadn't seen it, she wouldn't have believed it. She said she was solid and strong throughout the whole run and could easily have run again. It was such fun to have her back!!!! And if we can get past this quirkiness (again) concerning the dog walk, I see no reason that we shouldn't get that last (AKC) Open leg and head for Excellent!!!

Christy Waehner
Atlanta, GA