Mickey injured his leg last December. I can only suspected it was from rigorous play with his ball by my mother. She was outside and I happen to see Mickey panting extremely heavy, I looked at my mom and said, "were you playing ball with Mickey?" And she raised an inch in height with a big grin and said, "YES!" My heart sunk. I knew Mickey might be in danger of hurting himself. A few days later he was limping on his leg. I had a chiropractic adjustment and he seemed ok, but only for a day. He started to go down hill after that.
At Mickey's element trial, he didn't look happy at the end of the day and I think he was showing signs of discomfort in his hinds. It was disheartening. I kept thinking he only needed another chiropractic adjustment. So a few days following that trial, I took Mickey to a vet. She mentioned that it was probably his cruciate. So I went with that. The vet even recommended that I go to a surgeon to get a full evaluation. But I didn't. I thought laser therapy and acupuncture would serve him well.
Mickey wasn't getting better. My heart kept sinking and I certainly had been struggling with my own health issues. I was having bad bouts of fatigue. I could barely be appropriately observant. So I had Mickey evaluated by a surgeon. She said Mickey's cruciate is fine. It is his Iliopsoas, which is better to have than a torn cruciate. I'm lucky this surgeon knows the difference because some dogs have had cruciate surgeries and it really was an issue with their Iliopsoas syndrome.
When laser treatment started to focus on those set of muscles, Mickey showed improvement. However, it is a balance of chiropractic, acupuncture, laser and later, swimming that is getting him back to normal. Mickey has been swimming mow for over a month. He started his original laser about three month ago. It is patience and letting those muscles take time to repair themselves.
Me being a nervous wreck mother, if I see a limp, I worry. Thinking he is going back to injury, but it has finally sunk in that it is only soreness. Mickey lost an inch of muscle in his leg and that takes a long time to rebuild..
I also entered him in a nose work trial. They are so difficult to get in, that I just entered, thinking he should be fairly healed by then. Now that the trial is 2 weeks away, I am a bit nervous. Mickey is getting to the point he is getting healed, but reconditioning is a whole other story. It is cutting is close.Plus, I have not been doing a lot of practice with him because too much nose work and he would start to limp. It will be amazing if we title at this trial! But, I haven't pulled him yet. I will be starting his Previcox two weeks before the trial, which will give him pain maintenance, and that usually helps with his nose work. I know the Nose Work trial will not "hurt" him. It will just be a long day. I will have to work extra hard to just have a day that I make sure Mickey has fun. I will not think about title or my ego that day. Titles really are all about ego.
On 6/28/2015, Mickey titled.
Unfortunately that was his last trial. 4 more trials and we couldnt do it. January 2017 Mickey got a herniated disk and had to be fully retired from nose work.
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