SheltieChe
Forums Sage
Wow, really? Could you possibly point me in the right direction regarding this?
I hesitate to tell you what to do, you really need to invest in some good physical therapy session where they will evaluate your pup and build specific program for your puppy. But here is how you can cut corners- there is tons of exercises for the balance and rear end awareness, once you confirm that they are good for your situation you can go at your own speed without paying high bills.
Problem with dog as with some horses they do not know they have back legs so they like some cars, totally front loaded. If you only have one side elbow affected you will also get weight shift to unaffected side so your dog will get out of balance on the front too. Water therapy, acupuncture, massage, passive and active stretching might be of help.
Rear end awareness will include, cavaletti work, or walking through ladder,
walking uphill, sit pretty, sit pretty to stand tall, walking on hind legs, stretch up to the wall to stand tall, walking backwards, walking backwards on the stairs, walking backwards through the ladder or over any other obstacle, balance disks, wobble boards. Even tugging will help if the dog knows how to tug and shifts weight to the rear. Separate paw lifts, targeting with back paws, osteogame where pup puts front paws on the chair and does sits - those are few I can come up with. Those are games that my dogs do just to stay fit.