FutureMACH
Forums Regular
Hi, I'm new here. I have 2 shelties - Tommy is my 8 year old agility dog and Callie is my 10 month old agility dog to be.
Tommy is an amazing dog - fast, wild, happy just with that little edge of crazy. He's hilarious and fun and obnoxious and I adore him. A year ago he had weakness in his back end, reduced neurological responses in his back end, and a hunched back. He was diagnosed with Intravertebral Disc Disease. We rested him, medicated, and rehabilitated him to health, and he was able to go back to competition. Then this year at a trial he became lame on his shoulder. Another reevaluation determined that this wasn't muscle soreness or a leg issue, but his neck, again related to IVDD.
This is common in long-backed breeds like dachshunds and corgis. Tommy is not a long backed sheltie. He actually is quite short-backed for a sheltie.
What I wish I'd known the first time he was diagnosed was - that this is not the result of injury but a medical condition related to genetics; and that this is not a one-time injury that could be rehabilitated or fixed with conditioning but a degenerative disease that WILL get worse over time. Had I been told those things I probably would not have continued to compete in agility with him. He's now on 8 weeks of strict crate rest and pain meds and muscle relaxers (well as strict as we can make it... Just try to keep him from spinning... Not gonna happen).
So he's retired from agility now (he will need a job so we're going to look into nosework).
99% of the information out there on IVDD is related to dachshunds. Does anyone have any experience with a sheltie with IVDD? I'd love to hear your experience and thoughts.
Tommy is an amazing dog - fast, wild, happy just with that little edge of crazy. He's hilarious and fun and obnoxious and I adore him. A year ago he had weakness in his back end, reduced neurological responses in his back end, and a hunched back. He was diagnosed with Intravertebral Disc Disease. We rested him, medicated, and rehabilitated him to health, and he was able to go back to competition. Then this year at a trial he became lame on his shoulder. Another reevaluation determined that this wasn't muscle soreness or a leg issue, but his neck, again related to IVDD.
This is common in long-backed breeds like dachshunds and corgis. Tommy is not a long backed sheltie. He actually is quite short-backed for a sheltie.
What I wish I'd known the first time he was diagnosed was - that this is not the result of injury but a medical condition related to genetics; and that this is not a one-time injury that could be rehabilitated or fixed with conditioning but a degenerative disease that WILL get worse over time. Had I been told those things I probably would not have continued to compete in agility with him. He's now on 8 weeks of strict crate rest and pain meds and muscle relaxers (well as strict as we can make it... Just try to keep him from spinning... Not gonna happen).
So he's retired from agility now (he will need a job so we're going to look into nosework).
99% of the information out there on IVDD is related to dachshunds. Does anyone have any experience with a sheltie with IVDD? I'd love to hear your experience and thoughts.
Praying for a quick recovery and for him to have a long and as comfortable a life as possable. 
