Reluctant to weave - pain? soreness?

[romeosangiovese]

This Saturday at agility training, Romeo was reluctant to weave. He was very slow and basically walked through it. He would jump and run like he normally does over the jumps (no contact equipment that day) but when it came to the weaves, he didn't want to put any effort into it at all.

Now, if it were Juliet, I'd think it was a diva "no I ain't doin' that today sista" thing, but with Romeo, my wonderfully stable and reliable boy, who always gives me whatever he can, I know it's got to be something more!

Any idea what or where the pain or soreness might be? I remember a Dr Sophia Yin article that suggested it might be a rotator cuff injury. Anything else it could be?

 

[Mignarda]

The spine and its associated musculature, it seems, have to undergo some serious contortion in weaving, particularly for mid-sized and large dogs. You might want to give him a break from it for a bit and see if he recovers.

 

[Caro]

Sounds a little similar to the early signs of Tully's shoulder problem that I never picked up. Several years ago Dr Shelli posted some info about shoulder injuries (when I still didn't know what was going on with Deska) that turned out to be very useful for Tully's diagnosis. I've embeded her post below.

One of the reasons Tully's MSI wasn't diagnosed earlier, despite many vet visits, was because the vets kept thinking she had great flexibility in the shoulders. It was the specialist that found she had too much flexibility.

Othropedics aren't my speciality but in talking with a surgeon after Justice's flexor tendon injury, he told me that shelties seem to have a lot of carpal injuries such af flexor tendon spains/tears, ligament injuries and tendonitis in the lower leg and elbow.

Also there is a agility related injury called medial shoudler instability which has similar on/off signs. The weaves pole often show the most signs since it is a side to movement that exposes the weakness.I went to a Chris Zink lecture and she said it was hard to diagnose if you don't know to look for it. Another possiblity is bicepitical tendonitis.


Some info on MSI
http://www.vetsportsmedicine.com/res...AL11.20.08.pdf
Published in Clean Run

http://www.vetsportsmedicine.com/sur...uffInjurya.pdf

Article about carpal injuries
http://www.vetsportsmedicine.com/sur...alInjuries.pdf

Just thoughts off the top of my head. Hope Deska feels better soon. No fun to have a gimpy boy, I know.
__________________
Dr. Shelli
Can/Bah CH UGRCH Can OTCH UGOCH UACH Justice UDX2 NA NAJ ASCA/Bah CDX RE CGC
UCH UUD UAGII Ember UDX AX AXJ RA Can CD
UCH Diva CDX AX AXJ NF RA, Ch Jamie and Birch CGC

 

[corbinam]

I've found that Bentley only shows injury at the weaves (and occasionally with a dropped bar). I rarely see symptoms anywhere else on course. He's very stoic, and typically runs at a consistent (but not fast) pace. Weave issues are his number one sign that ANYTHING is wrong.

I think it could be anything-- not just a possible shoulder issue. The weaves are vey demanding and require many different parts of the body to work hard.

Have you taken him to the chiro? That's usually my first stop when I see slight weave performance deterioration.

As an example, Bentley weaved slower than usual (he's such a steady speed that most people couldn't tell) and missed his entry a couple times last weekend. He dropped maybe 2 bars in 7 runs. He needed an adjustment, and had a very minor groin tweak/strain.

Hope it's something minor with Romeo.

 

[romeosangiovese]

Thank you guys, that was really very helpful!

I'm starting to go into panic mode, especially since there are no chiros here for dogs!

Where do I even begin figuring out which part of his complex body could be causing him pain!

I'll pull him out of practice for now and look into this further. Will look at Dr Shelli's links. I want to be armed with some good info when I go to the vets (no performance dog specialists either!) so I don't get shooed out with "Oh it's nothing! Just let him rest!" without them doing any checking!

I bought this ebook "Canine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation" which just came out, by Chris Zink (http://www.caninesports.com/new.html) but of course there was some cock up with my download link so I'm still waiting to download it!