[pyrnet] Molly and other older dogs

[Carol Brescher <carol@pyr.uniflex.net>]

I think any of us who have experienced the aging of a Pyr are reliving
memories with Molly, Izoure and Arthur. Ed & I tried just about any non-
invasive proceedure to help Patou maintain a good quality of life until
the end. For the last few years of Patou's life we took him regularly
to a canine chiropracter. Some of you may know or heard of Dr. Sue
Ann Lesser. She travels throughout the North East. The first time she
worked on him, he was 13. I never really believed in chiropractic
before, but you could see the muscles relax as she worked on him.
She went very slowly because of his age, but by the third visit he was
so relaxed he fell asleep on her as she was doing her magic.

Patou had developed arthritis in his neck and this directly effected
his rear end. She gave us instructions on exercises to do daily with
him, a simple one like lifting a treat over his head, down to the floor,
then left and then right to cause him to move his neck. His rear end
improved dramatically.

We also began to flex all of his joints, and gained tremedous movement
is a hock that had been injured as a young dog. We would do this
with him on the couch in the evening.

Later Sue Anne showed us how to massage to bring the blood to the
extremities. We would gently massage the legs, working down toward the toes.
And gently massage each of the toes.

These were all simple exercises, sort of dummy proof, and Patou seemed
to enjoy the attention. And by the time I sit down at night, I'm not capable
of doing much else, and a little massage seemed to end our days just fine.

I don't know any of the ramifications of Molly's problem, but for dogs just
getting older like Izoure and Arthur, this might just increase the length of
time
that they can remain sound and mobile.

Carol Brescher Boyle
www.naturaldogfood.com