Four Leg Rehab Inc Tomorrow, I'm going to evaluate a litter of 15 Cane Corso 6 week old puppies! Yeah me! It's amazing what you can find on these little guys that could make or break their functioning over the long run - as a pelvis, spine, or rib dysfunction at this age could affect development!

Rod Newman How much can you tell at that young of an age and how often do you do this?

Four Leg Rehab Inc Hey Rod! You can't really pick up hip dysplasia or things like that - but I find tons of SIJ, spine, & rib dysfunctions. I love to see puppies quarterly (or at least twice) if possible throughout their first year of life. They are so hard on themselves! I HAVE found hip laxity (increase in lateral distraction glide at the hip) in 6 - 12 month old puppies that I can alert the owners to - and advise them on strengthening, and appropriate play activities.

Rod Newman Do these things tend to self correct as the dogs mature or do they have to have intervention? I haven't seen any puppies other than severely messed up guys, thus the question.

Four Leg Rehab Inc I think there are a number of things that just might self correct, and others that could cause long term conformation problems (or- I suspect- unilateral hip dysplasia - from an SIJ problem and lack of good muscle bulk, use, and tone leading to abnormal joint wear). I've seen dogs grow with a roached back b/c of an untreated back problem.... you can't fix the 'roach' when it's been there for months while the dog is growing. Perhaps it's these guys that get termed 'pet home puppies' because they don't move as well as their litter mates and/or have poorer conformation. Just a thought I am working on - but I've seen enough to really think there is something to it!

Lisa Blanchard Hi Laurie. So I take it you are all for having puppies reviewed by a qualified person? I have a wonderful veterinary chiropractor that I work with that does applied kinesiology. He works on my 4 year old and has kept her in top condition. I have a 4.5 month old and I have not taken him in for a checkup but I was contemplating it b/c he is so hard on his body. My concern was would the adjustments affect his growth plates? Sorry if that is a dumb question. It's just my ignorance. This is a future conformation, obedience dog. Thx.

Four Leg Rehab Inc Absolutely Lisa - a qualified person is essential. You also want someone that can adjust their technique (pressure/force etc) to accommodate the fact that these guys are littler and 'squishier' - no mallets, no heavy hands... and perhaps the techniques chosen for treatment are varied. You also need someone that is very skilled in palpation to feel and find the problems. I know I'm entirely biased, but I like physiotherapy manual techniques because we have so many different kinds to chose from. Not a dumb question at all!!!

Lisa Blanchard If the breeder is willing, can you post your finding? I am very curious. I am asked to evaluate puppies on occasion from a structural standpoint, but I have never done it from a physio standpoint. This would be very helpful to me even if I use it for my own benefit in practice. Thx.

Four Leg Rehab Inc  So, I saw the puppies today - 13 actually (somewhere after their birth announcement, I missed that one was still-born and another didn't survive past 48 hour). But I wanted to pass along my findings: Only 5 had nothing at all painful. The other things found were SIJ issues, rib issues, lumbar, thoracic, or cervical issues, and one that had a tiny little click in one hip. What's interesting is I have assesses 5 litters now for this breeder, and we are finding little correlations: i.e. one puppy grumbled whenever you picked him up... he had rib issues. In this litter, the last little boy I assessed was the hardest to get his SIJ to move (a nice little distraction technique eventually got a little pop that resolved the tenderness on palpation. Nobody else 'popped' just him.) and he also had a thoracic spine issue - he too has been grumbly to pick up. So... I should clarify with this post - it's not really conformation I've been looking at so much as pain and skeletal joint dysfunctions this early on! It was a fun day!

Lisa Blanchard I just read your post. Thanks that was very helpful. It's ironic that I am looking at the dog's structure and you are palpating them for pain and skeletal dysfunctions. It would be interesting to note if there were correlations. For example on the puppy that grumbled with the rib out and thoracic issues, how was his topline? Did he have straight shoulders? I'll be his breeder or an independent evaluator would be able make structural comments on the puppies (again independent of your eval) and then you could compare notes. That would be fascinating to me. You really need to talk to Pat Hastings. She has evaluated over 30,000 puppies for conformation. You two could talk for hours!

Four Leg Rehab Inc When I have more time - and when I'm asked to do so - I do evaluate for conformation. I have found huge top line issues associated with back pain of one sort or another... and 'stacking problems' later on too! In this scenario - it was about pain / skeletal dysfunctions. I'd love to see all the 'wonky' puppies out there to see if I could find something! I'm betting I could on most of them!