Does Your Dog Need Hydrotherapy? Let's Find Out!

Here's what to know if you think it would be a good match for your pooch!

Is your dog recovering from an injury, struggling with arthritis, or in need of a safe and effective way to stay active? Swimming and water-based therapy can be life-changing for dogs dealing with mobility issues, post-surgery recovery, weight management, or even just to build strength and confidence. But how do you know if hydrotherapy is right for your pup? In this continuation of our Q&A with Doggy Paddle in Norwich, we will answer your questions!

What are the benefits of hydrotherapy for dogs? E.g behavioural issues like anxiety etc. muscle strengthening. 

• "Hydrotherapy uses the therapeutic properties of heated water to exercise dogs in a weight-free environment, it has a number of benefits including reduced pain perception, decreased inflammation, relaxation of muscle tension and spasms, increased range of movement in water to ease stiff and arthritic joints, improved cardiovascular fitness, and slowing the progression of some degenerative disease symptoms. Some typical conditions we treat include: Hip dysplasia, damage to the Cruciate ligament, Patella luxation, Elbow dysplasia, Arthritis or other age-related stiffness or mobility issues. We also do a lot of work with weight management, or assist in conditioning sporting dogs (agility, flyball) or we have dogs that just attend for fun and fitness. 

  
  

  We work with a lot of anxious and reactive dogs, for reactive dogs its a great form of exercise that's one-on-one away from other dogs and crowds of people, and for anxious dogs its a good opportunity for them to work with a therapist and gain some positive experiences of being handled by a 'stranger' - it can then make future vet visits a bit easier."

How do you tailor your hydrotherapy programs to meet the needs of individual dogs?

• "We do a number of things to tailor a hydrotherapy program to the dog. We change the style of swimming we use according to the area of the body the dog needs to condition, increased turns for forelimbs, or static swimming for hindlimbs. The set duration and rest periods will also vary between dogs based on their age, fitness levels, condition or rehab phase, for example a post-surgery dog may start with very few and short sets, whereas an agility dog would start with much longer swims. The biggest factor is behaviour, and all of our sessions are run slightly differently to adapt to the dog - some dogs are toy driven and enjoy racing up and down the pool after water toys, others are motivated by food and therefore require work sets and rest periods where they can have treats, and others are just happy being fussed and massaged between sets. They all have their little quirks and become very particular right down to the direction the therapist stands with them when resting, or how you hold the toy - we have to leave extensive notes between the team so we don't upset any of the dogs!"

What are some of the most rewarding success stories you’ve seen from your work?

• "We work with a lot of dogs post-surgery, so typically when they arrive for their initial assessment they aren't weight-bearing well, and have muscle wastage, and then within around six sessions we see drastic improvements. Owners say they then have energy back, they are jumping around more, and able to weight-bear and go on their usual walks again. These are always really rewarding courses, but my favourites are always the older dogs. These are dogs that are stiff, and aren't able to walk very far any more, but working in the water allows them to play fetch again and race up and down the pool, their eyes light up and they become like puppies again in the centre. Then the effects of the hydrotherapy follow them home and they become much less stiff and are more active around the house. I love seeing these changes, because you feel like you're making a big difference to the quality of the dog's life."

  
  

If you would like to get an insight into the background of Rachel and how she started out, check out our last blog post 'Wanting to Dive into Hydrotherapy?'. In that post we cover everything from qualifications to techniques used, and common misconceptions.