Hope for the injured

We have had dogs with many differ ant injuries but in the past while we have been working with 2 very unique cases
case 1 is a 5 year old dog that was hit by a car and left to be put down fortunately a kind hearted rescue saved her and after having 1 front leg amputated and a rear leg fused so it can not bend properly .She started hydrotherapy 3 Weeks ago and if there ever was a case to show how strong and determined a dog can be this is it She is already starting to swim with out the help of a life jacket and is getting stronger by the session.

Case 2 is a little pug by the name of Angus he unfortunately has IVDD (Intervertebal degenerative disc disease)which has left him paralyzed in his hind legs. He has had an operation to hopefully help correct the problem .In the short time he has been working in our pool he has already shown small signs that he will walk again. he is able to extend his rear legs out but as of now he does not have the muscle to pull them back in ,but with every visit to the pool he is getting a little stronger.

exciting news

Well the Christmas season has come and gone here at RFCC with our help gone for 3 month it was very busy around here. we have been booked soild for the past 2 month with boarding dogs it was a lot of work but also a lot of fun meeting all sorts of dog breeds each with their own unique personalities. Now the big news we have been very fortunate to have Dr Juan Gonzales join our team here at RFCC,Dr Gonzales brings with him 7 years of practical experience and a wealth of knowledge he will be working closely with us to provide the best care possible for animals that come to our hydrotherapy pool for treatment and will be avaiable to talk to your own Vet about Hydrotherapy and its benefits.

the life cycle continues

We have not posted any blogs since putting our big buddy down. but now the life cycle continues we have added a new addition to our family his name is "On targets outrageous" calL name Rage he is a little border/staffy with the passing of Buddy we had both an empty spot in our home as well as in our hearts . Rage is not here to replace Buddy but rather to be given a good home and life style and to be himself. We are looking forward to him growing up in our home and becoming part of our family enjoying life and playing flyball with the rest of his new brothers and sister. welcome Rage.

Our wonderful Buddy

This has been an extremely sad week around here we had to make the what is a very tough decision about quality of life and death.Buddy came into my life 14 years ago. having gone to a pet store to look at some fish we happened to notice some small black balls(lab/rotti cross) of fur running around a small enclosure at the back of the store.The rest is history Buddy came home with us . in the first 2 years with us i am amazed he survived. this little puppy turned into the dog from hell after moving from Richmond to Langley and starting my own business working long hours away from home. Buddy took it upon himself to renovate the outside of my house . in a nut shell he tore siding off the house chewed through electrical cords,chain link fencing, door jams, doors, toilet seats and the best one was when he chewed through the water pipe and flooded the family room!! i seriously thought about getting rid of him.But i could not i realized it really wasn't his fault. it was ours. i was not giving him enough exercise so he made his own.once we made more time for him to get some exercise he became an absolutely amazing pet and Friend he was always there for you when i was unhappy or tired he was there to cheer me up he was one of those dogs that could sense when you needed a pick up . He also taught many a young dog puppy etiquette but never hurt any of them .He would just put them in their place and then continue having fun. even though he weighed in at 90 lbs he thought he was a lap dog he would sit in Jenny's lap and she would not be able to get up until he let her.Buddy loved playing ball and if one of the other dogs would drop their ball i could always tell buddy to go get it and he never came back with out it. He also loved to swim but his alltime favourite thing was just to be near you. this past year buddy aged until he could no longer get up by himself and when i went to help him he would yelp in pain . last Wednesday we made the toughest decision an animal lover can make we had to let Buddy go. it was the right decision for him but it will never be the right decision for us we loved him so much and will miss him dearly rest in peace big buddy.

the eye of the dog

The one thing that has become very evident the more time we spend in the pool with dogs that have one type of injury or another. is the trust these wonderful animals have in you.Many come to our pool never having been in water higher than there bellies or they are not water dogs by breed.there is this misconception that all dogs can swim not true.when a dog is brought to us for hydrotherapy and led out on to the ramp for the first session. the first thing i notice is the eyes in most cases there is some nervousness and sometimes out right fear.once we are able to persuade them it is not a bad thing and get them into the water it is amazing to say the least when after a period of time the look of abject horror turns to understanding and trust. being in the water at eye level and witnessing this is such a good feeling and when the dog owners see their fearful pet responding and interacting with us there is always a sense of relief. as the visits add up it is always fun to see both the comfort level and the healing process evolve.the best feeling is when the session is over and you look into their eyes and let them know they did a great job and you get a huge tongue bath as a thank you .

Yesterday was a 1st for the RFCC we hosted a fund raiser for a very good friend who has some serious heart problems and due to the length of time he has been ill (A heart virus) his family has very little income.he is in fact the reason RFFC is here many years ago i answered an ad in the paper for a blue Merle border collie puppy( I had put mine down 4 month earlier due to illness) well as it turned out i loved the look of the puppies and picked one out . Kurt mentioned to me that he would probably make a good flyball dog ( he was the flyball coordinator at matsqui) .well i had no idea what flyball was but as time went by he kept emailing me about tournaments and flyball classes so eventually i gave in and went to a tournament . it was held in metal hockey rink and after 10 minutes i left it was so loud even with this i could not forget how much fun the dogs were having so i contacted Kurt and signed up for classes the rest as they say is history i have been involved in the sport ever since .a few month ago the doctors told him that he had 2 -6 month to live. As this info got out here people started to suggest things to help the family they have 5 children. so one thing led to another first donations were made then people from the flyball community started putting together meals for them . the next thing we knew somebody suggested a fund raising flyball day.we quickly offered our facility to host it. and from there it just snowballed Colleen from the flying squad started sending out emails about the event then val from the pacesetters got involved and pretty soon there were ideas coming up everywhere. Yesterday a nice group of flyball people gathered and we had a great time racing also there was a silent auction a ball bobbing contest (for dogs only) an owner dog look a like contest and some great food supplied by the pacesetters club. it was a blast all the people and dogs were put onto make shift teams and region 7 had flyball fun while raising money for a very grateful needy family. the best news of all is that Unexpectedly Kurt was offered a chance to get a mechanical pump to keep him alive until he could get a new heart this was the best part of all. it was a fantastic day at RFCC.

another tournament and helping puppies

This week RFFC attended another flyball tournament this time a little closer to home it was in Maple ridge our Run Hard team did not fair to well as we were missing several dogs to injury.However the unchained team placed 1st both days.and Harley a dog that started training with us in January made his debut and did very good collecting over 300 points in his first tournament so congratulations to Harley and his owner Robin. In our previous blog we had talked about the little German shepherd puppies with the wonky back ends .what was to come of them was not sure at the time but after a vet check Beady from cold noses and warmbeds dog rescue has taken them in and is going to find these beautiful young special needs puppies homes We also had a fellow flyballer who just happened to be working at landscaping a neighbours property give us a call and say she had found this little dog wandering down the road .we took the little girl and checked for any id but with no collar and no tattoo we contacted LAPS and arranged to take her there so they could scan for any microchips.Finding none we decided the best thing would be to leave her there and hopefully the owner would contact them .now we will just wait to see what happens.