The Animal Physiotherapist

04/07/2025

I have an amazing free webinar on ‘Warm Up Wisdom for your Agility Dog’…get your copy via the link in the comments. It’s only 20 minutes but packed full of helpful information and easy strategies you can put in place straight away.

19/06/2025

Summer weather is here…heat stroke in animals is very real and can be life threatening. Read the research on this here and keep your dog safe 🐾❤️

🐕HEATSTROKE IN DOGS🐕

We've been banging on about this for years! HEATSTROKE is a MEDICAL EMERGENCY! Fortunately, now more and more professionals are communicating the same message!

Whilst the need for rapid cooling with COLD water (1-15°C) has been recognised for decades in equestrian and human medicine, the dog world has lagged behind, and very poor information still circulates. e.g. "cool the paws", "cover with wet towels", "avoid cold water as it will cause shock"

THE KEY MESSAGES ARE............

💦"WET THEN VET"💦

💦"COLD WATER IMMERSION" (1-15°C)💦
(If you can't immerse, keep pouring ANYTHING COLD over the dog - hose, soft drinks, milk, etc)

💦Dogs die of heatstroke because they were NOT COOLED QUICKLY ENOUGH, NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE COOLED!

♨️RISK FACTORS FOR HEATSTROKE IN HOT WEATHER♨️

♨️Large dogs
♨️DOUBLE-COATED breeds
♨️Brachycephalic breeds
♨️June, July, August (UK)
♨️Exercise, being outdoors, left in cars

EDIT: - If a dog is PANTING, it's struggling to control its body TEMPERATURE! 💦HOSE IT TO COOL IT DOWN!💦

❤️PLEASE SHARE - Spread accurate information; potentially save a dogs life!❤️

CHECK OUT FREE RESOURCES HERE: https://askanimalweb.com/managing-dogs-in-hot-weather/

Welfare in the Heat: https://askanimalweb.com/heat-welfare/

If you don't believe me, look at the research: Beard S, Hall EJ, Bradbury J, Carter AJ, Gilbert S, O'Neill DG. Epidemiology of heat-related illness in dogs under UK emergency veterinary care in 2022. Vet Rec. 2024;e4153. https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/vetr.4153

17/06/2025

🎥 FREE Webinar for Agility Dog Handlers! 🐕💨

Want to help your agility dog perform at their best and reduce the risk of injury.

Grab instant access to my short, info-packed webinar: "Warm-Up Wisdom for Your Agility Dog" 🐾💡

You’ll learn practical warm-up strategies that boost performance, reduce injury risk, and help your dog hit the ground running—literally!

🎬 It’s free, quick to watch, and full of tips you can use right away.
👉 Watch it here: https://stan.store/TheAnimalPhysio

Stan | Linksite

16/06/2025

Agility Handlers, I have a free resource for you on warm up routines…DM me the word ‘Ready’ and I’ll send it to you.

14/06/2025

Free Resource for Dog Agility Handlers!

‘Warm up Wisdom for your Agility Dog’ - recorded webinar

DM the word Agility for the link

13/06/2025

🤩 Patient of the Week 🤩

Delightful Dachshund Leo was so relaxed after his physiotherapy session this week! It was a pleasure to treat you Leo 🥰.

31/05/2025

Agility Handlers, The University of Liverpool where I was awarded my Masters degree in Veterinary Physiotherapy is looking for participants in this study. The university requires a high standard of research ethics and study design. Further research in this area is likely to be very beneficial to the overall understanding and welfare of our fantastic agility dogs.

Does your dog take part in agility? We want to hear from you!

We are inviting people who take part in dog agility with their pooches to tell us about their experiences.

The study is being undertaken by Veterinary Physiotherapy Postgraduate Student Brónagh as part of her master's degree at the University of Liverpool.

Brónagh says:
“I have been involved in dog agility for the last 10 years with my 3 dogs Zeus, Strike and Gunther. During this time, I have developed a keen interest in preventing injuries in agility dogs.
This study is aimed at anyone who trains or competes in dog agility within the U.K. and Ireland. Your dog does not have to have sustained an injury for you to participate as all answers are extremely valuable for this research.”


If you would like to participate (the questionnaire is completely anonymous), please click on the link below or scan the QR code in the image and read through the information sheet before completing the online survey.

https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/liverpool/injury-in-agility-dogs-in-the-uk-and-ireland

Thank you in advance for participating. Your involvement is invaluable in helping us improve our understanding of this important area of canine health.

20/04/2025

14/04/2025

🤓Agility dogs need to...🤓

1. Absorb impact forces of jumping
2. Keep Balanced on equipment
3. Negotiate wide and tight turns
4. Push off strongly with hindlimbs
5. Set off at speed

🐕‍🦺This requires
1. Flexibility of the spine
2. Full joint range of motion
3. Strong hindlimb engagement
4. Engagement of abdominal muscles
5. Advanced balance reactions

🐕‍🦺Physiotherapy can help keep your agility dog in peak condition by
1. Maintaining joint flexibility and spinal health
2. Strengthen muscles supporting the joints
3. Build power in locomotor muscles
4. Improve fitness
5. Improving balance reactions and proprioception

11/04/2025

🙌Want to smash the agility season and have your best year ever? That’s what happened to participants of my pre-season agility course last year, and you can be the same.🙌

🐾 It’s the start of the season and I have a fantastic online agility course available now which will give you quick, easy and effective strategies to help you and your dog feel ready and prepared for this season.🐾

🤓Suitable for all levels of agility and covering topics such as warm up and cool down routines, massage and easy conditioning exercises. The course is designed to be done at your own pace but can easily be done in 4 weeks and will not take much time out of your day. 🤓

🤩The start of the season is the perfect time to get support developing a strong fitness and conditioning plan for your fantastic agility dog.🤩

➡️DM me the word “STRATEGY” and I’ll send you the link with course information.

09/04/2025

🥰I met my younger self today. We ditched the coffee shop and headed to our old agility class.🥰

🐾She was so excited to be spending a whole day reliving competition courses and running different dogs.🐾

🐕🐴🐈‍⬛ She couldn’t believe I had retrained as an Animal Physiotherapist and had left the NHS and was now working with dogs, horses, cats and other animals every day. 🐕🐴🐈‍⬛

😀She was so happy that I’d turned my passion into a business and that taking the plunge to go back to university to study veterinary physiotherapy had really paid off.😀

➡It’s a popular trend right now but actually meeting a younger version of yourself is incredibly helpful.

➡It’s powerful, it’s healing and it unlocks your next level.

➡What would a younger version of you tell you today?

07/04/2025

🐾You didn’t sign up for your first agility shows to worry that your dog may not be ready after a long, cold winter.🐾

🐕Let me help you feel confident in your dog’s fitness and ability to have the best season ever by having a clear plan for getting them in peak condition.🐕

⭐Get my 4 week agility course where I will help you develop quick, easy, effective strategies to have a dog who is stronger, fitter and more connected to you.⭐

➡DM me the word “AGILITY’ and I’ll send you the information link