To Walk, Perchance to Run
Max is a two year old Great Pyrenees/Yellow Lab mix. He’s still a puppy, full of mischief and playfulness and the need to run and frolic with his canine friends.
Only Max can barely walk let alone frolic. Rescued from a high-kill shelter in Los Angeles by Suzanne (a wonderful woman who has committed her time, finances, and energy to rescuing dogs) Max arrived in Seattle unable to stand, walk, or bear his own gentle giant weight.
His history has been pieced together: He was more than likely kept in a kennel half of his size most of his life. Unable to stand up with only enough room to turn around and lie back down, Max’s body tells the story of his abuse. His muscles are underdeveloped and severely atrophied. From the pattern of his limited muscle development, he turned mostly to the left, laid (and still does) on his left side, used his weak muscles on his right side to pull himself up, and spent considerable amount of time squatting (his back legs have more muscle mass than the rest of his body).
Bodies learn to move -- walk, run, sit, stand, lie down -- through brain patterning. Every human athlete knows this. You want to be better at your golf swing, practice swinging a golf club over and over again...and not just randomly, but correctly so that your body makes a connection to your brain that the swing you want is this one, not that one.
Max’s patterns were limited. Standing from a sitting position was impossible. Walking forward rarely happened. Stretching was out of the question. Therefore his neural-pathways -- those neurological connections that do everything from help us learn how to pick up a glass to more complicated tasks like running over hurdles or typing on a keyboard -- were limited to those movements he could do on a daily basis -- squatting, turning, lying down.
Suzanne worked with Max for six weeks teaching him to stand, helping him move forward, and building those neural-pathways one network at a time. But he wasn’t making the kind of progress she expected so she called Wellsprings K9 to see if we could help.
Rescuing dogs is an act of love and unfortunately doesn’t come with much money-making potential. We agreed to work with Max using money from the Wellsprings K9 Fund because Max was exactly the kind of dog who would benefit greatly from swim and massage therapy.
He was nervous about the water at first (imagine all the experiences he’s now having outside of his previous kenneled life and you can see how amazingly odd a big pool of water might be), but he is one loving and trusting fella. From the moment he got into the pool, his legs started moving -- not in the coordinated way of most swim strokes, but they were moving and the more Max acclimated to the pool, the more coordinated he became.
Max craves human attention and so the massage portion of his session was a piece of cake. He smiled. He sighed. He leaned into the massage therapist’s hands as if to say, “Yes, right there...massage me right there! That feels great!”
Swim and massage sessions continue. Max is learning to re-pattern -- moving to the right and not just the left, walking forward and backward, trusting his body and growing more and more aware of where his body is in space. He’s walking better (thanks also to Suzanne’s commitment to massage and exercises at home) and slowly that hunch in his back is leveling out.
Still, Max wants to run one day -- as every puppy should -- and to help him continue to progress it would be great to get him into the pool as much and as often as we can.
You can help Max in one of two ways: Suzanne has her own Chip-in account for her rescue organization (http://seattlesobaka.chipin.com/animal-rescue-and-advocacy) and funds from this account will not only help Max, but will help other rescues as well. Or you can donate to this Wellsprings K9 Fund and not only will we be able to help Max in his therapy, we’ll also be able to help other dogs like Max who dream to walk, perchance to run.
As always, thank you for your generosity. You can read more about Max on our blog - Front Paige News - and watch his progress in the weeks to come.
Only Max can barely walk let alone frolic. Rescued from a high-kill shelter in Los Angeles by Suzanne (a wonderful woman who has committed her time, finances, and energy to rescuing dogs) Max arrived in Seattle unable to stand, walk, or bear his own gentle giant weight.
His history has been pieced together: He was more than likely kept in a kennel half of his size most of his life. Unable to stand up with only enough room to turn around and lie back down, Max’s body tells the story of his abuse. His muscles are underdeveloped and severely atrophied. From the pattern of his limited muscle development, he turned mostly to the left, laid (and still does) on his left side, used his weak muscles on his right side to pull himself up, and spent considerable amount of time squatting (his back legs have more muscle mass than the rest of his body).
Bodies learn to move -- walk, run, sit, stand, lie down -- through brain patterning. Every human athlete knows this. You want to be better at your golf swing, practice swinging a golf club over and over again...and not just randomly, but correctly so that your body makes a connection to your brain that the swing you want is this one, not that one.
Max’s patterns were limited. Standing from a sitting position was impossible. Walking forward rarely happened. Stretching was out of the question. Therefore his neural-pathways -- those neurological connections that do everything from help us learn how to pick up a glass to more complicated tasks like running over hurdles or typing on a keyboard -- were limited to those movements he could do on a daily basis -- squatting, turning, lying down.
Suzanne worked with Max for six weeks teaching him to stand, helping him move forward, and building those neural-pathways one network at a time. But he wasn’t making the kind of progress she expected so she called Wellsprings K9 to see if we could help.
Rescuing dogs is an act of love and unfortunately doesn’t come with much money-making potential. We agreed to work with Max using money from the Wellsprings K9 Fund because Max was exactly the kind of dog who would benefit greatly from swim and massage therapy.
He was nervous about the water at first (imagine all the experiences he’s now having outside of his previous kenneled life and you can see how amazingly odd a big pool of water might be), but he is one loving and trusting fella. From the moment he got into the pool, his legs started moving -- not in the coordinated way of most swim strokes, but they were moving and the more Max acclimated to the pool, the more coordinated he became.
Max craves human attention and so the massage portion of his session was a piece of cake. He smiled. He sighed. He leaned into the massage therapist’s hands as if to say, “Yes, right there...massage me right there! That feels great!”
Swim and massage sessions continue. Max is learning to re-pattern -- moving to the right and not just the left, walking forward and backward, trusting his body and growing more and more aware of where his body is in space. He’s walking better (thanks also to Suzanne’s commitment to massage and exercises at home) and slowly that hunch in his back is leveling out.
Still, Max wants to run one day -- as every puppy should -- and to help him continue to progress it would be great to get him into the pool as much and as often as we can.
You can help Max in one of two ways: Suzanne has her own Chip-in account for her rescue organization (http://seattlesobaka.chipin.com/animal-rescue-and-advocacy) and funds from this account will not only help Max, but will help other rescues as well. Or you can donate to this Wellsprings K9 Fund and not only will we be able to help Max in his therapy, we’ll also be able to help other dogs like Max who dream to walk, perchance to run.
As always, thank you for your generosity. You can read more about Max on our blog - Front Paige News - and watch his progress in the weeks to come.
Recent Comments