Nola is a hoot! She is sweet and funny and loving, but she believes she is a contortionist. I’ve described her body reformation that allows her to fit through the wrought iron fence. On Sunday at the show, we noticed that she was hunching her back just a little and not extending her rear. I made an appointment with Debbie, the massage therapist at Hoof & Woof — she comes to the shows and is wonderful with the dogs (I owe her the photo of Chase in the Atlanta hotel room with his tongue lolling after his massage). Debbie worked on Nola and said she had pulled the muscles where her stifle joins her body — primarily on the left side, but her right side was pretty tight as well. She felt the back was the result of Nola compensating for her hurt muscles. Nola was more comfortable after her massage. I started trying to reach the chiro-vet that lives near my home. She was out of town, but could see Nola Wednesday afternoon.
So, yesterday I drove home (in the middle of the workday), grabbed Nola and sped into Los Lunas to meet Diana. Nola was seriously adjusted. Both her hips needed adjusting, she had three disks in the middle of her back that were out of alignment. The two bones in her tail closest to her body needed adjusting. Nola’s neck needed adjusting. Our baby girl was a mess — not that it stopped her from doing full twists in the layout position. You had to see the difference in her gait to believe it. So last night I iced her back. She is with Wendy on her way to the Cortez shows. Wendy will ice her back and Debbie will give her another massage after the car ride. Diana showed me a couple of quick fixes that she recommends for the long-backed dogs. Diana recommended Valium — for me. Living with the red puppy is always challenging. I suspect I should make a standing appointment with Dr. Diana.
