Maxie (Miss Max) is a bullmastiff staffy cross we adopted in 2015 when she was 5 mths old.
Maxie would be the 3 dog we had adopted as adults and quickly became our 3.5 yo dog Gus’ constant companion, much to his initial disgust.
Maxie loves to run and swim. When I say run, I mean sprint. Wakapuaka in Atawhai, Nelson was paradise for Maxie. She could get up to breakneck speed in no time. Charging at Gus and shoulder barging him or doing a quick body check as she flew on past.
We had been training both Gus and Maxie as sniffer dogs (clove bud oil) and Aaron was keen for them to be retrievers for ducks when he went hunting each year. Gus wasn’t the swimmer but Maxie with her abilities was perfect till one fateful day in August 2019.
We had arrived at Wakapuaka to give our kids a much needed run after work on a Friday. There were ducks sitting on the flats enjoying the puddles and Maxie had spied them. She took off like a bullet toward a duck who soon spotted this 40kg rocket hurtling towards it. Maxie slowed to a trot, massive grin on her face and circled back to us but on three legs. She had snapped her cruciate ligament in her right knee good and proper. Maxie had MMP (modified maquet procedure) performed on her knew a few days later.
Trying to crate rest Maxie for a minimum of 3 weeks was hard especially when we suddenly lost her brother Gus 11 days after her surgery. For Aaron and I it felt like life couldn’t get much worse. Our animals are our children. We were broken.
As time past Maxies leg began to heal as did Aaron and I. Maxie was getting stronger and able to run (not sprint) off lead again. We swam her as much as we could at a local river. She loved it. Then without thinking we threw a frisbee into the river for her to play with. She exited the water, ran across the rocks and back into the water. Hoping we had got away with it we put her back on lead and toddled off home. Everything seemed fine till the following morning. She was now lame but this time it was her left leg. We had been warned the second cruciate could go within 18mths of the first.
This time wasn’t like the last as she wasn’t 3 legged and some days, if we kept her on lead, she appeared to be fine. So we questioned if it was in fact the cruciate and considered it could have been a fractured toe or something like this. We took it easy with her. Gave her pain relief and massage.
After 4 weeks we thought it was time to get it check by the vet. As a reactive dog this means we needed to sedate her so that the vets could check things properly. We booked her in for Thursday March 26th 2020. I’m sure you all remember that day here in NZ? It was the day well all woke up to Covid-19 Alert Level 4 Lockdown! She wasn’t going to be seen now till Alert level 2 - May 13th!
Seven long weeks we waited and stressed. If only I could swim her. By the time we had her assessed and a suspected partial tear was diagnosed but from the back of the ligament (rear apparently) she was now quiet twisted in the back end due to stepping short on her left for so long. Her once beautiful big back thighs were now hollowed as the muscles had wasted. If only I could swim her every day and she could keep active, tire herself and build up those bullmastiff thighs again. Why is there no hydrotherapy place in Nelson anymore!?
I had often thought of what I was going to do after IT. Long hours at a desk, 24*7*365 on call and the stress that comes with being in management, I knew I didn’t want to do this till I was 67. I have my own health issues and I knew I needed to start thinking about life beyond 50 (eak it’s not that too far off now!!). I had done a professional dog walking certificate the year we got Maxie and my recent weight loss surgery meant that this could be an option (that is another story that could be titled “Gus’s Gift”). I had never thought of anything else being possible for me to do with dogs till lockdown happened.
When I think back I really can only blame timing for not coming up with this sooner. I grew up around water, I love water, water is my healer. While I knew this was going to be huge for me to go back into training, this time while working full time, in something significantly different to IT, I had to do it for Maxie. I made her a promise the day we lost Gus. Her time could be short due to her breed so I was determined she would live her best life every day. Crazy dog lady? Maybe.
The more I looked into it, the more I discovered how working as a Canine Hydrotherapist would help me both physically and mentally. The clincher was Aaron backing me 100% in this crazy idea. We stood outside looking down our bank thinking, we could put a container pool here... dogs could enter ther... we could rig up a hot shower on that wall... it was only money (LOL). So we started getting quotes, contacting pool manufacturers, engineers and came up with a number... a slightly scary number, but why not, we won't die if the bank said no. We’d accept it wasn’t meant to be or come up with another plan. Our finance manager did what he could and we got that dreaded “no” from lenders but he had another idea which we followed and subsequently got our yes. Now things were getting real!
While this was going on, I was looking into how I could learn what to do. There were courses online but most meant going to Australia, America or the UK for hands on practical training. We weren’t looking at a 6week course, these were months, years and suited to vet nurses or physiotherapists. Even if I could get on one of these courses, it was going to add significant cost to the plan but that wasn’t the problem, Covid was. I had almost given up on training when I came across K9HS in the UK. I couldn’t believe it, of all the places for it to have a satellite centre - Drury, Auckland, NZ. Was this a sign??
Well last week I went to K9 Aqua in Drury Auckland and spent 4 days with Karynne and Kathleen. What an eye opener. This was not going to be easy. Until now I had only had Maxie in mind as my patient and model my thoughts based on her as clients. Now I saw who else needed this and my heart broke. Was I up for a job working with my beloved K9 and mostly only seeing them in pain due to things like cruciates damage, hip dysplasia, cancer, amputation, weight loss, stroke...
I still don’t know if I will make it but I’m more determined than ever to see this through and give it a go. I don’t want to wonder “what if” for the rest of my life, how ever long that turns out to be. But I think it’s going to be much more rewarding knowing that I could make a difference not only in my girls life but in other dogs and owners lives too. What a gift.
[to be continued - I’m not qualified yet!]
