“But he’s not lame!”
Douglas was going to give up his showing
career. But when a friend of Carole, his co-owner, heard that she immediately
said “Don’t do anything until you’ve seen Vav!”
“But he’s not lame! Surely he doesn’t need
chiropractic.” No-one could see any gait problem or posture problem. And Douglas
was still running around and clearing the sofa at home – so much energy and no
sign of pain!
 Douglas
is a Welsh Springer Spaniel, 2 years old. He had excellent breeding, great lines
and has been placed at Crufts, but Douglas wouldn’t settle to be touched by the
Judge, so he ended up with a Reserve place (fourth).
This year, he hasn’t settled since showing
at Crufts in 2007.
He would cling to Carole, hiding behind her
legs at the sight of any other Human Being. He would avoid any handling by vets
or friends, or even his breeder. When he came to see Vav, Carole sat in the
Reception room, and he stood on hind-legs behind her, paws on her shoulders, and
hid his face in her hair! He was clearly going nowhere.
Vav watched Douglas briefly, heard the story
from Carole, and quickly made up her mind what she was going to do. She felt
that Douglas’ original training had been good – he knew how to obey commands.
She aimed to reawaken this training, by getting him to identify with the person
holding the lead, rather than be exclusively fixed on Carole.
Vav sat down on the floor near Douglas
without looking at him, speaking to Carole, and took notes about his history for
her file. She then said: “I’m going to steal him, don’t talk to him when I do”.
Picking up his lead, Vav commanded “Douglas, come!” and walked out of the
Reception room. Up and down the drive, in and out of a large empty room, and
then across and around the lawn. “Sit”, Vav commanded every now and then, and
cuddled him and rubbed him all over.
Then she took him back to Carole, and
started a chiropractic treatment. Douglas stayed calm and let Vav put her hands
on him. She found his pelvis was a bit misaligned and his lumbar region more
seriously out of alignment.
This partly explains Douglas’ fearful
behaviour. If his back end hurt so much, any playing, patting or even judging
would make him try to avoid the touch. He would eventually associate most people
with pain. Vav adjusted his misalignments in her usual swift flowing manner, and
Douglas stood still, accepting this.
Moments after the treatment, Douglas shook
himself thoroughly. “Always a good sign,”, Vav was pleased, “when the shake goes
all the way from nose to tail – it means the spine is moving freely and without
pain” She stood up and stole Douglas again, this time spending about twenty
minutes walking stroking and cuddling him.
When she’d brought him back in to Carole,
Vav sat back, leaving Douglas halfway between the two Human Beings. He walked
over to Vav and leaned into to her for a
cuddle. He lifted his head to lick her face, an instinctive greeting. “We’ve
done it,” Vav said, “now he identifies with me as well.”
Other patients had arrived, and were
watching with curiosity. Vav stole Douglas again and gave him to Chloe, and
asked her to make him sit quietly for a while. Then, she took him to Anne, and
asked her to take Douglas outside for a quick walk on the lawn and then return
him to Carole.
 Considering
his frightened behaviour, Vav suggested two steps to continue working to calm
Douglas. “Get as many people as possible to walk him, handle him and talk to
him. Prepare him for judging and being handled by a stranger.” And she described
a homeopathic remedy for stage-fright before ‘big events’.
Since then, Douglas has gone back to
Showing, and won Best in Breed against solid competition. But his fearful
behaviour sometimes returns in the ring, when the unexpected happens.
Consequently, there remains some suspicion that a Judge handled him harshly,
perhaps for biased reasons given his likelihood of winning.
Carole said “Vav’s a Star! She’s done so
much for Douglas. We were at our wits end, and she has given us hope again. The
breed specialist said he’s a stunning specimen, and now we can Show him again. I
don’t know what we’d have done without her.”
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