July/August 2008

Gun Dog Forum
Bird Dog Injuries
Prevention and Rehabilitation
by Larry Brown

f you read some of the old literature about bird dogs – and you don’t have to go back very far – you’ll find that veterinary medicine has come a long way. For example, one reason that old-time trainers didn’t do much with pups until they were a year old was because they didn’t want to waste time on dogs that might die of distemper.

But in spite of the fact that we can immunize against virtually every common canine disease and can protect from the danger of heartworm, we have to remember that our bird dogs are athletes. And, like athletes, they will sustain injury. Again, as with athletes, preventing injury is the best course. But it’s only been in relatively recent years that animal rehabilitation has made strides that allow us to give our injured dogs similar care and the hope of returning to full performance capability that human athletes have had for some time.

South Dakota veterinarian Dr. Joe Spoo (www.gundogdoc.com), a serious bird hunter himself, points to the advances in just the last few years. “The rehabilitation field is much improved over only five or six years ago,” he said. “It’s an emerging field, with strong influence from human exercise physiology. There are far more physical therapists working with animals. And there’s also a lot more specialized equipment available.”

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