All round joint supplements for a small agility dog?

[Tiarella]

Hi, i have a chi who has taken to agility extremely well and absolutely loves it (who knew it could be so hard to keep up with such a small dog?!) in every way possible - very confident indeed! I only started with him in june but already competing on small dog team.


I was just wondering if there were any joint/muscle supplements i could give him to keep him feeling mobile. He is 2 in october so only young but dont want to risk the onset of early arthritis or stop him from doing what he really loves. He is fed 'nature diet' which has a low level of glucosamine in it already - do you think that would be enough?

Would love to post some videos of him competing but im such a technophobe!

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I don't think that there is anything that could guarantee that he will be able to continue doing agility until he is old and grey, but I think that it is more important to learn how to warm him up, and cool him down properly, before considering supplements, especially since his food already provides him with some glucosamine. E.g. I've heard stories about people taking their dog straight from a transport cage/car cage to the course or the opposite, straight from the course and to a transport cage/car cage, with a bad result.

To help his muscles work properly, it is also a good idea to learn how to stretch him, and if you want to go further, you could also learn to give him massage and acupressure.


About posting videos, I've only posted YouTube videos. Like this Chihuahua video that I found doing agility:

[youtube]nema8FOSAMk[/youtube]


To do the same, and using the video above as an example, you need to open a HHO reply box, press ctrl + alt + 8 to get an [, then write youtube and press ctrl + alt + 9 to get an ] at the end, then go to a tab with YouTube, in this case the video's full link address is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nema8FOSAMk, but you should only copy the last part after the equal sign (nema8FOSAMk), then go back to HHO and paste it, end with pressing ctrl + alt + 8 (= [ ), write /youtube and end with pressing ctrl + alt + 9 (= ] ).


Nice to hear that you enjoy doing agility with your Chihuahua, I hope that you have lots of fun together with the small dog team.

 

[CinnamonChristmasCookie]

Glucosamine needs chondroitin added for it to be effective. Salmon oil is good, as are raw bones-does he eat chicken wings?

Turmeric is good as is green lipped mussel. Use the human versions of the latter two and dial down the dose for his size, I'd say half a teaspoon of turmeric, half a capsule of glm once every couple of days.

[youtube]nOKL9aJQ4ho[/youtube]

Ooh, FL, thank you! I just learned how to embed videos!! You are a star!

 

[Tiarella]

Thanks for replying

The club i attend is quite formal so they do make sure dogs are warmed up/down physically and mentally although we do no stretching - could you advise on this?
Hadnt thought of a doggy massage before - such a good idea, but we are still getting used to other people touching him as he was a rescue he doesnt trust many people, doesnt do anything just becomes anxious.

Obviously i wont be expecting him to do agility when he is old, infact he could throw the towel in tomorrow and wouldnt bother me, just lovely to see him enjoying it so much!

I havent actually managed the part of downloading them onto the computer yet haha!

 

[Tiarella]

Thanks ct will look into limeric.

I have never tried chicken wings with him but he does have raw bones for a few hours a week as they do end up upsetting his tummy otherwise.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Thanks for replying

The club I attend is quite formal so they do make sure dogs are warmed up/down physically and mentally although we do no stretching - could you advise on this?
Hadn't thought of a doggy massage before - such a good idea, but we are still getting used to other people touching him as he was a rescue he doesn't trust many people, doesn't do anything just becomes anxious.

Obviously I wont be expecting him to do agility when he is old, in fact he could throw the towel in tomorrow and wouldn't bother me, just lovely to see him enjoying it so much!

I haven't actually managed the part of downloading them onto the computer yet haha!

Well, in that case, massage might be good for him in more ways than one, since massage is usually a great way to make them relax.

I have a few books about dog stretching, massage and acupressure, but they're in Swedish, and I presume that there is no point in me recommending them to you, so I can only post these links to some pages/books/DVDs about dog stretching, that I found through internet searches:

(Book) http://www.agilitynet.co.uk/health/caninemassageandstretching_jornoleby.html (also about massage, at least one of my Swedish books on the subject recommends this book)

http://www.holisticanimalphysio.com.au/_blog/brooke's_blog/post/Hip_Stretches/#.UiuaMD9GPdI

http://www.allthingshealing.com/Ani...etching-the-Canine-Athlete/12028#.Uiucoz9GPdI

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...2/04/09/dog-athletes-stretching-exercise.aspx

(DVD) http://www.agilitywarehouse.com/product_detail.cfm?id=3853

(Book and DVD) http://blog.fitpawsusa.com/how-to-stretch-your-dog/

The books and DVDs can also be found on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=dog stretching .