This sweet little firecracker is Brinley. She is our 5 year old cockapoo and she is incredibly smart and full of spunk. She will chase a ball all day long and loves spending time up North where she can play with her favourite dog friend and swim in the lake.

At the end of August last summer, our sweet baby girl spontaneously ruptured a disc in her mid-spine. She went from running and chasing her ball to completely unable to walk and dragging her hind legs behind her…all in less than 24 hours. It was absolutely terrifying! It was 10:30 on a Sunday night and we packed her up and took her in to the Emergency Vet where they assessed her and agreed that she had a significant back injury. The vet there was amazing. She said that we could try meds and strict cage rest but that the best option was to go to a specialty centre where she could be seen by a veterinary neurologist. We opted for the neurologist and drove her that night at 2:30 in the morning to the specialty centre (thank God it was close to home…40 minutes away). They met us at the door and took her in right away for an assessment. Two hours later, we were told that she most definitely had a serious back injury and we’re given the option of emergency spinal surgery after an MRI (with only a 50% chance of success) or we could put her down. What kind of choice is that?!?! She was only 5…of course we did the surgery!!! So at 5:30am, we left her in their care, headed home and the next morning she had an MRI and then went right into surgery. She spent the next 5 days in ICU before she was able to come home.

The sheer will & determination that this little dog has shown has been nothing short of amazing! When we picked her up, the vet told us that she was not to be up on furniture or anywhere where she could fall…he said that if she had a fall, it could be catastrophic! Scary words to hear, but we understood. For the next couple weeks our girl was content to be quiet…but after that…not so much! She went from laying quietly…to sitting…to pulling herself around on the floor…to getting up on all 4 legs and taking some independent steps…and now she is running and back to chasing her balls in the backyard.

Just like how you and I would benefit from the services of a physiotherapist after an injury, so do our pets. It came at a stiff cost, but we had just spent thousands of dollars for her to have surgery, why would we not give her everything she needs to have the best possible outcome? We were lucky enough to have the only pet physiotherapy vet in town only a short 5 minute drive away and I can’t say it enough…they were absolutely incredible! They, as well as the surgeons, gave us our little girl back!

Brinley’s recovery took the better part of 4 months…I feel like this is a relatively short amount of time considering how serious her injury was. Her formal physiotherapy completed just before Christmas. Over the course of her physio, we were given several exercises to do at home to strengthen her muscles & work on her coordination…and we continue to do them even today. Now her days are spent living the good life…sleeping in (after she has her breakfast & goes back to bed), playing outside, having fun with her little dog friends, and waiting for the day she can get back up North for another summer of fun.