'Miracle' water therapy healed our Lara.

Byline: Ann Evans

WHEN Duncan and Deborah Jones called their two golden retrievers in from their garden one evening and only Barnaby returned, they assumed Lara was still bounding about their woody garden chasing foxes or rabbits.

When playful Lara still didn't come when called, Duncan went to look for her. To his horror he found the beautiful two year old dog unconscious under a tree.

Talking about that night last November, Duncan said: "She was rigid and her eyes were blank. I honestly thought she was dead.

"There was green on her head indicating she'd run headlong into the tree. We thought she'd broken her neck - we were distraught."

Fortunately Lara was still breathing, so they rushed her to an emergency vet and the following morning she was transferred to an orthopaedic centre.

There it was discovered that she was paralysed from the neck down and operating on such a rare injury would not help.

It was hydrotherapy that held the key to Lara's slow but steady recovery, resulting in a new lease of life for her as she is walking, running and playing like normal now.

But looking back, it was a long haul to get Lara back on her feet. Before she underwent hydrotherapy all she could do was lie on a rug, unable to stand or move.

Duncan and Deborah hand fed her and syringed water into her. Duncan carried her outside to go to the toilet.

But that was set to change when Lara was assessed at hydrotherapy centre Hawksmoor and her treatment plan began.

To start with she was put in a harness and hoist and gently lowered into the hydropool.

Duncan said: "We were taking her four or five times a week initially. Around the sixth session we began to see an improvement. It was miraculous when we started to see her moving in the water."

The breakthrough came when a favourite visitor called. Lara determinedly struggled to her feet and tottered shakily, tail wagging to greet him and since gone from strength to strength.

Duncan said: "Lara has a bit of a twist to her spine, and when she runs one of her front paws goes out at an angle, but she's fit and well and loving life and we've got hydrotherapy to thank for that."

NANCY and Ken Mason's dog Meg was also healed by hydrotherapy.

The couple regularly took their little border terrier for walks in the field across the road from where they live.

But last September, as they were planning to pick blackberries, disaster struck.

Nancy recalled: "Ken was ready to go, but I was still putting my wellingtons on, so he took the dogs. For some reason Meg turned back and ran into the road - the car didn't have a chance to avoid her.

"I heard the bump and the sound of Meg crying from the house.

"I raced out. Ken was with her at the side of the road and I could see she couldn't move her legs. It was the most terrible, awful time. I thought she had broken her back."

They rushed Meg to their vet where she was X-rayed and then referred to a specialist. Results showed very bad spinal compression and while there were no broken bones, the little dog was paralysed.

"I didn't want to put Meg through an operation if it wasn't going to work, but as there was a chance that she would walk again, we went ahead with it."

Their vet suggested that hydrotherapy might help Meg regain movement in her paralysed limbs so they took her to Hawksmoor where Meg was assessed and a programme of treatment worked out.

Hydrotherapist Sue Hawkins said: "I knew we would get Meg walking again, I was positive about it."

Within a few months of treatment, she was proven right, and now not only is Meg walking, running and jumping, she's also a demonstration dog for Sue at Hawksmoor.

HOW HYDROTHERAPY WORKS THE combination of warmth, hydrostatic pressure and buoyancy helps to promote circulation and decrease the pressure on weight bearing joints which in turn aids healing.

stimulates the immune system, detoxifies the body, heals injured tissues and re-energises the body.

Additionally the pressure of the water can relieve pain and reducing swelling.

The drawing of blood to and through targeted areas of the body The hydrotherapy pool costs pounds 28 pounds 30 per session.

WATER WORKS! Duncan Jones and his dog Lara with Hawksmoor Centre boss Sue Hawkins.

CAPTION(S):

DOGGY PADDLE? Duncan Smith's dog Lara enjoying the treatment at the Canine Hydrotherapy at Hawksmoor Centre in Nuneaton.