Play again with Pedigree Joint Care + |

Five weeks ago my dog Shadow embarked on a trial to revitalise his poor old joints. Pedigree were kind enough to send us six weeks’ worth of Joint Care + treats and a lovely rucksack with his name on it filled with a mini lobber and lots of lovely yellow bouncy balls. I would have photographed this great stash of goodies but my son leaped upon it with glee, claiming the lobber for his own and soon there were balls bouncing off every surface in the house. The delighted sound of his two year old laughter and the scrabbling of claws on laminated flooring began our six week experiment.

It almost didn’t get off the ground, because Shadow showed no interest in the treats when they were presented to him as a stick (the way they cam out of the packets) but he liked them broken up in his dog bowl, so I served them to him that way.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really expect to see much of a difference in him. Shadow is five, almost six, and he’s very energetic but he has always had a problem with his rear left leg. When I got him, he was rescued from freecycle, where he had been passed on to many people, all of whom found him too much to handle. When he was young (I’ve had him since 15 months), he was pretty much untrained and I knew that the last but two owners had treated him very badly. I suspect that he had at some point sustained an injury to this leg, and at first he wouldn’t let me anywhere near it. It still makes him feel nervous when I touch it and when we have had a long walk he hops a bit, and his walk develops a bit of a wiggle.

However, after five and a half weeks, he definitely seems a little livelier, and he is walking straighter, even after a good run through the woods. I have taken some videos to show him back at his active best, as part of Pedigree Joint Care + four sports fortnight…swimming in the river…..