I dropped my son off at the school gates and watched him run in to meet up with some friends. I clicked on my indicator, waiting for a gap to appear in the thick school traffic. At last someone gave me a wave, and I slipped into the stream, making my way to my first visit of the day. It was just cool outside the van, but the sun was shimmering, burning hot in the sky. The horizon was washed away in a smoky, dusty ring of haze. Summer was starting to kick in again. I spun through the traffic, listening to music and smiling at Townsville\’s very carefully coordinated traffic lights, neatly stopping me at each and every one along the main drag.
Before too long I was slowly cruising through the back streets under the dry, brown loom of the hills that edged the city, looking for the house. I got turned around once or twice, but finally made my way into the correct street. There it was, an old fibro house, neat and tidy yard, a few kids bikes and toys scattered about, and a scruffy medium sized bitza jumping up and down and barking her head off as I pulled into the driveway. A friendly wave greeted me from the front step.
\”She\’s all talk, that one,\” she said, pointing to the dog, who was wagging her tail like a threshing machine. \”Come on in…\”
In a moment I was settled on a comfy chair, with the dog jumping all over me, licking, ecstatic to have a visitor.
\”What\’s going on with her then?\” I asked, after we had introduced ourselves and chatted for a minute or two.
\”Shes got this awful, yucky ear, just on one side,\” she explained. \”We\’ve been going to the vet for years, and she\’s had every antibiotic under the sun poured down her lughole, but it just keeps coming back again. We\’re at our wits end with it, I tell you!\”
\”It\’s unusual for it to be only one ear,\” I said, think out loud to myself. \”I\’ll just give her a good look over, and see what I find.
The ear was mucky, smelly, oozing pus. She didn\’t seem too bothered by it though. No itchy skin anywhere else, no signs of chewing her feet (most ear issues have at least something to do with allergies), and her other ear was as healthy as an ear could possibly be. I was a bit perplexed. Then I started to assess her neck. Bingo! On the same side as the sore ear, high up in her neck near the skull, her spine was locked up, completely rigid and unable to move as it should. She gave me a worried look out of the side of her eye, so I knew it was sore, too. Suddenly I remembered that kids with chronic ear infections had been cured with chiropractic treatment. A light went off inside my head, and I wondered if this neck issue was the root cause of this little dogs problems.
\”Her neck is all locked up,\” I explained. \”I wonder if that might have something to do with her ear problem. I can\’t find anything else wrong with her… I\’d like to do some work on her neck, see if I can gently free up this locked up area with some hands-on sessions – I do a lot of work on dogs with sore necks and backs, and sometimes it has remarkable results for them. I think I\’ll give you some more drops just to help control this infection in the short term as well. What do you think?\”
\”I\’m willing to give anything a go at this point,\” she said. \”How many sessions do you think she\’ll need?\”
\”Usually between two to four sessions does the trick,\” I explained.
\”Ok then, lets see how it goes then!\”
I gently worked into the tight, rigid, locked up are at the top of her neck. It felt like a block of cement!pair of warm, worried brown eyes watched me very carefully as my fingers eased into the tightest spots, gently helping them release and let go. It was like a jigsaw puzzle, subtle layers and trigger points letting go, each time allowing me to work a little bit deeper into the problem area. She slowly relaxed as I worked with her, trusting me more and more. After about half an hour I could feel that her body had had enough for one day.
\”Ok – I\’m done for today. She might be a bit sore tomorrow, but that will work out in a day or so. I\’ll see you next week for the second session…\”
Fast forward to a month later, after her fourth session. The ear had completely healed up, and her neck was now nice and fluid and springy, moving healthily. It never came back, either – I saw her again a few times over the years.