Edinburgh's real-life Dr Doolittle says dogs tell her when they're sick through a holistic approach that takes just 90 minutes the dog lover can use her experience to tell exactly whats wrong with your poorly pooch.
Suzanne Gould from Leith uses her many years of experience with dogs to closely watch their behaviour and eating habits to unravel a diagnosis their owners and vets could be missing.
The 38-year-old works mostly with rescue dogs from overseas and after seeing so many dogs struggling silently decided to become the first Dynamic Dog Practitioner in Scotland aiming to offer the canines so relief.
Suzanne runs Edinburgh Holistic Dogs and has two rescue sheepdogs of her own called Erick and Ally, based in Leith.
Dynamic Dog is a behaviour and movement analysis, after learning everything about the dog, Suzanne then observes how the dog walks, trots, goes to the toilet, eats and more.
Additionally analysing their natural relaxed postures. This allows Suzanne to pinpoint faults in their movements that could be causing pain and discomfort. This assessment bridges the gap between dog trainer/behaviourist and vet.
Every day our canine companions tell us about things like pain, discomfort and anxiety but sadly we’re unable to read the signs, believing they are just misbehaving.
A recent study discovered 80% of dogs with behaviour issues have some form of underlying pain that is either causing the behaviour or linked to it.
Suzanne said: "My mission is to be the voice of the dog, working with the owners to pinpoint the likely cause of pain or anxiety.
"Studying this has been a huge eye opener for me, to understand how a dog should move and also learning to spot abnormal movement makes training, understanding and helping our dogs much easier.
"A Dynamic Dog Assessment bridges the gap between Vet and Dog Behaviourist. A Vet under time pressure doesn’t have time to assess a dogs natural movement.
She continued: "and A behaviourist isn’t trained to identify faults in how a dog moves. I can pinpoint potential areas of discomfort the Vet can use to make a diagnosis – It's truly amazing”
The dog whisperer has helped many pups over the years, working with Pablo a 20-month-old Portuguese Water Dog who was randomly snapping and growling at his owners which was out of character. Suzanne was then able to identify abnormal movement relating to his right hip.
His vet is investigating based on the evidence, and prescribed pain medication, this means Pablo’s behaviour and mobility has already improved.
When it comes to a dog in pain It’s not always a limp or a cry. Pain related behaviour is extremely complex. A dog in pain or discomfort might express their pain by
- Reacting by barking or growling to specific triggers
- Altering how they walk and move
- Sensitive to loud sounds.
- Reluctant to go for walks
- Hyperactivity or restlessness
