Meet Cowboy and Little Roy. I first saw them as tiny six week old puppies. Two of a litter of Chihuahuas brought in for a routine checkout to make sure they were growing well.

What’s the point of treating puppies? They’re too young to have hurt themselves yet right.

Actually just as it is important to get your human babies on the right path from the word go, puppies also need to be balanced to optimize their health. They’ve already had to share the womb with multiple other puppies (and Chihuahua wombs are pretty small), had a momentous birthing process (squished out or by caesarean), been rolled on, stood on and squashed by the other siblings and mum and taken wobbly first steps to date. 

Most puppies come out the other end just fine but what about those that have trouble right from the start, the ‘swimmer’ puppies that can’t get their legs under them to walk, the ones with slightly turned in/out legs, misaligned jaws, curves in their backs, tails? Checking and re-balancing them young is a great opportunity to fix it before it becomes a problem later in life. Think slipping knee caps, low back issues and shoulder strain. A well balanced puppy will have bones that grow straight and joints that don’t have uneven pressure. No need to compensate later in life. 

For me, they are a joy to treat. So cute, cuddly and most importantly, easy to persuade the body to let go of the little niggles it has developed and amazing to watch everything straighten out so easily and quickly.