When Jennifer Lyons was 16, she tore her anterior cruciate ligament, and physical therapy allowed her to return to playing the sport she loved, softball. She went onto play college ball and ultimately settled studying physical therapy.
She became a licensed physical therapist in 2010 but then became drawn to her passion, helping dogs retain and regain their mobility.
She is a certified canine rehabilitation practitioner with a beautiful new clinic in Massachusetts. Her goal is improve mobility and function in dogs so they can regain or maintain daily activities.
Many dogs come to her post-TPLO surgery or because their owners are seeing the signs of age and the dogs are losing function in their hind end.
In today’s episode, Darlene Woodward of Pant the Town Photography in Georgetown, Massachusetts, interviews Jennifer about her practice and how we can help our senior dogs stay active in their golden years.
What to listen for
3:20 Why dog owners seek Jennifer’s services
9:50 The most common challenges for senior dogs
17:00 The signs of age in dogs
21:00 Managing our dogs’ pain
Find Jennifer
Angela Scneider
Welcome back to One Last Network and episode 22.
Today in The Art of Canine Rehab, Darlene Woodward of Pant the Town Photography in Georgetown, Massachusetts, interviews her friend Jennifer Lyons, a licensed physical therapist and a certified canine rehabilitation practitioner in her neighborhood.
Jennifer knows what it’s like to feel the agony of physical limitations, tearing her anterior cruciate ligament when she was 15 years old.
But as many of us do, we see our challenges as a path to finding our true calling.
Hers started out with human rehab but she soon made the switch to helping dogs find their way back onto the trails and paths where they need to be.
Let’s have a listen.
Darlene Woodward
Hello, everyone, I am excited to be here today with Jennifer Lyons as she is owner and founder of Paw Mobility Animal Rehabilitation and Wellness. Jennifer is a licensed physical therapist and certified canine rehab practitioner. Her goal is to help owners like all of you listeners, get your dogs moving and feeling better returning to them what they love to do, whether it be walking or hiking or just playing around in the backyard. So Jennifer, welcome. So happy to have you today on this snowy day with us. And yeah, tell us a little bit about you and how your journey started.
Jennifer Lyons
Well, thank you for having me. So my journey started, I grew up with animals — horses, dogs, cat, donkey, chickens, you name it, we had it. And I always had a love for animals. And then when I was 16 years old, I tore my ACL in my knee and went through a life changing journey and recovering from that. And it made me want to go into helping other people who had injuries. So I ended up pursuing athletic training. And I worked with sports teams, and ultimately went back to physical therapy school to become a physical therapist. Since then, I have done both athletic training and physical therapy. And I always knew I wanted to do something with dogs. And it was at a conference that I learned I could bring physical therapy and my love for dogs together and do animal rehab. And so a few years later, I pursued it. And here I am, you know, mainly working with dogs. Occasionally I see a human here and there. But primarily, I’m treating dogs right now, here in Rally and in other people’s, owners homes as well.
Darlene
I love that. So switch from working with people to working with the animals. And wow, the fact that you went through all that with your ACL. So that must have been a challenging and a tough, tough road.
Jennifer
Yes, but very rewarding. I just I really was interested in the healing process and the returning back to athletics and the ability to go through that and still play in college — softball was my main sport — and I was still able to do it at a collegiate level. The human body amazes me and the healing process. And you know, with the dogs, they have muscles and ligaments and bones just like us. And you know, they’re they’re a lot of fun to work with as well. So it was a good transition over.
Darlene
I love that. And a quick little note: Jennifer moved her practice to Rally, which is 15 minutes from me. So I had the opportunity to visit her new facility and it is beautiful. Jennifer, you’ve done a nice job over there. So congrats on your new physical place.
Jennifer
Thank you, thank you. It’s been a few years in the making, and I’m very excited to have it this year.
Darlene
That is awesome. I love it, I love it. So first of all, why? Why would somebody be looking for you? Or what are the main reasons people search you for you to begin with?
Jennifer
The main reasons are their dog has trouble moving, whether it’s because of an injury, so a CCL tear, which is a ligament tear in the knee. And that’s the number one reason why people come to see me and usually they’ve had the surgery, and they see me postop. The other reasons are a dog had a neurological issue, they were no longer able to walk, use their hind end. And the other reason would be old age. So senior dogs, they have trouble getting up from the floor. They can’t do the stairs, getting in and out of the car. So hind end weakness, or pulled muscles, muscle tendinitis, just like in humans, I see a lot of that in the four limbs, or in the hind end, the iliopsoas tends to be a primary muscle that is strained in dogs. So I would say those are the most common cases that I see.
Darlene
And when people are reaching out to you, do they mostly come through a vet referral? Or do they need that referral in order to work with you? Or do you have people contact you straight from your website or finding you.
Jennifer
I would say the most likely way someone is contacting me is because they did a Google search and they were looking for animal physical therapy or animal rehab. And the other way would be from veterinarians, primarily those surgeons. So usually they give a list of rehab facilities, and I’m on that list. But I do get plenty of people that do a search, they call, they want to know more about what services I provide, and how do we go about doing? And how can I can my dog benefit from the physical therapy to make sure that it’s the right move for them? I do need a referral from a vet. So that is a legal thing that I have to do. That’s part of the process that I do. And so I reach out to the veterinarian, I give them my form, they fill out the form, they send it back. So it’s nothing that the owner has to do.
Darlene
And then how does that process work? You probably you do a consult, you meet with the owner and the dog in person. And …
Jennifer
Yep, so it starts off with once I get all the paperwork done, we do an evaluation, it lasts for about an hour, we go over the history, because a lot of what’s going on is actually in that history. But I also want to know, what was the dog’s previous life like before the injury? What was their energy level? And how much did they exercise because these are all things that typically owners want to get back to with their dogs. So it gives me an idea of what they’re looking for. And then once we do the … we talk, and I do a hands on assessment. And as I’m finding things, I also instruct owners on what they can do at home. And what I’m finding and I educate them on, you know, what I am finding in the dog, what does it mean? What can I do for them at this point, and then at the end, we bring it all together, and we come up with a plan of care. So I give my recommendations, I see what the owner is feeling in this process. And we come up with a plan of care together. And if they are in the clinic, I also have an underwater treadmill. So we do initiate the underwater treadmill, that first day, if it’s appropriate, most dogs, it is appropriate. So we introduce them to the treadmill. And then from there, we schedule appointments. Typically I’m seeing a dog one time a week. Occasionally we’ll do two times. Now that I’m in the clinic I can offer for that second visit just to do an underwater treadmill session. So typically, it’ll be one treatment session and then one just underwater treadmill session. So I am seeing more dogs two times a week currently, having the clinic. In home, definitely one time a week is typically sufficient.
Darlene
And I love seeing the water treadmill, I think it’s amazing. And quick question. Kind of an aside about the water treadmill? Do most dogs … are they … I don’t know, do they find it pretty easy to work with? Or do you get those fearful dogs who struggle with getting used to the water treadmills? Do you have a little way of working with them to get them used to it?
Jennifer
I would say most dogs are actually pretty good with it. They typically will go in or we put them in and then I think what makes it different than going into a lake or the ocean or pool is they’re going into the underwater treadmill, it’s dry. And then once we close the door, the water will enter from the bottom and go up. And most dogs are fine with that. It’s more water so it’s comfortable. And occasionally a dog will lift a leg as if to say like, please don’t, I don’t want to touch the water but they have nowhere to go. But typically they do fine. Occasionally I get a dog that is anxious, but it is rare. This one was a 15 week old puppy. I did have to get into the tank with the dog. I was already wet anyway, because it was trying to jump out. So I said well, why not just jump in now. And it took a couple of sessions. But now the dog, the puppy knows what to do. It enjoys the peanut butter and it’s not trying to jump out of the tank. So typically that first one, they can be a little anxious. But usually by the second one they’re fine. Um, but I get owners all the time. My dog doesn’t like water. I don’t know how they’re going to do in that and they do fine. Oh, I
Darlene
I know. I … my previous dog, she hated the water, didn’t even like the ocean. So I just always wonder to dogs once they’re in this situation. How challenging is it to get them to love the water?
Jennifer
Yeah, and I think too the treadmill starts moving and they think about the treadmill. And so I think that kind of takes their mind off of it, too. I’m not sure but they do well. That’s all I know.
Darlene
You do have videos, right? You do take some videos on your social media account of the dogs in the water treadmill.
Jennifer
The new favorite is … So if a dog enjoys peanut butter and does need food, we don’t always use that, but I’ll smear it on the glass. And so they lick the peanut butter as they’re walking. And that tends to be a favorite of people, aavorite video for people to watch.
Darlene
That’s, that’s awesome, great dog training tip for a lot of things. It comes in handy with grooming to the peanut butter smeared all over the wall, all over the tiles. So how about … a lot of our listeners might have senior dogs, what do you find are the most common challenges when it comes to our senior dogs? And how can we set them up to be successful too in our home environment, when it comes to just joints, the whole getting older? Arthritis, I feel it myself every day.
Jennifer
Yeah, so with senior dogs, one thing is, it’s a number. So just because they’re old doesn’t mean they can’t get better, it doesn’t mean that they can’t do certain things. It does not mean that you just feed them treats all day, because you feel bad for them and you want to make them happy, it does not mean that as well. And with the dogs or the senior dogs, the most common issue, it’s going to be the hind end weakness. So they just are having trouble getting up from the floor, doing the stairs, getting in and out of the car. Those would be the biggest. And then things that you can do. One of the number one things is carpeting. And most houses now are wood floors. And that does make it very difficult for the dogs to get up, they just can’t get that grip. So having carpeting or yoga mats on helps the dogs. Of course, you have dogs, they put the carpet down and they go right over to the wood floor or the tile because they want to be cooler. So that’s always one of the issues but carpeting definitely is number one, right. The other thing is you can use ramps on to help but I will say with ramps, you have to train a dog to use a ramp, they’re not just going to use it. So a lot of times people will buy multiple ramps. Oh, that didn’t work, my dog didn’t like it. You have to train them. I mean, it’s a foreign object to them. And you know, some of them think about an SUV and you have that ramp, it’s so steep. And then it’s only about what two feet wide. So it’s a little scary for them. But definitely the ramps help. But the other thing too is from a rehab standpoint, we can strengthen that hind end so that way they can use it again. If you don’t use it, you lose it. So what we tend to do is strengthen that hind end, get stability back so that balance … we’re not you know, losing their hind end and falling over. That usually happens more, you know, later when there’s a lot of weakness. But I would say those are the main things and keeping up with their feet, their nails need to stay trimmed,because if those nails get long, they will slide even more. And also it changes how they walk and place their feet if they’re too long. So keeping up with nails for any dog is number one, just to help you know make it successful for them.
Darlene
That’s a great idea. And especially when you start hearing the tap, tap, tap on the hardwood floors with the senior dogs.
Jennifer
Exactly and when you hear that you definitely need to get them done so you’re trying to stay ahead of that as well.
Darlene
It’s time to clip the nails. I love it and I love it that in the fact that you mentioned about the ramps because I know with my previous Kota as she got older we eventually tried doing a ramp and it was already too late, I feel, it was just too much for her. She didn’t want to use it training was out the window when it came to that. And the challenge too that we had she liked to nap on our bed during the day and the bed is so high up, she would just no matter what jump and the older she got, I would cringe and I didn’t want to then you know kind of close the door and not allow her to go in there. So it’s definitely one of the challenges with …
Jennifer
Yeah, definitely, you know before because all that pressure that goes through their joints when they jump it is something you can start sooner than later. On. The other thing that I usually recommend, depending on where the dog’s at, but is a Help Em Up harness. It’s my favorite harness, but also you know, from a human physical therapist standpoint, it saves the owner, like to lift a dog it’s very cumbersome and awkward and the weight of your dog depending on the weight, but help them up harness just gives you stability, allows you to work less, and the dog feels more stable in it as well. We can use that for transfers, you can use it for using the ramp, if I’m even helping a dog to get from the ground to standing up. That’s something that I would show an owner, you know, if it’s appropriate, when you would use it, how you would use it, and I fit the harness as well, because you don’t want to just be doing all the work for the dog either. It’s all about modifying what you’re doing at the appropriate level that your dog needs so that way they can keep moving forward. But the harness is definitely one of the great things that I absolutely love for owners and the dog.
Darlene
Awesome, and you carry those or you help fit them and all that for …
Jennifer
I do carry them because sometimes on the dogs will be really big in the front end and have tiny hinies as I say, in the back end, because they’re so weak and they’ve lost muscle. So I can actually combine a front and a back. Whereas if you go online, you have to buy the full harness. And the other thing too is I do adjust them, I fit them, I show you how to use it properly. Because looking at it, and first putting it on, it seems like a daunting task. And so I make it very easy and doable to use right away.
Darlene
When I did dog training and having harnesses it was very helpful to help people teach them how to use the harnesses and everything and get them fitted … fit correctly.
Jennifer
They look awful initially. Oh my gosh, there’s so many buckles and straps …
Darlene
Right! It’s such a big contraption, what do you do with it?
Jennifer
And you want the owner to use it, like you invested in it, you want them to use it? Put it in a box somewhere in the closet.
Darlene
So also as our dogs get older too, we first think oh, maybe I shouldn’t be walking them too long? Or maybe we shouldn’t be hiking anymore. Maybe we shouldn’t be doing the mountains and those types of trails? What do you think when it comes to that? Just do we pay attention to our dogs and kind of look for those signs? Or if they seem like they’re capable of doing it? Or should we not try to push them as much and I know you said age is just a number as we know. So some dogs can be hiking the mountains at 15 years old.
Jennifer
Yeah, so I think owners know their dogs best. So I really do. Take an owner’s and put to heart on what changes they’ve seen, even if it’s subtle, and I can’t see it at that time during the evaluation. But when you observe your dog, you know, slowing down, or having difficulty doing something or they’re avoiding something else together. These are little signs that you’re looking for that your dog is actually telling you this is getting more difficult for me because mentally they want to go, they’re gonna go so they can’t go anymore. It’s rare, you’re gonna hear a yelp, they’re usually not verbal, it’s all these subtle signs that you’re going to see. When that happens, it doesn’t mean that you can’t do something, but it means you need to modify it. So you can modify by time. So say you’re doing a 20 minute walk and by the end, they are exhausted, they’re done for the day. That’s too long, so you can shorten the walk, but you can always do them more often, so you can still say you do a 30 minute walk in a day, you can do some 15 minute walks in a day instead. And that’s okay. The other thing is making it less strenuous. So if you’re hiking, maybe you don’t do as steep of a hill or maybe you do better groomed trails versus rocky with a lot of sticks or a lot of leaves. And that’s another way that you can adjust the terrain. For ball playing and or even jogging with an owner things like that, again, um, maybe you don’t throw the ball as far, you do less ball throwing, or it’s not as fast so you can always adjust time and the strenuousness of the activity. Because the goal is you want to keep going but you don’t want to go to the point where they’re injured or they can’t do it anymore. And there’s tons of ways to modify things to try to make sure that we don’t take something out. Obviously, there are those times where you have to take things out, but then we find other things to do.
Darlene
I love that because our dogs want to be up for us. And they keep going. And they rarely show any type of pain or discomfort and they want to be the best for us. And yeah, so I love those tips. Those are great.
Jennifer
Yeah, and I compare them to, you know, they’re like toddlers, and they just, they want to do what they want to do, but us as the owner, as the parent. No, no, no, no, maybe not right now, we need to simmer down, we need like, we will get back to running later. So we do have to be that proper parent to the dog, the toddler who wants to just keep going and you know, they need a nap you’re like …
Darlene
Exactly. We have to do that downtime. Maybe if it’s going and settling in the crate for a little bit or settling on a mat for a little bit, we have to give them that downtime. I appreciate having you with us today. And thank you so much for sharing your story. Do you have anything else that you want to share with our listeners or something that any important tips or something that you think can be beneficial or helpful to us?
Jennifer
Yeah, I would say you know, one miss conception with physical therapy or rehab is, you know, if your dog’s in pain, people think, oh, I shouldn’t do physical therapy, because they think exercise, exercise exercise, but one of the things we do is pain management. And so if a dog is in pain, for dogs on pain medication, typically there’s something that we can do. There’s some sessions I don’t even do exercises. We do … I have laser, which helps to decrease pain, swelling, and promote tissue healing. I also have electrical stimulation, which can help with pain modulation, on hands-on techniques. So massage, stretching, range of motion, these are all things that can and help reduce pain. Because if we can reduce pain, we can get them moving again. And this is all stuff that’s very important … a lot of times too if guiding owners on, you know, the proper pain medication into contact their vet, because a lot of owners say I don’t want to do medication, I don’t want my dog on medication. But there is a time where you do need it. And that’s where I’m guiding them to contact their vet to discuss a proper medication for their dog. But pain management is absolutely huge. And like I said, there’s a lot of subtle signs. And that’s where I’ll educate owners as well. And so that, I would say that’s a number one thing is we are here to help them feel better not just help that, you know, if they feel better, they are going to move better, but it doesn’t always have to be through exercises.
Darlene
So I know you are located here north of Austin and Rowley, and you have your facility there. Can people work with you virtually?
Jennifer
Yes, so I typically do an in person evaluation. For one, I want to make sure that the owner learns, understands and can do the manual stuff on their own, because that tends to be the most intimidating for owners. So that includes range of motion massage, stretching. And from there, I can also tell if the dog is a good candidate and the owner for the Zoom sessions because it is … you know, it’s not for everyone. Most dogs and owners are actually pretty good. So I do zoom sessions, currently I have three people that I do it with and then we can also do an in home as needed. Typically they do fine now. And then I also still do in home physical therapy, so twice a week as needed and then also the clinic. So I have three different ways on to be able to get rehab out because there’s not many of us. So you know in COVID that made me … I was like there’s no way dogs can do zoom. There’s no way … Oh my gosh, this actually works. Again not for every dog by it’s a way that I can reach owners that just they have no one around them on to be able to do it with them. You know they have to travel an hour or two so I do offer that as a, as a way to get their, their dog better.
Darlene
Yeah, which is wonderful. I mean with Zoom. Now we can pretty much we’ve learned how to do all sorts of things with Zoom. Well, how can our listeners find you website? Are you on social media? What are your links?
Jennifer
I’m everywhere as I’m supposed to be.
Darlene
I love it.
Jennifer
As so my website is pawmobility.com, there is no www, do not throw that in there, so pawmibility.com, I do have to update my website because it doesn’t have the clinic in there yet. But all that information is in there, my contact information as well. You can also contact me and my number is 978-403-3933. And then I also have another number which you’ll see on the website 978-712-0222. The other way is through email, Jen, J-E-N at pawmobility.com. I will say typically, email is going to be the best way at this point. Just because returning phone calls has been very difficult with all the phone calls coming in. So typically, email is the best way. And then if we need to do a phone consult, then we can do the phone consult before coming in. I am on Instagram and Facebook, paw.mobility. Um, and I think that’s it for social media. But yeah, that’s all the ways you can contact me but if you have questions and you know concerns, my goal to in the future is to have some education sessions for owners, just saw on some general … one of my biggest things the nail clipping that would be something I want to, you know, bring to the clinic sooner than later to help owners feel comfortable and clipping their dog’s nails so they don’t have to wait to get into the groomer or to understand how often to go into the groomer for their nails. .
Darlene
Right. Oh, I love that idea. I think that’d be great. I would definitely be coming to that. So count … count me in for the nail clipping.
Jennifer
I never used a dremel before I used to clip my dog’s nails. I love to learn that too.
Darlene
The dremel is scary.
Jennifer
They make too much noise. So yes, that’s something that I look forward to. I’ve had owners say yes, I’m very interested. So I’m going to be trying to set that up as well. And in the future, too, we’re looking to schedule a an open house, okay. Because we just opened and I want people to come in and you know, see the clinic and see what we have to offer and you know, meet me.
Darlene
And your facility is beautiful. Congratulations on that. I’m so excited for you. Big changes, big changes. Well Jen, thank you so much for chatting today. I … I enjoyed learning all about you and what you do, and I think I know our listeners are gonna love listening to this too. So I really appreciate you joining me today.
Jennifer
Thank you very much for having me. It has been a lot of fun. I appreciate it.
Darlene
Awesome. And you have a great day. Enjoy the snow.
Jennifer
Thank you too.
Angela
This episode couldn’t possibly be more timely.
I sat down to edit and write the intro upon arriving home from Bella’s first rehab appointment at Pawlouse Rehabilitation Clinic in Spokane Valley, Washington.
As many may know, Bella tore the canine cruciate ligament, or CCL, on her right hind two days before Christmas and she had tibial plateau leveling osteotomy, or TPLO, surgery on Jan. 11 with Dr. Rogers at VCA Kootenai Animal Hospital in Post Falls, Idaho.
I’ve found myself using my grief training to get myself through the stress and anxiety of post-surgical care but nothing has been more helpful than the assurances of the amazing teams at Pawlouse and VCA Kootenai. Kayla, our vet tech at Pawlouse, has been wonderful and Bella has made great strides with her gait just in the last week.
As I listened to this episode, I felt like I was again walking through the exact experience we’ve had with our care team as Jennifer described her process.
Before we know it, Bella will again be summiting the Quartz Lookout at Mt. Spokane State Park and pulling me down the trail to Buttonhook Bay at Farragut State Park.
I can’t wait.
Next week, I have the most lovely chat with my new friend Maureen Scanlon, a life coach who has written books called My Dog Is More Enlightened Than I Am and My Dog Is My Relationship Coach.
You just know I had to have her on …
