Wendy Baltzer, DVM, PhD, DACVS

See what injuries are more common in gun, agility, and flyball dogs.

The right conditioning based on the activity dogs participate in can prolong healthy participation in canine sports.

Know what conditions to look out for and how to best return these canine athletes to good function.

Dr. Wendy Baltzer explains how conscious proprioception retrains the spinal cord after injury and helps prevent injury.

Dr. Wendy Baltzer explains why this is the time to get involved in caring for canine athletes.

Dr. Wendy Baltzer describes which warm-up exercises can actually be harmful for agility dogs.

Dr. Wendy Baltzer provides examples of appropriate warm-up and cool-down exercises for agility dogs.

Retrievers and gun dogs often work in conditions of uneven terrain, with poor visibility and extreme ambient temperatures.

One of the most common injuries in sporting dogs involves the shoulder.

When we think of sports for dogs we usually think of racing and coursing or luring as with greyhounds; or of field trial dogs for hunting, or even sled dogs in the Iditarod.

Osteoarthritis (OA) affects diarthrodial joints of small animals including the shoulder, elbow, carpus, hip, stifle, tarsus, and spinal articulations.

The term laser stands for light amplification stimulated by emission of radiation.

Aging is not a disease. However, in the canine athlete, it may seem that they get older faster.

Important considerations when treating cases include concurrent conditions such as those that occur following trauma, prevention of further injury, and repeat examination to identify problems that were not previously diagnosed.

Tendon and ligament injuries can be serious enough to not only affect performance but to end a dogs career.

The veterinarians role in the health care of dogs is changing.

The term laser stands for light amplification stimulated by emission of radiation.

The Achilles tendon is the common calcaneal tendon and is most commonly injured by laceration in both dogs and cats.

Average healing times for small animal fractures are dependent upon the age of the animal and the type of fracture as well as the method of fixation used to stabilize the fracture.

There have been numerous developments in the field of canine cranial cruciate ligament disease.

The most common indication for total joint replacement in the small animal is osteoarthritis or degenerative joint disease that is a cause of significant and frequent pain.

Osteoarthritis affects diarthrodial joints of small animals including the shoulder, elbow, carpus, hip, stifle, tarsus, and spinal articulations.

Elbow dysplasia is a group of diseases made up of several conditions including ununited anconeal process, osteochondritis dissecans humerus, fragmented coronoid process, and incomplete humeral ossification.

Joint diseases can be classified into inflammatory or non-inflammatory.

Chronic disorders of the musculoskeletal and neurologic systems are often classified as injuries in which the onset of clinical signs began greater than 2 weeks ago, have recurred more than once, or cannot be corrected surgically due to concurrent illness in the patient.