Dio is a very sensitive 8 year old male, neutered Labrador who does not cope well with pain and stress. He has lived with his owners from being an 8 week old puppy. Dio responds to minor pain e.g. treading on a foot or knocking into him, by crying and running away to hide, his recovery time is often several hours. His owners think this may be in part due to some unfortunate incidents before he was 3 years old, the first time was running into a gate at full speed and six months later into some electric stock fencing in the dark. Dio has also experienced three aggressive dog incidents which makes him weary of unknown dogs approaching, he tries to run away and hide but if confronted by them or cornered he will react.

Due to his sensitivity to pain and being handled by vets and therapists at these times he is now also very wary of being in a therapy situation, but otherwise happy to meet and greet.

Earlier this year Dio developed muscular back pain with related hind limb stiffness and gait changes, he needed to be examined and receive treatment. He was too fearful to be examined fully so was put on a course of pain relief (NSAIDS) with good initial results reduced stiffness, lameness and maybe not surprisingly increased confidence and energy. The vets advised that it would be better to try and replace the NSAIDS with acupuncture as a longer term treatment plan, but the worry was could he tolerate the treatments.

As part of the plan to treat his problems they started Breakthrough and Dio hasn’t looked back. He is generally happier, more active and interactive with people spending more time with the family and less time sleeping. He is generally less fearful and quicker to recover after an adverse incident. With the help of a very understanding vet Dio has now completed 5 acupuncture treatments

“One deciding factor for me trying Breakthrough is it’s fed as a normal diet plan ” said Dios’ owner Rachel Watkins