TESTIMONIALS

“SHE IS ONE OF THE BEST TEACHERS THAT I HAVE EVER HAD THE HONOR OF LEARNING FROM.”

There are very few people that I can refer to, with as much admiration and respect as Dr. Laurie McCauley. I have known her as a teacher, coworker, boss and mentor.  Her approach to life is one of passion and commitment. Dr. McCauley is as  empathetic and compassionate with her patients, as her clients, employees and peers. She somehow is always able to find the time and the energy to help one in need (4 or 2 legged).  

As importantly, Dr. McCauley has an incredibly intuitive way to look at anatomy, and therefore the rehab options. She is able to see and teach things that seemed so out of reach, in veterinary school. Her ability to teach the mechanics of anatomy and motion, allow the exercise and rehab components to seem natural and almost common sense. Her teaching style is clear, concise and interesting, and her hands-on approach allows a person to easily understand the How’s and Why’s, whether you are a client, technician or veterinarian.

She is one of the best teachers that I have ever had the honor of learning from.  Her data base is also larger than nearly any veterinary rehab instructor – she has not only been teaching, but has also been in practice for years longer than most.  This has allowed her to see and appreciate the subtle issues that, if unaddressed (or addressed incorrectly), can lead to more major orthopedic issues later.  This has also allowed her to not only be incredibly effective as a rehabilitation therapist, but also a master in early intervention and preventative care – things absolutely required for optimal health.

I am truly looking forward to the learning and practice tools that she will be developing for us to use, in the coming years.

"WE GOT OUR DOG BACK. AND HE IS HAPPY!"

Axel, our bite-trained protection dog, had been given a death sentence. Diagnosed with Semitendinosus and Gracilis Fibrotic Myopathy, three vets told us it was untreatable—until we met Dr. Laurie. When she told us she'd worked with several police dogs with this condition before, and that all had returned to work, I knew we'd found the right person.

From the beginning, she taught ME specific treatments - like hands on exercises, massage, and stretching to do with Axel twice daily in between his appointments. Axel immediately fell in love with her. Anyone who has a dog with any structural issue should contact Dr. McCauley. She is an extraordinarily perceptive healer and "sees" far beyond what a regular vet would even look for. I am amazed at all the little things she notices at appointments, and she fixes it RIGHT THERE in the appointment.

The results have been wonderful! Axel is alive and well, now walking over 4 miles a day. He's running after balls, playing at the playground, and able to get up several steps. He is returning to life AS A REAL DOG. We are beyond thrilled. We got our dog back. And he is happy! Dr. Laurie is a true healer. When I thanked her, she looked me in my eyes and said "It's not me who's doing it." And we knew what she was saying. She has connected herself to the true healer of all.

“ADJUSTS HER METHODS TO FIT THE DOG IN FRONT OF HER.”

I met Dr Laurie when my Shiba Inu, Koshou, suffered an agility injury. She just happened to have a booth at the agility trial where the incident occurred.  If you think that a Shiba Inu is difficult to train and take to vet, just imagine what an injured Shiba must be like.  Koshou didn't like vets to begin with, even those who never did anything to cause discomfort to him.  But "everyone" at that show kept saying to me "take him over to Dr Laurie" - she can work with anyone. 

I found myself thinking that this must be some miracle worker, but my boy was hurting so off we went to Dr Laurie's booth. In proper Shiba fashion, Koshou bared his teeth and snarked at her, but she just calmly held her ground and eventually he allowed her to touch him. She told me that day she thought she could work with him. I was so grateful because I knew that not many vets would be ready to perform a touch intensive service on a dog this bossy.

We made an appointment at her office and the first thing I noticed is that she was willing to work in what ever manner the dog needed her to. In our case, she found that working on the floor and keeping her head lower than the dog's head seemed to help him relax. Our first weeks of treatment involved pounds of cheese and lots of frozen peanut butter, but Koshou began to trust her. Once she had established minimal trust with him, she began to hide treats in her pockets. Koshou would go on a pocket hunt, and while he was standing there thinking he was really getting away with something, she was quietly adjusting his back and doing laser treatments. One of the most joyful days of my life was when we arrived for our appointment and Koshou just climbed right into her lap.

After seeing incredible results with Koshou, I decided to bring my Shiba girl Chin Chin to Dr Laurie because her back seemed to be hurting her. Granted Chin Chin was an easier customer than Koshou because she loved everybody, but we still had to made adjustments because Chinny was skittish of having her sore back touched. One adjustment we had to make for Chin Chin is that she would jump and then Shiba Shake as the acupuncture needles were going in. Once again, Dr Laurie realized that we have to adjust our method to fit the dog, so we tried icing her back before inserting the needles. Score! Chin Chin never felt the needles go in so she sat quietly for the treatment. At first, when it was time for chiro, Chinny would squirm around. We noticed that when it was time for laser, as soon as her Doggles went on, she became totally chilled out. Laurie started putting the doggles on her before she even started her chiro adjustments and generally, Chin Chin would just fall asleep on Dr Laurie's lap for her chiro and laser. That's just another example of how Dr Laurie adjusts her practice to fit the patient in front of her.

Both dogs returned to optimal function quickly. But I was so thrilled with the care we got, we stayed with Dr Laurie for regularly scheduled maintenance visits. She also offered us an exercise teaching session so I could do balance, stretching and core work exercises with the dogs at home. Koshou remained active in agility until he was 12.5 years old and retired due to vision issues. Chin Chin didn't care for agility, but she chased rabbits and birds in our yard until she was 15. (And by chasing birds I mean leaping up in the air to grab low flying birds in mid-flight.)

Why do I recommend working with Dr Laurie? First, she didn't shy away from and understood how to work with a challenging dog. She worked very, very hard to gain my dogs' trust (especially Koshou). I was astonished really that she never gave up and did find creative ways to get the dogs to work with her. She cares about the dog as a whole, not just the body part that is injured. For example, when she completed Koshou's full evaluation (even though it was "just" a foreleg injury that brought us to her), she discovered some back issues he had as well. If she had just limited her treatment to the foreleg, when that healed, we likely would have noticed the other issues. It reduced his recovery time to address it all at once. She is not afraid to share knowledge. I am convinced that part of the reason that my dogs were able to be as active as they were in their senior years is that in addition to maintenance chiro, Laure taught me how to exercise them at home. I would certainly rather spend a few minutes a day working on stretches or core work with them than spend months going to rehab appointments after an injury.