Xtreme Vet specializes in Service, Sporting/Athlete and Working (SSAW) Dogs.

 

These dogs not only have unique jobs, but their jobs demand unique mental, physical and social health needs. It is critical their veterinary care takes all of these components into consideration when assessing, diagnosing, treating, maintaining and even retiring these dogs. Too often these dogs present with changes their handlers notice, but are not overtly recognizable with traditional, even state-of-the-art veterinary diagnostics.

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For example, the problem that brings these dogs into the vet office is typically not their primary issue. Even the seemingly low-key service dog will usually accommodate their primary injury so well, they do not come in for care until their compensatory mechanism can no longer accommodate the primary injury. Most vets will focus on this secondary issue as a primary injury, and do not look further for other potential explanations. For example, If a Mobility Service Dog comes in for limping in the left hind limb, this is likely the secondary issue with the primary issue most likely in the shoulders, especially in the right shoulder. In a different example, we often find an agility dog coming in for limping or altered step in one front limb and find both front limbs show chronic, repetitive shoulder injuries. But they only alter movement in one side. 

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Dock diving and patrol dogs share risk of axial load injury as they repeatedly meet the resistance of water or bite sleeve, especially when started before 18 months of age on this specific training. 

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Unless they have personal experience working dogs in the field, even boarded veterinary Sports Medicine specialists are quite unfamiliar with the dynamics of working and the contribution of drive to strategic masking of injury or illness. 

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Xtreme Vet staff is uniquely trained and experienced in working dog performance, care, medicine, maintenance and retirement. 

Elle De Ford, MS, PhD, DVM holds multiple active and past certifications and memberships in the veterinary field (e.g., CCRP, TCCC, cVMA), behavioral field (e.g., Behavioral Modification), emergency response field (e.g., ICS, WFR, SAR Tech II, CPR, AED), K9 field (e.g., IPWDA, ARDA) and CBRNE field (e.g., MCBC, HazMat, CWA). As a mountaineer and climber, she trained in leadership facilitation at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Outdoor Adventure Program briefly in swift water and high-angle rescue. DR Elle served in the US Army, and consulted for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a Subject Matter Expert (e.g., neuroscience, training, sensor technology, K9 olfaction), and project management. She has nearly 20 years in the K9 Search and Rescue (K9 SAR) community as a handler, trainer, and veterinarian specializing in working dog field medicine, research and education. As Founding member and CEO for K9 Field Vet Mobile Unit INC (501c3, K9FV), in her spare time, she continues to organize and participate in veterinary care and research for working dogs in the field (e.g., training seminars, deployment) as well as provide K9 and veterinary staff education and training (e.g., working dog nutrition, medical management, K9 First Aid for Handlers). Her approach to veterinary medicine and working dog medical management reflects over 30 years of experience in studying physiological psychology/neuroscience, learning, and memory, as well as behavioral and cognitive performance in animals.