November 14th and 15th, the Maine Veterinary Referral Center in Scarborough, Maine, hosted a hallmark event for the clinic—it's first course ever to offer CEU's to area veterinarians, vet tech's and physical therapists.

The subject was canine rehabilitation and the instructor was Deb Gross Saunders. Deb has her Doctorate in Physical Therapy, is a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Therapist, is a staff instructor at the University of Tennessee Canine Rehabilitation Program at Knoxville and is the owner and head therapist of the Wiz of Paws clinic in Conn. Northeast Seminars (www.neseminars.com), a New Hampshire based organization, sponsors these educational opportunities, as well as many others nationally.

Both days were filled with lectures and the opportunity for students to meet different dogs with different diagnoses to then hear how Deb would evaluate and plan out their rehabilitation programs. There was much interest in every case, especially Lady, the Great Dane with HOD disease.

The performance dogs with bicipital tendonitis also received a lot of attention since many in attendance had their own dogs in competition and had experienced similar injuries. Bruce, the GSD who was conservatively managed for partial ACL/meniscal tear for 8 months to successfully avoid surgery, was of great interest and sparked lively debate amongst the orthopedic veterinarians present. He also gave great "drive by" face licks!

Due to the great attendance at the seminar, future classes are in the works, targeting both professionals and the general public. Possible course titles for Jan./Feb/March courses are: Preventative Care of the Dachshund Back, Daily Rehab. for the Osteoarthritic Canine, and Post-op Programs for Knee and Hip Surgery. For more information on these programs please contact Gayle Hickok, Director of Rehabilitation at Maine Veterinary Rehabilitation, at 207-799-3932.