Wyn the Border Collie suffered a horrific injury to his leg but after major surgery he is back to winning ways in agility competitions.
Border Collie Wins Agility Event Just 9 Months After Shattering Leg
10 months ago 
676 views
A dog whose leg was shattered in a horror accident triumphed at his first agility trials after vets pieced it back together.
Gordon Aitchison, from Balerno, feared two-year-old Border Collie Wyn might even need to have the leg amputated after smashing into a gate.
But after a plate and screws were put in during major surgery at East Neuk Vets, Gordon spent months nursing Wyn back to full fitness to take part in the recent trials.
With another puppy from the same litter already having competed at Crufts, Gordon is hoping his talented hound could also now be a future star at the world’s most famous dog show.
Wyn is Gordon’s sixth Border Collie, and having competed in agility for over 20 years, he was just weeks away from Wyn’s first competition when disaster struck last July.
“I’ve got six other dogs and Wyn was running flat out and looking back at them when he smacked into a half-open gate in the field,” said Gordon.
“When I put my hands under to try and lift him back onto his feet, his leg was just hanging, and there was blood coming from where the bone had punctured his thigh.
“I knew right away how serious it was. It was just devastating to see, and I didn’t know if he was maybe going to lose the leg.”
After emergency vet treatment showed the extent of the fracture, Wyn was referred to East Neuk Vets in St Monans, Fife, part of My Family Vets network, which is part of IVC Evidensia. Pets needing highly specialised orthopaedic care are referred to East Neuk Vets by their daytime vet.
“Wyn had a severe fracture of the femur and the bone had pierced the skin,” said Padraig Egan from East Neuk Vets. “The soft tissue damage to muscle, nerves and blood vessels in open fractures can cause permanent disability, and if bacteria get in, infection can be devastating.
“We flushed the site with sterile fluid and removed all the contaminated tissue. We then had to make a large incision to bring all the broken bone pieces into alignment and repair the fracture with a bone plate and screws.
“The recovery was just beginning after Wyn left the theatre as he then needed intensive physiotherapy to avoid fibrosis occurring.”
Having initially feared the worst, Gordon was happy to follow the comprehensive rehabilitation regime for the extensive muscle damage.
“The vet nurses at East Neuk showed me how to manipulate his leg to retain as full a range of movement as possible,” said Gordon. “It was a real learning curve, and I had to do it three or four times a day for months as well as taking him to physiotherapy.
“Wyn was the model patient, never yelping or complaining once.”
After all the rehab, Gordon realised Wyn was well enough to restart agility training and he won his first event in April, following it up with more successes in May.
He has already moved up to Grade 3, and Gordon is looking to Wyn having a bright future in the agility world.
“It was amazing to see him win just nine months after he was basically a goner,” said Gordon.
“He has great potential and if I can keep up with the skills levels, I hope we can go to achieve Grade 7 and qualify to compete at Crufts. I can’t thank the team at East Neuk enough for all they did.”
An agility competitor and their dog advance from grades from 1-7, with grade one being the lowest level and grade seven the highest.
For more information about East Neuk Vets, head to their website here.
More from IVC Evidensia UK & IE
