Trish Penick, owner of Cutting Edge K9 Rehab, has successfully treated pooches in pools for years in the Peninsula. Now she needs a new venue to do the work she does best: helping restore injured canines to health utilizing the weightlessness of water.
“We are losing our Point Loma pool in a few weeks and are desperately looking for a new local pool,” said Penick. “We are sending word out through social media and some other avenues.” 
Penick, who received her physical therapy degree to treat humans in 1988, has since crossed species to focus her practice on dogs. She is now considered one of the leading experts in swimming and rehab for canines.
For years, Penick has been leasing space in private pools in Point Loma, but must move on from her present therapy site.
“We are looking for a lap pool ideally 20-feet by 40-feet, and 6 feet in the deep end,” Penick said of her ideal replacement pool. “It would be good if it did not have a lot of stairs, because a lot of our dogs can’t walk.”
Penick said she needs pool space just a couple days a week for a total of six to eight hours.
The animal therapist talked about the physical benefits of rehabbing canines in pools.
“[The water is] non-weight bearing,” Penick said, noting the most common physical ailment the dogs she treats involves bad hips or elbows. “Water takes away all the impact, takes away the pain, helping the dogs build their muscles back because they’re not experiencing pain. On land, that pain, that inflammation, makes muscles shut off and atrophy.”
Conditions including disc herniation, hip and elbow dysplasia, arthritis and obesity can be alleviated by swimming.
One satisfied Penick client, retired Point Loma chiropractor Dr. Robert Tortora, swears by the quality of her care. He said his shih tzu-poodle mix Bailey has made substantially more progress with Penick’s water therapy than he would have otherwise following surgery to repair his spine, which was impairing his ability to walk.
Tortora was impressed by Penick’s treatment methodology.
“She put him on an exercise ball and rocked it back and forth to make Bailey work the muscles of his back legs,” he said. “Then she puts him in a lifejacket and has him swim for about 20 minutes. It’s a workout.”
Totora took Bailey for water therapy with Penick twice a week for five weeks, and is now down to once a week. He added the results have been impressive.
“Bailey was 50 percent improved after his surgery, and now I would say he’s about 90 percent improved,” Tortora said. “I started out with five-minute walks with him, and now I’m up to about 30 minutes.”
Would Tortora recommend Penick’s physical therapy services?
“Without a doubt,” he answered unequivocally. Cutting Edge K9 Rehab
Info: 619-227-7802
www.cuttingedgek9.com