Maddie knew the routine.
The 12-year-old Labrador mix stood facing her owner as Estes Park chiropractor Grant Spencer ran his hands along her neck and spine, pausing whenever he felt something that did not move quite the way it should.
She shook her head when he reached one tender spot.
“They let you know when you’re on that spot,” Spencer said.
With Maddie’s tail wagging, Spencer made several quick, precise adjustments — one near the top of her neck, another along her upper back, and a few more near her lower spine and pelvis.
A click could be heard. Maddie growled, wiggled, accepted some praise, then dashed around the room with vigor, circling back to the doctor to make sure Spencer was truly finished.
Sometimes she decides he is not. One day after an adjustment, Spencer moved aside, and Maddie moved back in front of him and sat down. The message seemed clear: another spot still needed attention.
Spencer checked her again, made one more adjustment, and received Maddie’s apparent approval.
“She initiated that herself,” said her owner. “She’ll find him.”
Most of Spencer’s patients walk into his Estes Park office on two legs. Others arrive on four.
A graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, Spencer has practiced in Estes Park for nearly 20 years. About five years ago, he added animal chiropractic care to his work after completing specialized training in Texas.
That means he may spend part of his day working on a person with back pain and another part crouched beside a dog or standing next to a horse.
His animal patients do not describe where it hurts, circle a pain level on a chart, or explain what happened. Spencer instead watches how they stand and move and uses his hands to look for inflammation and joints with restricted motion.
“With dogs, they’re so easy to palpate for lack of motion and inflammation,” he said.
A swollen area may feel soft or puffy, almost like a bruised peach, he said. Changes in an animal’s coat also can provide clues. Fur may stand differently or appear shinier or duller over a problem area.
The animal’s reaction offers another clue.
Maddie’s head shake told Spencer he had reached a sensitive point. Horses have their own ways of communicating. They may roll their eyes, lick their lips, or become so relaxed after an adjustment that they appear ready to fall asleep.
Spencer said gaining a horse’s trust often begins with finding and correcting something simple.
“As soon as you fix that, they’re like, ‘OK, do whatever you want,’” he said.
Spencer did not grow up thinking of himself as a horse person. In fact, he initially wondered whether he could complete the animal chiropractic program by working only with dogs.
“I didn’t realize I was a horse person until I got trained to do horses,” he said.
His training at Animal Chiropractic Education Source included 240 hours of online study, examinations, and several four-day, in-person sessions on a ranch in Meridian, Texas. According to the ACES website, the course of study includes pharmacology, anatomy, neurology, pain assessment, gait analysis, animal behavior and the biomechanics of dogs and horses.
Hands-on laboratory work with live animals focuses on safe handling and restraint, neurological examinations, motion palpation, and adjustment techniques for the head, neck, spine, pelvis, and limbs.
The curriculum also covers equine dentistry, hoof care, and rehabilitation, along with the basics of running a practice, such as recordkeeping and the legal requirements for operating an animal chiropractic practice.
Spencer said the instruction also emphasized how to work safely around animals that are much larger, stronger, and less predictable than human patients.
Colorado requires practitioners to obtain separate registration to provide animal chiropractic care before receiving state credentials.
His path to the unusual specialty began at Palmer, where he completed the chiropractic program in just under four years. He practices the Gonstead method, which uses visualization, static and motion palpation, instrumentation, and X-rays. The approach focuses on identifying a specific joint with restricted movement and determining the direction it has shifted before making an adjustment.
Spencer said the process sounds simple: Find where a joint is “stuck,” locate inflammation, determine how the joint is positioned, and make the adjustment. Developing the sensitivity to do that, however, takes years of practice.
The basic idea is similar whether the patient is a person, dog, or horse. The scale and body mechanics are decidedly different.
Spencer said his animal practice remains much smaller than his human practice, partly because animals often respond quickly.
“Dogs get better so fast.”
Owners seek animal chiropractic care for several reasons, including changes in movement, stiffness, apparent discomfort, or recovery from an injury or surgery. Some bring pets in periodically because they believe the adjustments help keep them moving comfortably.
Maddie began receiving adjustments after leg surgery about three years ago. She also has an elbow condition and receives veterinary care and medication.
Her owner said the chiropractic visits are one part of Maddie’s care, but she notices changes when too much time passes between appointments.
“It improves her movement, how she gets around the house, whether she’ll play or not.”
At 12, Maddie is not ready to surrender the tennis ball to younger dogs. She still wakes up wanting to play and run around.
She usually visits Spencer about twice a month, although even he admits the schedule may have as much to do with Maddie enjoying the attention as medical necessity.
“She probably doesn’t need to be adjusted every two weeks,” he said, “but she really likes it, and she’s kind of a spoiled dog.”
The adjustment observed Friday lasted only a few minutes. After doing the adjustment, Spencer reached for a spine model to show where he had detected restricted movement in Maddie’s neck, upper back, sacrum, and pelvis.
Because he has treated her for several years and she is lean, he said he can quickly recognize her familiar trouble spots.
Maddie’s owner said a nap usually follows an appointment. Then she is ready to get up and move again.
Animal chiropractic care is not a substitute for veterinary diagnosis or treatment, particularly when an animal has an acute injury or serious medical condition. Spencer’s descriptions of its benefits are based on his practice and observations, and owners should consult a veterinarian about an animal’s health needs.
Still, Spencer said many people remain surprised to learn the service exists at all.
That may be changing in Estes Park, where word travels quickly among dog owners, horse owners, and people willing to try something that might help a beloved animal feel more comfortable.
The most common response he hears is simple: “I didn’t know that was a thing.” It is a thing — and Maddie, tail wagging as she waited for one final check, appeared to know it better than most.
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