
A ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
John Jamieson’s journey to becoming the first ever established animal chiropractor in Australia and master animal healer he is today began in Sydney at the age of 5 when he was first introduced to greyhound racing through neighbour and close friend at the time, Raymond. Raymond was a barber side lining in owning and training greyhounds and would often enlist John’s help with the tending to and walking of his racers. Over the years through this regular association John’s experience in all aspects of the greyhound racing industry would become thoroughly cultivated and his natural curiosity and intuition growing up would have all the exposure it required to rapidly develop. It turned out that John had a natural talent for intuitively analysing the behaviour, movement, posture, gait, and performance of the greyhounds and thus he began to question the patterns and inconsistencies he observed. During pre-race parades John’s inquisitive mind would query:
- “Why are that dog’s front legs crossing over each other when it walks?”
- “Why is that one walking with it’s head hanging low?”
- “Some dog’s backs are dipped and some are arched – what’s going on there?”
- “Why does that one walk with short steps?”
- “Why does this dog look so sad?”
Even at such a young age it was easy for John to see the disparity between common and ideal conformation so these kinds of questions came naturally. After watching a race one day John asked his mother “How can a dog be 10 lengths in front then ease off on the bend, run wide, and then lose the race?” to which John’s mother responded “You’re going to figure that out one day son,” then at age 10 John’s mother bought him his first greyhound. Now with his very own greyhound John began studying in earnest to develop his knowledge and understanding of canine anatomy and biomechanics.