Jerry - probably not, since we both need to be supporting Sid while he uses it, but if we ever have a third person around, I'll get them to take a picture!

Katy - Unfortunately, knowing where the knots are is only part of the solution.  Even the rehab guy at the race kennel says he can't massage them out because they are so solid.  And they move .. one day they'll be in one place, and another day he'll have them somewhere else.  The one at his shoulder, which may be an injury, rather than just a knot, it's definitely helpful to know about that, because I can make sure he doesn't do something which will pull on it - like jumping out of the car.  I hope that with a week or two of extra care with things like that, it will heal. 

He is finding the heat pad irksome and it's causing him to tense more, so I think I'm going to have to leave that for the moment.  I can gently massage him myself, but I can tell by the faraway look in his eyes that it hurts and I don't want to do more damage. 

Sometimes using the 'press and hold, then release' method works quite well for muscle knots, but I do it for my husband's shoulders and neck, and I know from that (and my own personal experience at the chiro) how much it can hurt, even though it is then helpful quite quickly.   Trouble with dogs is that they can't tell you if it has helped and you can't tell them 'hang in there, this will hurt like heck for a moment or two, then it'll feel a lot better'.

Seeing the vet again tomorrow.  I'm going to ask him about x-rays and a referral to a greyhound expert.

 I just left him at the vet for x-rays.  Looks like it might be bad news for Sid: the vet thinks he has significant arthritis in his hock.  Flexion is greatly reduced, and while I think he's pretty much always been like that, it's not helping his back. 

It's possible he sustained micro-fractures in that hock at the time of the original injury which was over five years ago, and he has certainly compensated for his tripod status (with or without micro-fractures) and laid down extra bone in his lower leg, and he has always run/hopped in a very straight-legged way, which has probably caused more distortion to his back than if he had a looser gait, poor guy. 

Chances are he also has arthritis in that hip, so it seems that it could well be time to look at carts.

Still, I'm getting ahead of myself, since they haven't got any results yet, for him.  I'll let you all know what they say when I know.

Sally - we don't have a massager yet, I have to order one online.  But when I do, I'll happily post pictures of us using it with Sid!

Katy - We're still looking into it, but there are some promising leads on that!  Thanks.