Today is the Barks and Bytes Blog hop and it’s a darn good thing too, because I have a few barks about this and a byte about that. 🙂 If you haven’t joined us yet, Linda and I would be delighted if you’d link up.
First the barks.
We had snow this past weekend. I know, I know a good many of you did as well. But you see, I was looking forward to the snow, because Sampson loves walking in the snow, especially if it’s still snowing. Jonas (a named winter storm, WTF? do we really have to name EVERYTHING?) was supposed to start Saturday. Our weatherperson kept saying early afternoon, so I held off on our walk as along as possible. Sadly it didn’t start until about 2:00 pm and it was so fine and light that by the time we walked at 3:30, it had barely accumulated to 1/8 of an inch.
Still, I got a nice picture of Delilah.
Where’s that friggin’ coat you keep promising me?
Our weather person told us it would stop snowing around 8:00, but when we went to bed at 11:00, it was still snowing.
I had high hopes.
Sadly, we got maybe about 4 inches.
Of course the way our weather’s been lately, it warmed up. By now, there’s barely any snow at all.
But on Tuesday, there was still a small amount and it was getting slushy. Which also means, it’s sort of slippery.
Here comes the Byte.
On our afternoon walk I let the dogs off-leash because they were really interested in something they smelled on a small stump of wood. I kept walking but just as I was about to lose sight of them, I called them.
Delilah came flying to me and I saw Sampson start to, but I was watching Delilah as she flew over fallen trees, and then I heard a yelp. I looked up to see Sampson holding up his good back leg. “Please let it be a piece of something wedged in his foot” I prayed. I went to meet him and checked his foot and there was nothing there. He wasn’t putting any weight on his foot at all.
I turned around and headed home, feeling like an asshole the entire way, because poor Sampson had to hobble along. It was so painful to watch, I can only imagine how painful it was for him. Each time he tried to use that leg, it looked like his hip was giving out.
Delilah was oblivious to this and kept poking along and I admit I was impatient with her, which made me feel like even more of an asshole.
We did finally manage to get home and I checked Sampson’s foot again, thinking I might have missed something, but still couldn’t see anything.
On my way back to work I called the Vet and luckily was able to get an appointment for him that evening.
After examining Sampson, the vet says she can’t say his ACL is fully torn, but she’s fairly certain he has a partial tear.
I had mentioned to Hubby in the last couple of weeks that I didn’t like the way Sampson looked when he was running and I don’t know why I didn’t think about that before letting him off-leash in slippery, slushy snow.
I still feel like an asshole.
So here’s what’s happening with that. A routine dental surgery scheduled for last week detected an irregular heartbeat in Sampson, this means surgery isn’t a good option; at least until we can determine what is causing that irregular heartbeat. So for now, he is on anti-inflammatories and strict rest. He can go outside to potty but we have to monitor his pace, absolutely NO running. We will maintain this for a couple of weeks to see how he does and the initial plan (at least until we figure this heart thing out) will be to treat the injury conservatively. After he is re-examined we will discuss and look into Physical Therapy.
I’m pretty sure he KNOWS he can’t walk on his foot, but that doesn’t stop him from lying at the top of the stairs and looking at me those sad eyes when Delilah and I leave for our walks. The good thing is, so far he hasn’t been pitching a fit.
That’s one sad puppy right there!
SO, if you believe in prayer (I do) I ask you to please include my boy in yours. And if you don’t, would you please send some positive thoughts out to him?
Next week I’ll update you on the whole adrenal nodule/heart condition or as the head vet put it, “Pandora’s Box.”
Welcome to Thursday’s Barks and Bytes Blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. We hope you will grab a badge from one of our websites and join us.
Sampson is in my thoughts and prayers. It’s so hard keeping our seniors safe!
Oh No! Poor Sampson! You know he is in my prayers already. He will remain in my prayers for as long as necessary. And Callie will keep watching over him too.
Now, about you. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Those pesky ACLs can tear at the most inopportune moments and through no fault of our own or our dogs. As for being impatient with Delilah? Well, I get impatient with Ducky at times too. But they forgive us long before we forgive ourselves. There was a time when I was feeling like I was responsible for Callie’s passing because I’d missed all the signs that she was sick. You told me then not to beat myself up over it. You were right. So now I’m telling you not to beat yourself up over Sampson’s ACL. Callie tore her first one playing in the snow with her sisters. And the other one running after a ball. More often than not, the second does tear, even when we’re doing everything we can to prevent it. That’s what the surgeon – and our regular vet – told me.
I’m so sorry to hear about Sampson’s leg. Sending him lots of good thoughts that he’ll have a fast recovery and I’m also hoping you won’t keep beating yourself up!
My old dog did a partial ACL tear ON LEASH in a barely visible DUSTING of snow. It happens. I felt like an ass because I was egging her on to run around in circles because it was funny and made me laugh. It’s all fun and games till somebody ends up on crate restriction. Prayers and happy healing thoughts for your boy. And you. Hang in there.
Well that sucks! I am so sorry he got hurt. I am sending all the positive vibes I can!!!
I’ve been responsible (or at least felt like it) for my dogs getting injured before, so I know how you feel 🙁 But it really isn’t your fault, it just feels that way. Some dogs just seem more injury prone than others.
I always do both! I pray that God lay his healing hands on him. I am stopping by today and will bring mr crystals. Love you Sandman! Sending nothing but love and positive, healing thoughts your way!
That really stinks. So sorry for him and for you. Don’t blame yourself. You are human and can’t keep your dogs in bubble wrap, life happens. Katie falls a lot, Mom didn’t act quick enough and she fell on our front steps and cut her nose open the other day. Mom feels terrible, but it is life, it happens, we do the best we can, but we will all have problems. Sometimes the problems are like snowballs just growing and growing, but take it one day at a time. Love him up, and do the best you can. It does stink. Sending some GBGV huggles over to you.
Well darn. it is not uncommon that once one side goes, the other might too. BUT you cannot put them in a box (in my opinion). I am sure Sampson would not want that either. I hope conservative treatment will help. Keep us posted.
Oh no! Sorry to hear that your snowy adventures had such a bad ending. I’ll be sending lots of prayers and good vibes your way.
I know how you feel. I feel responsible for Torreys acl too. But what we can do, you can’t not walk them. How were you to know he would get hurt doing an everyday thing.
This is absolutely not your fault, so stop beating yourself up about it. Conservative management does work for some dogs, so don’t count that out. You and Sampson are in my prayers.
Oh no, Jodi, I hate that when it rains it pours! You’ve had enough already. Every time I let Luke run around the yard with his bad knees, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. But I don’t want to limit his enjoyment of life…I want him to be a dog and enjoy things and that’s exactly what you were doing with Sampson. It’s a risk, yes, but quality of life is so important and I don’t feel like always holding them back is the answer either. We all make all of our decisions with the dogs’ best interests in mind, and sometimes they may not be the right ones. But how can we know? We can’t. We will be sending lots of thoughts and prayers for Sampson.
Positive thoughts and a prayer sent your way. Don’t beat yourself up, in no way is this your fault.
Oh my! Well there is definitely no need to feel like an asshole. I think your babies are lucky to have a “mama” like you!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Poor Sampson. POTP.
Don’t feel like an asshole, these things happen (Phod has been hurt several times and I always blame myself, but then accept it is an accident).
Oh boy Jodi, I’m so sorry to read this. I hope Sampson heals up and doesn’t need another surgery and hope all is well with his heart. Prayers and hugs.
It’s really too bad they don’t make lab-sized strollers (or do they?) so you could wheel him around the neighborhood until he heals up. Or better yet, hook yourself and Delilah up and you can both pull him along and he can pretend like he is Pa Ingalls and you are both his work horses driving him into town. P. S. You aren’t a jerk – stuff happens. Jerks let their dogs suffer and do nothing or jerks purposely injure their animals. You have done neither of those. Ease up on the guilt trip, eh? I’ll be praying. 🙂
ok you have had your time to feel your a bad mom now let it go.
btw feeling guilty means you give a damn. so you got upset and impatient your human.
so glad you knew you could vent an we would be here for you.
hugs to you nose smooches to your babies.
you poor thing!! You aren’t an asshole….you are HUMAN……………sending bushels of positive thoughts!
Oh no poor Sampson! You know we watch them and do the very best we can to keep them safe but just like us they have to live life. I will add him and you to my prayers.