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Things You Shouldn’t Tell the Physical Therapist

May 1, 2014 By Jodi

So I promised you a post on do it yourself cavalettis, and I’m still working on it. First my trip to the Home Depot was a bust, they didn’t have what I was looking for.  So I mentioned  to Hubby my idea and  he said, “Well you could just cut some PVC pipe into lengths and use those.  I think we have some at work.  No need to spend money on something when you can get it for free.”

Who loads stuff on his jeep so it looks like the Beverly Hillbilly's car?  My Hubby.

Who loads stuff on his jeep so it looks like the Beverly Hillbilly’s car? My Hubby.

Yes, this is what greeted me when I came home from work on Tuesday.  (Insert eye roll.)  In the meantime, I think I’ll just keep working towards my goal.  If my estimate is right it will cost less that $20 for all the cavaletti’s I need.

Star Date : April 29, 2014

Cubes of ice.  On my dog.  In April.  APRIL!

Do you see that?  That’s hail!  HAIL on my dog’s back on our walk on April 29th.  WTF?

 

Things you shouldn’t tell the dog’s physical therapist.

When I took Sampson in to the Vet to have his Seroma checked, I told the surgeon that Sampson had managed to make his way down the stairs.  The surgeon replied, “Don’t tell that to a surgeon.”  Okay….then it makes sense I’m not telling his Physical Therapist this.

Let's keep this between us, okay Mama?

Let’s keep this between us, okay Mama?

Yeah, my day starts out like this.  I literally roll out of bed (since it’s a mattress on the floor,) I throw on my work clothes, leash Sampson up and take him for his 15 to 20 minute walk.  Once I come back, I do a couple weight bearing exercises, and then I prepare the dog’s breakfast.  While their food is warming up slightly, I finish getting ready for work and then come out and feed the dogs.  Typically the couch is fenced off.  But for some unknown reason, it wasn’t yesterday morning and I, in my hurry to complete my morning chores, failed to notice.

I literally walked out of the bedroom and gasped out loud when I saw where he was laying. To my credit, I did not panic like I did when he ran down the stairs, I simply told him it was breakfast time and watched as he got down off the couch.

When Sampson is in a hurry or doing something that requires a bit of work from his leg, he holds the foot slightly off the ground, not much, maybe 1/2 an inch to an inch, but the point is he doesn’t really ask his foot/leg for more than he thinks it can do.  And that’s exactly how he got down from the couch, with his foot slightly off the floor.  Still just about gave me a heart attack.

THE GRIM

So the dogs are fed, the dishes have been done, my lunch has been packed and I take the dogs out for a last pee break before leaving for work.  I get in my car and start driving down the street.  I see a black dog walking through the yard of a house ahead of me.  I think to myself, it looks like my neighbor’s dog, Gunner who likes to roam the neighborhood (much like Delilah is hoping to do.)  As I approach the house I look in the yard to verify if it was Gunner and I see nothing.

SHIT, I think I just saw a Grim!

If that was a Grim, my demise is imminent.

I turn the car around, Siriously, I’m not ready to die yet, that damn well better be Gunner.    Sure enough as I approach the house, here comes Gunner giving me a dirty look as he crosses the street.  Phew, that’s a load off.

I turn back around and am so relieved that I’m not dying yet, that I almost missed this!

Oh deer, did you see that?  I think it was a Grim.

Run faster, I think I just saw a Grim!

Thankfully I had my camera in my purse, but the pictures are blurry because those guys are fast!

Barks and Bytes is the blog hop for pet bloggers (Barks) and non-pet bloggers (Bytes) alike.  Hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog this hop happens every Thursday!  Grab the badge and join the fun!

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Filed Under: Blog Hops Tagged With: Delilah, Heart Like A Dog, Just Be The Dog, Life With Sampson And Delilah, Sampson, Thursday Barks and Bytes

Thanks For the Warning

April 29, 2014 By Jodi

“Thanks for the warning!” The woman called after me as Delilah and I negotiated away from her dog who was following us across the road.

I wanted to shout back, “Pull your head out of your ass where your dog is concerned,” but I wisely (unwisely?) kept my mouth shut.

I’ve written about this before and so have many others, and yet here I am again incensed that I have to intimate my dog is ‘un’friendly because another dog owner is totally clueless.

It began innocuously enough, Delilah and I were taking a nice stroll on a beautiful spring Saturday. Delilah was casing the houses in our neighborhood for possible future forages leading the walk, while I was helplessly being dragged along, wandering aimlessly behind her, following along leisurely enjoying the lovely weather and keeping my eyes ever alert for other dogs.

Yup, sure enough.  Dead ahead, I saw a group of people at the edge of a lawn chatting and standing there with them, a dog.  I crossed to the other side of the street and kept walking.  As we approached, the dog, Bella took a few tentative steps into the street.

“Bella, Bella” her male owner called, then walked over and gently led her back to the yard.

“She never leaves the yard” I heard the woman tell her visiting neighbors, “That’s the farthest I’ve ever seen her go.”

I reached into my treat bag and Delilah who was focused on the grass on the side of the road, lifted her head and focused on me.

“Bella, Bella!” The male called again.  I looked back to see Bella stealthily creeping up on Delilah’s right flank.  Delilah, darling dog was sniffing the grass and not paying a lick of attention to the approaching Bella.

I felt the familiar panic rising up, like a cobra ready to strike.  What do I do? Do I stop and try to initiate a greeting?   Do I keep on hustling and pray Bella doesn’t reach Delilah’s rear end?  I looked down at the sweet face, intent on me, and unaware of anything transpiring behind her.  I can’t take a chance of setting her up to fail.

“She’s not always friendly to other dogs” I tossed over my shoulder, resisting the urge to pull out my pepper blaster and give the owner a taste of my wrath.

“Who, your dog?”  The woman called after me.

Yes my dog you dipshit, I would hope you’d know if your dog wasn’t friendly to other dogs.

“Yes, she doesn’t like being surprised.”

Like when your dog comes up behind her and shoves her face in her ass, she’s likely to get  a face full of Chocolate the likes of which will put your dog running for cover and brand my dog as ‘aggressive.’  All because you can’t be bothered to keep your dog in her yard.  

optimizing your images for SEO

I just don’t like surprises, that’s all. You try having someone stick their nose in YOUR ass when you aren’t expecting it. I didn’t think so.

 

“Thanks for the warning,” I heard follow me as I stomped my way seethed my way up the street thinking of all the other things I could have/should have said.

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Filed Under: Delilah Tagged With: Delilah, Humor, Life With Sampson And Delilah, Reactive dogs

Some Dogs Just Walk Bow-Legged

April 28, 2014 By Jodi

Last Friday Sampson started his physical therapy.  But before he did, we saw the surgeon because the physical therapist isn’t entirely pleased with the way Sampson is using his leg, specifically the way his knee sticks out when he walks.

After watching him walk and examining his knee, the surgeon wasn’t entirely pleased either, BUT he wasn’t too concerned because we aren’t entirely sure how long he’s been having trouble with his knee.  He also said that some dogs recover more quickly than others and some dogs just walk bow-legged.  His exact words were, “He’s a B, not an A+, but a B.”

In two weeks he’s got to go back and have an x-ray of his knee to gage his progress and see how well it is healing.  IF there is a problem with it, we’ll find out then.

In the meantime, we continue with Physical Therapy.  His physical therapy started out with some basic massage and stretches, then she moved on to Cavaletti’s and finally the underwater treadmill.

I didn’t know what a Cavaletti was, but in my mind it’s very similar to the tire exercise you see athlete’s do.   Because of the way the Sampson walks the Cavaletti, he ends up putting his whole weight entirely on his bad leg, if only for a few seconds.  It will help him build up muscle in that leg again and give him some confidence that the leg will not fail him or cause him pain.

The course is set up with about five to six Cavaletti’s set about fourteen to fifteen inches apart.  He’s supposed to do ten Cavalettis, take a break and then do ten more.

I priced Cavaletti’s online and they were about $20 each, so I came up with a plan in my mind as to how to make my own, but it requires a trip to Home Depot, which I’m planning on later today, so in the meantime, I totally improvised with some pairs of shoes and pieces of wood.

The stick is about two to three inches off the floor.

The stick is about two to three inches off the floor.

Phew, someone needs so baby powder in their shoe.

Phew, someone needs some baby powder in their shoe.

 

While I can create Cavaletti’s at home, I cannot recreate the underwater treadmill.  So I did what bloggers do, I took pictures.

 

Hey, do you realize this tank is filling up with water?

Hey, do you realize this tank is filling up with water?

You want me to do WHAT?

You want me to do WHAT?

 

Other than the fact that Sampson kept trying to drink the water, he did quite well.  I’ll work on getting the video up for Thursday’s Barks and Bytes.

And I’ll work on perfecting those Cavaletti’s too. 🙂  Not too bad though, huh?

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Filed Under: Health Related Tagged With: Health, Humor, Life With Sampson And Delilah, Sampson

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About Jodi

jodiHi, my name is Jodi. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog! I have all kinds of fun writing about my two crazy pups, Sampson and Delilah. Find out more!

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