Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

These Dogs You Guys

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As you know, last week I laid out my plan to help get Sampson recover from his ACL surgery.  It involves limiting his walks both in terms of distance and speed, adding Glucosamine to his diet, and getting him some acupuncture treatments.  Currently Sampson goes to the Physical Therapist once a week, where he gets cold laser therapy.  Last week the therapist asked how he was doing and I told her I thought he was doing better.

I gage this in a couple of ways.

1) He’s climbing on the couch at least once or twice a day.

I love my couch, I think it's grand, if I could I'd hold it's hand.

I love my couch, I think it’s grand, if I could I’d hold it’s hand.

2) He seems to be walking better, in fact I have to slow him down quite frequently, as he’s pulling ahead of me on our walks.

3) He’s not licking his paws as much as he was.

When he saw my vet on June 23rd, she took a look at his paws and said, “He’s hurting.”  Check out the photos.

This photo was taken June 26th. While it's hard to see I've pointed out the areas with the lick Granulomas.

This photo was taken June 26th. While it’s hard to see I’ve pointed out the areas with the lick Granulomas.

 

This photo was taken July 10th. Exactly two weeks later.

This photo was taken July 10th. Exactly two weeks later.

As you can see, he’s not licking at his paws as much and the Granulomas are healing up.

4) He wants to run and jump.

5) Did I mention he wants to jump?  Yeah, Saturday I drove up to the park, pulled out the ramp and opened the hatch.  As I’m opening the door I’m saying, “Wait.”  Except he didn’t.  He jumped out.  

JUMPED.  Out of the freaking car.

Asshole.

These dogs will be the death of me.  If they don’t physically kill me by tripping me, or knocking me down, they’ll give me a heart attack with their antics.

Determination Can Find a Way

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Yesterday I told you I have plans to take Sampson up to the woods for walks.  I figure it will be challenging based upon the folks that let their dogs run off-leash up there, but if I plan carefully and take precautions I think it’s doable.

Saturday I set off for the woods.  We walked up the hill and into the park.  I’ve taken Sampson up here a couple of times, but during those times I’ve only gone into the field and walked him around.

Our park has a three or four different colored trails.  Saturday I chose the orange trail, which is (IMO) the hardest trail, because there are areas where it is very steep.  If you follow the entire trail (which we didn’t) you will encounter these challenging areas at a minimum of three or four times.

Sampson and I caught the orange trail right inside the park.  This particular trail starts off up hill but it levels out at the top, and it intersects with the yellow trail, which is very wide and the main trail into the park.  It’s also all down hill from where we picked it up. My thought process was all uphill for the beginning of the walk when we were fresh with lots of energy, then all down hill on the way home.

Follow me Mama, I haven't forgotten.

Follow me Mama, I haven’t forgotten.

The other reason I chose the this particular section of the orange trail was for the height.  This trail runs parallel with the yellow trail, so while the trees are full, I still have a great advantage to keep an eye out for people and off-leash dogs and that gives me the option of tightening my grip on Sampson, or turning around to avoid the conflict.

I’m not sure if it was the time of day, the fact it was a holiday weekend or we maybe the universe was just giving us a lovely walk, but we didn’t encounter another dog or person. 

 

Just like I remember.

Just like I remember.

He remembered all the spots we usually run into someone too!  

The Heart Like a Dog Lesson: Even when something seems impossible, determination can find a way. 

Do-Don’t, Will-Won’t

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I’ve been getting some conflicting opinions on how to deal with Sampson’s recovery from ACL surgery.  The problem is the complication of the Iliospsoas Muscle strain/tear.  

DO:

When our vet saw him a couple of weeks ago she told me to help heal the strain/tear I should be stretching Sampson’s leg out.

DON’T:

When I saw the physical therapist last week, she told me you do not stretch a muscle that is strained.

DO:

The physical therapist was using the underwater treadmill with Sampson once a week and didn’t have a problem with Sampson walking for 1/2 an hour twice a day.

DON’T:

My vet said his walks could be between 15 to 20 minutes, but at a very slow pace.

DO:

When I met with the surgeon last week, I was telling him how much Sampson loved his wood walks and how I was afraid to take him up there because I was afraid he would slip in the dried leaves.  The surgeon said, don’t worry about the leaves, take him up there, let him have his wood walks.

DON’T:

I told him my concern with the wood walks was the off-leash dogs and how excited Sampson is when he sees a person or dog.  The surgeon said, don’t let him get excited and bounce around like a ping pong ball.

MY WAY

I started thinking about the time that Hubby tore a muscle in his back.  And how incapacitated he was for almost a full week while that muscle began healing.  For the first couple of days he couldn’t move at all, then gradually he began limited movement by using a walker.

I thought about what made sense to me in terms of dealing with a muscle strain, I talked it over with Hubby and we decided a course of action.

WILL:

I will continue to walk Sampson, but the walks will be very, very slow and limited in time.  I will strive to keep his walks to between 15 to 20 minutes twice a day.

WON’T:

I won’t have Sampson use the underwater treadmill.  I spoke to the physical therapist and we swapped the treadmill out for cold laser therapy.  Once the package is up, which is the end of this month, I can continue taking Sampson to our own vet to continue the cold laser.

WILL:

Once a week I will take Sampson up to his beloved woods for a walk.

That WILL be lovely Mama. The field is nice, but I LOVE my woods.

That WILL be lovely Mama. The field is nice, but I LOVE my woods.

WON’T:

I will try to choose a path in the woods where I can see people/dogs approaching and do my best to not let him get too excited.

WILL:

As soon as I can schedule it, I will set Sampson up with some more acupuncture treatments.

I will also work on getting my DIY cavaletti’s made so in a couple of weeks we can begin building his muscle up again.

I’m not sure this is the right course of action, but to me it makes sense.

I’d be interested to hear what you all think, especially if you’ve had a pet with these issues or work in the veterinary field.

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