Great news to bring in the new decade!

Bugsy got great news from the surgeon the other day - his bones are healed!! He can increase exercise and in three weeks we can start some off leash activity -
REJOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He seems to realize that he has been semi-freed and is joyous and impish 24/7!

This morning we had a nice walk by the lake and up and down a hill. His nose was to the ground the entire time, the look on his face - when he looked up - was priceless.
He is clearly overwhelmed the the scents of nature, he appears to be on opiates, and his brain is engaged with nothing else. No command is effective, he has no sense that he is 'owned' or being walked. He's just out there doing what he loves to do. He gives me this, um hello I need to go THAT way, expression when we have a difference of opinion on direction.
Despite having aching shoulders now it is so incredible to see him doing what he loves to do again. Its been a long road. A road some day we may need to traverse again for his other knee but for now we will all rejoice in seeing my crazy, wild child dog being who he is!


Happy New Year everyone! May it be your best year yet!

Note to self............

Don't give a dog a stuffie that has little beads in it LOL
Bugsy was full of the devil earlier and needed an outlet so I gave him the last of the stashed stuffies, which of course had a very short life. It was a cute little bear that had some beads in the butt I suppose to make it more stable when sitting.
When I went to check on what beastie was doing I found little plastic beads all over the place. They were contained in a little pouch but he had opened the pouch and clearly enjoyed slinging it. Gulp.

I am glad though that he doesn't eat the innards of stuffies and I am also glad that he could care less what I do when he is 'playing' with his toy. He was lying there finishing off the little bear while I was lifting his paws trying to clean up all the little beads.

He's a good boy most of the time ha ha ha

In other news we had a great walk by the lake yesterday, said hi to a pretty yellow lab today, and I was able to squash an attempted zoomie!!

Tomorrow we have his 8 week xrays!!! Wish us luck

Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing day!

I am so thrilled as it isn't long before xrays now and that hopefully will mean we can increase activities. Bugsy is so happy and lively of late, one can't help but smile in his presence.
He got a Gingerbread House hide a toy for Christmas and he likes it
LINK

I had to pull it away at the end because he was beginning to chew it - that is instant death for stuffies!

He also got to go on a short walk in a field which was filled with things to smell!
LINK

Hope your holidays were fun!

can he please stop hurting now?

Just a quick post to say that I am tired of seeing my boy limping. Seems everyday he does something at some point that causes him to limp. It usually passes but it is so sad to see over and over and over.
Lord let the pain become a much less frequent for my boy. He just wants to be happy and free again.
Thanks

He's been discharged

Its official Bugsy has been discharged from rehab. Save our souls now because getting to expend energy there has been a lifesaver for us. For example he has whined all morning but once he gets back from rehab he'll make nary a sound until tomorrow some time. He is so very pent up we try to be patient but it isn't easy.

Thank you Michelle for loving the slobbery boy. Your hard work has clearly helped him more than anything else!

One week from today and we will have done our 8 weeks xrays and know how he is doing. Very exciting!

OK off to enjoy some peace and quiet

hill workouts day 1

Bugsy has been doing very well with his 1/2 mile walks so today after taking yesterday off, we drove to a long hill and went up and down it a couple of times interspersed with a walk in the field near the lake.
I've noticed that when his nose takes over he walks very evenly, as if he forgets he has a bad leg, I imagine that is good for him.
He was certainly happy to be out in the open air doing what he does best - sniffing!



A real nuisance for me but we have to keep working on his recovery. I wonder if he knows how loved he is?

Oh Bugsy NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

After a long and vigorous chew on his antler he decided he needed to go out for a poop or a pretend one as it turned out to be. Guess he just wanted to check out the sleet!

After dragging DH out into this awful weather, just to have a mooch around he came back inside and launched into major zoomies, leaping over the baby gate and running up and down the stairs and then down the hardwood hallway and tiled kitchen
I believe he didn't slip and that his knee is still intact.
I however nearly had a stroke.
He is now sleeping so innocently I can hardly believe he is the dog that was a lunatic earlier.

Two more weeks and then 8 more of restricted activity - pray for us please [:S]

6 weeks post-TPLO

We just returned from our second to last rehab session (we signed up for 10)
and he is doing really well. We were surprised that there is a significant
difference in thigh muscle because he has done well all along and he is very
muscular and it LOOKS similar. (about 5 cm's difference)
His range of motion is full and was 12 days post op so no surprise there.

We started doing 1/2 mile walks the end of last week and for the first time did
back to back walks meaning yesterday and today. He also gets several shorter
walks during the day.
Today he had a 1/2 mile walk, two extended potty walks, and a full rehab session
of four 4-minute sessions on the underwater treadmill which was set at an
incline and some hurdle walking to force him to lift his leg properly. And he
is perfectly fine no limp at all.
It did however contribute to some afternoon sleepiness




The hardest part now is staying controlled for at least another two weeks (for x
rays)as Bugsy who has been fairly cooperative with all the restrictions, is now
completely fed up.
I'm going to have to be at my most creative

well what an interesting day

early this morning I decided to bring Bugsy upstairs - like he used to be while I worked in the office. He was thrilled and took up residence looking out his favorite window. And then he saw my husband returning from his walk. He - as he always does - got extremely excited. I tried to calm him down and had him sitting next to me and then WHACK!!
He jump turned and his snout hit me HARD in the nose. I thought is was busted but it only seemed to be bloodied. He of course hadn't noticed that he'd hit anything.

Later at rehab he in a fit of - yes once again - excitement he lunged and knocked the present we had for his therapist to the floor and SMASH it broke.
UGH!

Then in a move none of us could sufficiently describe he decided to leap up onto his back legs while in the water tank. This caused a tsunami to come over the side and soak me.

Really it has been an interesting day.

In other news we have two more sessions of rehab left. We will both miss going but I especially think Bugsy is going to miss it. He loves all the ladies especially his therapist and the vet student and he seems so much better after we leave. Today he did 4 minute sessions on an uphill and just loved it. We did a few more 'cavaletti's' (sp?) and he thinks that's grand too.
What has been fascinating to me is how much better he walks and moves after he's been. I hope that I can find a way to replicate that here at home.
This has seriously helped his rehab both physically and mentally

uh oh he is getting very frustrated with all this

My little (OK not so little) Bugsy has been giving us some very strange behaviors of late. Clearly we are dealing with boredom and frustration at a high level. Tonight I saw him inspecting a small Christmas tree in our living room. Its one of those that is pre-decorated and you plug it in and wala it is pretty. He was giving the ornaments a once over and then I saw him doing something he has never done. He was showing interest in the cord. Likely it was the label on the cord but still very concerning.
His behavior on the leash is appalling - as bad or worse as it was as a pup. He zones out and could care less about your existence. He pulls like a freight train.
He is having temper tantrums if he thinks we are going somewhere 'good' without him. This might be for a walk or to rehab or who knows. This morning he screamed in his crate for about an hour and all I was doing was putting flags out in the yard marking his invisible fence - which he has lost all knowledge of. He refused to settle down even after I was done so I put him in the car 10 minutes before we needed to go to the vet.
I could go on but I won't.
It is sad for him in some ways and disheartening for me in many ways. I look at him some times and think 'my goodness not even 6 weeks and all his prior training is out the window'.
Tomorrow is two weeks until our xrays and if all is good we should be able to start doing more exercise and reduce some restrictions.
I need to find a renewed energy to get my overgrown, overly excited, independent, bull headed Bugsy behaving properly. Wow I am exhausted thinking about it

Today was my 'gotcha day'

Today was the 4th anniversary of the day I picked my humans out, went home with them and then determined that their 'pad' would work for me. House is a decent size, everyone seemed to eat well, sun comes in the front door, and a nice big yard. Yup I'll stay!


I think I lucked out with these humans (other than they still haven't gotten me a sibling) and they seem to love me a lot so I guess they feel lucky too!

The really big news was that today I had my first decent walk in what feels like a million years! We went about 1/2 mile and mom kept saying 'slow' and 'don't pull' but I didn't listen. Couldn't. I was busy smelling things and taking in the world!
Phew that was good!

The other best part of my day was getting homemade cheesy biscuits in the mail!
num num they are good. I hope there is more than the one, my mom seemed to hide them away some where. I also hope dad doesn't eat them. He likes cheese almost as much as I do!

Scent Discrimination day 1

As I have reported previously I am doing clicker training with Bugsy to try and use up some mental energy which he finds very enjoyable.
Last night I decided we would try some very simple scent discrimination using sticky notes. I watched a video online and supporting info and felt prepared.
I got my sticky notes and donned a golf glove to use for the non-scented note. The scented note I rubbed on me and used my bare hand to manipulate. Got the clicker and got some treats. OK bud lets give it a try.
As always he got VERY excited. There was much whining and throwing of behaviors - and I do mean THROWING of behaviors.
And then he touched the scented sticky - click/treat.
From there his excitement grew. I was please thinking, "By golly he's got this!"
And then the not wholly unexpected occurred
He ate the sticky note.
The End.
That's my boy :-)

Now I will have to come up with an idea for objects I can use that he can't eat.

things are really moving forward now!

Its been a big week for Bugsy boy.
We decided it was time to have him upstairs with us in the evening which he was joyful about, really joyful. And so were we! It is wonderful to have him with us at night again.
He goes up the stairs quite easily but down feels precarious, must be careful and slow!

He continues to make excellent progress at rehab and seems to enjoy it. At least he really, really wants to go there. I never get the idea that he loves the tank but what do I know?

In other updates he is moving very well. I swear this morning you wouldn't have been able to tell he had surgery. Boggles the mind, mine anyway :-)

We have been doing clicker training every day to occupy his mind which is lots of fun. He loves a bit of training and is very enthusiastic.
Um yea I know he is fairly enthusiastic about everything!

We tried some boots but first go wasn't very good. We'll try some more but then we'll have to decided whether we would use them or not. It was hysterical to watch him try and figure out what was going on LOL Wish I could video it!

Also we had a near 'oops' when his buddy Carl happened to be in the cul de sac when we went out for a walk. It was quite funny in that Bugsy started whining and Carl laid down waiting for his buddy to arrive. I had to shout to Carl's owner that we couldn't play due to surgery. Then I tried to move beastie to the back yard and she tried to move Carl from the cul de sac but he had laid down and wouldn't get up.
Funny and sad all at the same time.

Lastly we are going for short walks around the yard a few times a day now. He is thrilled to be out and about and it is good to see him doing what he is meant to do - patrol and sniff.
"I iz back", I can hear him shout to the squirrels and birds, "just you wait!"

I'm really starting to hate this regime!

So says Bugsy.
Poor guy just wants to be free again. Guess what Bugs? We want you to be free again too. We've battled the zoomies all week and we have a strong return of whining just because he can't do what he wants to do. We have to hold strong for a minimum of another four weeks, for his sake.
We did allow him upstairs one night and likely will start doing that from time to time. It was a treat for all of us.

Now if it would just stop raining here we might all smile a bit more