Zooming in the snow

Not much to say about these pics and videos.
Basically he loves the snow. This means that when you open the back door he flies out and keeps running until you convince him to come back in.
His leg held up really well although he is very tired now.
Enjoy


a cute compilation of still shots made into a video


A whole bunch of pictures


A so-so video

a little video of hill walking near the lake

and of course he needed to mark a tree right at the beginning :o(



Bugsy is now 12 weeks post TPLO and as hyper as ever!
I decided to take him to the lake (this is the road that leads to the lake & boathouse) because it is 2 miles of significant hills. With the added bonus of much to smell which means that he is so engrossed in sniffing that his gait is very good.

He had no problems with it (happy dance)and is now sleeping soundly!
We are in for severe weather over the next few days so this was the most taxing and tiring route I could think of.

I wish I could have video'd his stalking a gaggle of geese that for some reason were walking up the road towards us. They saw him at about 50 yds and started in the opposite direction and then all took off.
Its true geese, he really doesn't like you.
He was on fire for the last 1/4 of a mile hoping to see them again.
There is something about geese that make them his very favorite birds ;o)

Now let's hope that this storm doesn't make it impossible to walk him for several days. His progress has been so good

Hey mom the mail is here.....

Bugsy does have his serious side which is displayed when he has a job.
One of his self assigned jobs is to tell me that the mail lady has delivered our mail.
Everyday without fail he will come find me and nudge at me insistently, tail wagging, with a look of 'hey it happened'. I'll ask him did the mail come? and the tail wags faster.
If I choose to not get it immediately he sighs heavily, and lies down next to me. But only for a moment.
Then he will nudge and nudge until I go get the mail.
There is no way you can continue doing what you are doing with beastie trying to convince you to get the mail, so I go get it.
Now that my office is on the third floor I thought he might not do his job, HA! Today I was working on things and he came to get me.
Good boy Bugsy, good boy
Oh and go slow on the stairs OK?

he just can't stop zooming

It is wonderful to see BUT it really stresses his leg and he winds up clearly tired and weak every night. Wondering if I should try harder to prevent it - at the moment I try to slow him with a command or divert him with a promise of a kong - each has minimal impact.
I guess I will call the surgeon and see what he has to say. I know it is important that he continue to build his muscles and increase his stamina, I just don't want him to do to much too soon. I've cut back slightly on his walks but today we went back to two miles.
Today he launched into zoomies three different times -
Run baby run!!

It seems that with each run, each zoom he gets a little more of himself back.
Just can't stop smiling!

Now Lord please don't make us go through this again for a long time, OK?

Zooming!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I decided today was the day to allow him some slack off leash. And it didn't take long for him to take off.
He had a few test runs and then he really went for it!
He ran and ran and did some figure eights and ran some more.
He came right at me and dodged me at the last second
Ah it was like old times LOL

Best news is that he was fine afterwards. DH took him for a walk, about 1.5 miles and he seems fine.
Happily he is fairly subdued and his soul seems to have greater inner peace today.

11.5 weeks post surgery we may just be getting our lives back
and our happy crazy zooming boy!

He reminds all of us to run,
just because you can

a great day in Bugsy World!

On our way in from getting the newspaper this morning beastie was able to snag a mole
and he 'took care of it'
and he let me dispose of it!
This earned him a large knuckle bone for his breakfast. num num
For those that don't know, Bugsy is a mole specialist, he loves to catch them and excels at it but hasn't had much opportunity since his surgery to 'take care' of the mole population. Thus they are making a huge mess of our yard. One down and probably 2 to go!

After consuming his knuckle bone I took him for his walk and he did 1.5 miles!!!!!!!!!
I wasn't going to go that far but he looked really good so we kept on.
Woohoo folks he is on his way back. He rested afterwards and no limping.
Rejoice!

Then after he had opportunity to rest this afternoon I decided to do a 1/2 mile walk with him. Again no limping. We will see how he is when we get back home tonight but I am so very pleased.

So he caught a mole, ate a bone, and walked 2 miles.
That is about as good a day you can have in Bugsy World (since his surgery anyway!)
Since its Friday lift your glass for him and continued health.
Good boy Bugsy!

we got lucky on that one

I took Bugsy to the vet the other day for a few vaccines and for a blood draw to check his thyroid levels, while there I had the vet check his knee, he detected nothing unusual. Whew.
Make that
WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then the vet checked Bugsy out completely. And asked, "how old is he now?"
4.5 years old
"wow he looks great"

Now don't get me wrong I think Bugsy is in decent shape (he was in better shape prior to surgery) but I got the impression that at 4.5 he should be a mess.
Again I know that big dogs age quickly but wow 4.5 seems young to me.
I feel kind of freaked out that his condition would merit that comment. I feel for the other dogs out there who apparently have nasty coats and bad teeth.

So readers take care of your pooches. Check their teeth and give them some nice raw bones to chew to keep their teeth nice and clean. Walk them as much as you can and no fatty treats. Just because your dog is cute when they beg doesn't mean they should get something to eat and it definitely doesn't mean they are starving despite how desperate they look LOL.
Keep your pets lean and fit, check their teeth, keep their nails short. Brush them regularly and make sure you feed them a healthy food.
I'm glad Bugsy 'looks great' but I don't think it should be the exception

we've had a setback

It happened. I suppose it was rather incredulous that the wild and crazy Bugsy would have a straight run at healing but we were. For over 10 weeks.
And then it happened.
I'll try to leave out some of the unnecessary details.
Basically DH was playing with Bugsy and Bugsy got very excited and ran down the hardwood floor hallway and into the tiled kitchen, upon seeing DH he attempted to make a quick 180* turn and it happened.
His bad leg splayed out at the worst angle imaginable.
I was furious and sick to my stomach all at once. DH was oblivious and thought I was being ridiculous when I punched the granite countertop. I didn't know what else to do.
Bugsy clearly was in pain and thought he was in trouble at the same time.
DH - well I could have strangled him.
At this time we are unsure of what damage has been done. Damage has been done though.
He is limping as badly as he did in about week 2. He is reluctant to stand on the leg and was generally morose all yesterday and much of today.
I gave him some Traumeel yesterday and last night.
I don't see or feel swelling but I can see that my poor boy can't walk the 1.25 miles that we were doing. Never mind the extra .5
He labors up the stairs and is flat as a pancake.
I am heartbroken. We were getting so close to earning a little freedom.
I am going to take him to the rehab vet early this week and hopefully they will be able to assess if he did serious damage or it is just a minor setback.
Send us some good thoughts - especially my poor boy.
He has cooperated through all of this. All he wants is to run free and be joyful and pain free.
I promise Bugsy we are going to get there

Beets. Really?

last night in a culinary adventure I decided to make fresh beets. Oye what a mess.
For us I mixed them with toasted walnuts, feta cheese, fresh dill, olive oil, cider vinegar and seasoning. They were good.
What I totally didn't expect was to have a dog sitting next to me drooling in the hopes of getting some beets.
Really Bugs? You think you are going to like beets???
When he has new things he usually takes them to the living room and plays with it before decided whether it is edible or not. Because of this habit I was quite concerned about giving him a piece.
No worries
I took a small piece and let him sniff it. Gulp. Gone.
Then the boring eyes and drool started.
You like beets?
"I wuv dem. need more"
OK
gulp
"more"
gulp

I was really shocked, still am. He behaved as if this was the very bestest thing he had ever had.

Beets. Who wouldn't guessed.

The one that got away

Well it has been looming for weeks and weeks now.
Today it couldn't be stopped.
You may be wondering, what is this I am referencing?
A zoomie

Yup a ZOOMIE!!

Good gracious me we know the tank is overflowing.
We have barely prevented zoomies on countless occasions now, usually after the last of the night business, where I feel like I'm trying to tame a wild stallion as I hold the rope and he would tuck his tail and start to fly and give me this look like;

LET GO OF THE ROPE LADY!!

And there were the inside frolics that occurred after the above attempted looney runs were squelched.

But this morning I gave him too much room outside, too much rope.
Literally.
And off he went........................
and went






and went..................gulp and went.

Now I can't lie to you.
Watching Bugsy run a zoomie is as entertaining as a dog can get. His legs suddenly seem so very long as they all go in different directions.
The look of pure madness on his face = priceless
The tail tucked unless needed to work as a rudder,
Its all just FUN


Let's hope that his minutes of lunacy don't equal a setback for him. We are getting close to having regular off leash time.
I can see what that is going to look like now

oh happy day!

I took Bugsy down near the lake for his walk today and we met a nice couple with a pretty dog named Sammi. Bugsy and Sammi got to say hi and play a bit in the icy lake. He was so happy to be able to interact with a dog and with new humans.
Joy oozed from every cell of his body.
He has been less confident around some dogs and people so I was thrilled to see 'the old' Bugs wiggling and waggling with reckless abandon.
Good boy Bugsy!
He was also very impressed with being able to break the ice on the lake - sigh.

And today we also discovered he really, really likes turnips - who knew?

baby its cold outside...........

but Bugsy doesn't seem to mind. We are now doing 1 mile a day walks (really we have been doing just over a mile) and he is loving it. He even got to walk with his girlfriend Izzy today :-)
They were both exceptionally happy and difficult to contain LOL
I have written before about how he seems to have forgotten some training well interestingly as we allow him to return to his previous freedom, let's say roaming the ground floor of the house, he suddenly remembers things........... hmmmmmmmm something seems fishy here.
One new habit he has developed is moving the curtains so he can see out the window. It is really cold out so I have had them closed to keep the cold out, only to find they have been opened again.
Silly Bugsy.
OK off to put the fire on......
soon he'll be chomping away on his elk antler enjoying some classical music in front of the fire.
It's not a bad life

Happy 2010!!

Bugsy wishes all of you many reasons to zoom in the year ahead!

He woke me up with oodles of slobbery kisses and much tail wagging - did he think I had disappeared??
Good thing I love him as I was looking forward to a long lie in!
I got a great picture of him today


This evening I took down the ex-pen and he had free roam of the ground floor. It was so cute. He clearly has missed cleaning the kitchen floor, had his head in the pantry, rediscovered his favorite spying window, etc. Apparently water tastes much better if your bowl is in the kitchen, who knew??