Puppy Central

6.5 months after surgery and i think i have my dog back. he is eager to do things, instead of just laying around looking after me he is following me around when he is interested in what i am doing.

he WANTS his walks... he is chasing the cats.

he gets up to see if there are treats for him in the kitchen. he is able to sit, granted it is a sloppy sit, but....

he is not graceful when laying down, but i am sure we will get there.

it is nice to see that i have my dog back... and we are on the right path. he is looking very good.

today i took bohdan to the vet for his 16 week x-ray check up. i also thought he had some tooth decay so we were prepared to clean his teeth while he was under the anesthetic.

our old vet is no longer at the clinic so we were meeting with a new vet today. his name is dr. hill, a very nice man. i spoke with him on sunday to make sure we understood what needed to be done for bohdan and that they didn't expect me to just drop him off and pick him up.

we arrived and had a short wait in the lobby, then when we were called bohdan just wouldn't get up, it was pretty embarassing.

we have a houseguest today so shari thought i should take bohdan along with us when i helped her pick up her car that has been in the shop for a week.

i thought why not, then we could go for a walk in the park.

bohdan and i arrived at the little park a few blocks away and he was so excited to be there. he thought it was great. started crying before i could park the car.

we spend half an hour walking around the park and inspecting. we kept getting closer and closer to the little kids play area that was occupied by a bunch of toddlers and their mom's.

so after our visit to the vet, bohdan was doing very well no limping he didn't look too stiff etc. so i thought another walk would be good for him.

so we set off around the block around 10pm. he was walking fine eager to be going. i thought i would see how he was doing and we would maybe go back at half way around the block or we would continue on.

today shari decided to work from home so as part of her break we took both dogs down to the beach. they were antsy and needing some exercise. i have been unable to get bohdan to go down to the sand, but with trillian and shari he felt that he had to keep up. we walked the short walk to the sand and then lay down in the warmth.

trillian would not rest in the sand but instead decided to go down to the water, bohdan needing to keep up with her went down to the water as well. his legs were giving out, i could see that he was having problems keeping himself up.

Well I tried for two walks today and the second one was too much. it seems that bohdan hurt his right ankle, that is his good leg. maybe he injured it slipping on the garage floor, or trying to get up too quickly, however it is swollen tonight. I didn't notice this and he was so exicted about a chance to go for a walk that I thought he was alright.

we got about half way around the block when his limping became more pronounced. then for the last 6 houses we stopped about every 10-15 feet. I let him rest in between and I could see that he was in pain, and having problems standing.

we took sunday off... well we didnt go for a walk, but bohdan let me know that he was ready. instead of going for a walk the dogs got hyper playing together, running around, playing fighting. it was really good to see. addtionally it was hard on bohdan's back legs, which just cemented the fact that he needed a day off.

so today, he was really ready to go. first thing this morning he found where i had set down his leash and went and stood by it. but I had errands to run and he couldn't go with me.

yesterday after taking bohdan on his walk i went to a bbq, after which i came home and helped shari do some yard work. the whole time i was gone bohdan slept. i assume recovering from his morning walk.

bohdan decided to help us with the rest of the afternoons gardening and came out side. in our backyard we have a brick flower bed that is 5 tiers.. the top tier is filled with nastutrium in full bloom.

this is a place that bohdan liked to hang out prior to surgery and one where i have not seen him since.

today I felt we would only be taking one walk. bohdan just seemed too sore so I thought it should be something a little different then around the block. so i wasled him down to the 7-11 which is about 1/2 way around the block.

he decided he wanted to go and investigate the grounds of the school, so we walked over to the entrance, which made our walk "out" about once around the block. so it was much further then what I had anticipated.

Yesterday I took bohdan on two walks... we went around the block once each time. He was really pleased by this. The first walk he sat down once about 1/2 way, which was fine, no one was home. On our second walk he had some difficulties making it the whole way around the block and I had to coax him
and give treats for the last 4 houses.

He is now coming into the house and not flopping on the lawn more regularly.

progress is being made.