Monday was Winston's 12 week anniversary of his last surgery and since he stopped swimming, he's been doing great. We've slowly increased the walks and since we want to build muscle in that leg, I've been alternating "light days" and "long days". On our long days we go for three 30-40 minute walks, and if we can squeeze it in, we go for a fourth 15 minute walk. The weather has gotten cooler so we haven't had to cut the afternoon walk short. On the light days, we're doing two to three 15 minute walks and one 25-30 minute walk.
In addition, he's gotten some limited off-leash time in the back yard. We live on a corner lot with wire fencing, so if I let him out into the "front" yard where he can see people/bikes/dogs as they walk by he will run along the fence barking at them, silly thing.
I can tell that he's feeling better because his energy has increased dramatically in the last couple of weeks. He's going through kind of a butt-head phase out on our walks where if a car or bike goes by he wants to chase it, and when we pass other dogs, he barks and pulls. Time for me to go back to some basic obedience again. I didn't want to hurt his leg by making him sit a lot, but I think he feels well enough that I'm going to have to push him a bit. He outweighs me and I don't feel like getting dragged down the street. He should be fine again after a couple of months of having to sit anytime "something interesting" goes by while we're on a walk. Unfortunately Josie barks and eggs him on.
Today as we passed our neighbor Betty who has two Shih-Tzus, Josie barked at them and that set off Winston who lunged around and barked and while he distracted me, Josie slipped her collar (which I thought I'd tightened up enough again... sigh). I was worried that she'd run across the street and scare poor Betty even more, but she stayed close and when I called her, she came right to me and I put her collar back on. Betty apologized to ME for some reason, and we both continued on with our walks. I feel bad; it's not good to be out in public with huge unruly dogs.
I cannot thank you enough for your blog. I have been doing constant research for the past two weeks since discovering my 70lbs boxerx Bella has torn her CCL and will need surgery. We were interested in the tightrope surgery, however it seems it has not caught on yet in our area, so we are going to do the traditional repair. I have to say I learned more from your blog than anywhere else online! I was hearted to know I have done a few things "right" so far (got a car ramp, e-collar, and sling) but I am also scared to death seeing what you went through with the infection. TPLO is not an option for us, so if the traditional surgery doesnt take... I dont want to think about it. In our case, we have a much older dog (shes 6) and she already has the misfortune of bilateral hip dysplasia (the vet thinks the bad hips made her bare weight unevenly which then led to the CCL blowout). My fear has been that she will tear her other CCL before we fix the current one, which would also be catastorophic for us- this current surgery is being paid for by not paying on several other household bills. I, like you, have just been doing a lot of crying. I feel like I am at a total loss. I dont know if I am doing the right thing. She is my heartdog, and I dont know what I would do without her. She is on a daily dose of rimadyl and 50mg of tramadol twice a day, and she acts like she is totally fine. She hasnt had one limpy day since she was diagnosed and given the pain pills, and she totally at a loss as to why there are baby gates blocking her from all the stairs :) I think my Bella and your Winston would get along great in that respect! I am rambling now, I am just so happy to meet someone who has gone through what we are about to go through. My prayers for a speedy recovery go out to Winston, and I will continue to follow the blog to keep up with his progress. Thank you again! Best, Julia
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