Category Archives: Dogs

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unusual POV

unusual POV

I’m late for the last two challenges. However, good news! Linus has permission from the vet to run and play, kind of like a normal dog, but with new knee ligaments. Thus the unusual point of view… as he waits patiently for me to stop taking photos and stick on my shoes to go for a run. In his mind, bringing out these shoes means it is time to hit the road! Put the blasted camera away mum and come on!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Companionable

To be companionable means to possess the qualities of a good companion; to be pleasant to be with, to be friendly. Animals have this ability despite their own problems.

For quite some time now my Linus has been struggling with a knee ligament injury. After trying a variety of noninvasive options we finally decided on surgery last week.

On Saturday I did my walk and run as normal. Linus usually gets walked first and then watches me from the gate but there was no Linus on Saturday. No dog to give me an excited deep chested “bow wow” as I finished my run. Linus was at the vets recovering from surgery. It was a lonely walk and run without him.

Linus is home from the operation now but he won’t be going for our twice daily walks for quite some time and he won’t be watching me run. It was a tough operation and due to a number of factors the leg had to be cut open farther than normal which means he had more swelling and bruising than the average dog and will have a longer recovery process.

recovery

I was rather shocked when I saw Linus despite the vet explaining what I was going to see. Linus came out to greet me with a very puffy Frankenstein leg jiggling around, several inches off the ground, as he held himself upright on his other three legs and vigorously wagged his tail. He was excited to be going home but I was worried. Had we done the right thing? I hoped so but it looked really bad.

recovery 2

On the way home I sat in the back seat to help stabilize him from falling over. We don’t live far from the vets but the excitement wore off quickly and Linus spent half the trip standing with most of his weight pressed against my chest with my arms around him supporting him as best I could.

Once home we settled him in to his bed, wrapped him up with blankets and spent the weekend giving him lots of love. Over the first 24 hours the swelling went down quite a bit and now after 48 hours he is starting to bring his leg down a little more. There is still a very long way to go before he will be using that leg properly and a much longer road before we can resume our walks together.

However, one thing is certain, no matter what he goes through he is always companionable.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Change

The temperature is starting to change here. Linus gets up in the mornings with stiff legs and hobbles around quite a bit. He is beginning to feel the change for the worse in his arthritic knees and has been longing for some warm clothing.

I made this light jacket for him yesterday. It isn’t perfect but not bad for my first dog jacket project. I made it out of an old pair of track pants. I will make him a heavier jacket soon.

I am also making him leggings. Using the pockets from the track pants and possibly an old pair of wooly socks might work. At the moment I am trying to sort out how to keep them on and yet give him plenty of movement while keeping his knees warm. He definitely doesn’t mind me trying to put them on to check out the fit. I’ll take that as a sign he likes what Mum is making for him.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Home

towel

Home isn’t really about a dwelling but a way of feeling. In my way of thinking you can be at home fishing, sitting in your favourite chair reading, or whatever it is that makes you feel settled and secure. It is that special place or activity and the security it provides.

Although Linus isn’t excited about bath time, he loves what comes after. I have to keep the towel out of sight or he charges for it and nearly knocks me down. He loves being rubbed down after a bath. Well, for that matter he loves being rubbed down every time he sees a towel. To him it is that sense of home comfort, of being part of the pack and feeling secure.

No Running!

This morning I got the look.  That look that says, “why are you doing this to me?”

How do you explain to a dog that loves to run that he is not allowed to run?  Dogs run, that’s what they do!

He has been favouring his back right leg especially after resting in his dog bed so it was off to the vet to see what was the matter.

I assumed he might be getting arthritis.  Well, he probably will now that he has damaged his knee. Already he has less muscle in his leg.  Luckily it is not a full separation of muscle/tendons/cartilage etc. otherwise he would be holding the leg up most of the time, so he is lucky.  However, Linus has to refrain from running for now.

To keep him from running along the fence line to greet everyone in the mornings, I have to chain him up out back for a few hours.  He has seldom been stuck on a chain so needless to say he is not a happy camper.  He is sulking.  Mum of course is the bad person in all of this…

In the mean time we now have days of dog physio.  I thought it was bad when I had to do physio on my shoulders…  I never thought I would be doing dog physio for a very healthy well built dog that is all lean muscle.  We already walk for about an hour and a half each day.  He only eats the best food and he gets his regular bones from the butcher.  Even doing everything right does not mean your dog will remain in perfect health.

So, this morning was our first physio session of the day.  Instead of walking our normal route, we spent most of our walk going up and down the same hill.  This will force him to use both his back legs instead of using one more than the other.  He didn’t seem to mind other than the confused look I got concerning the fact we were not really going anywhere but up and down, up and down, up and down.  After that I took him farther along to anther hill and we did that hill just to break the monotony of the same hill.  We will do this again later today and probably tonight too.

On top of this we have leg exercises to do.  I have to hold his good back leg up so he will put his weight on his weaker leg.  We have so many sets and reps of this to do each day too.

None of this is difficult, it just changes the routine and if anything Linus is a bit of a routine lover.

He likes his 40 plus minute walk at 5am.  He even gets out of his bed to whine at the window to tell me to get out of bed and walk him.  That’s the drill.  That walk is to be up and down the entire road and then some, not a rerun of the same hill.

He sets his heart on running the fence line each morning when he sees his doggy friends, cyclist friends or walking friends who all say good morning to him.  I bet it will not take long before people start to ask what’s wrong, Linus is never at the fence anymore…

Lets hope he is on the mend soon and can go back to running!