Time Sure Flies!

SIX MONTHS AGO TODAY was Bo's first TPLO surgery.

Ann and I had a chance to take him to the park this afternoon to celebrate.

We threw the Frisbee and he ran and ran - still runs kinda goofy, but he had a blast.

Seeing him run, and even start to jump a little makes it all seem an even more distant clump of memories.

When we got home, he crawled all the way up onto Ann's lap.

Another big milestone

On Friday, we removed the enclosure that has surrounded his bed for nearly six months. We've kept him confined at night ever since his first injury because we did not want him to try to jump onto our bed in the middle of the night. He'd slept in our bed ever since his puppy training was complete, but our bed is pretty high off the floor, and he could have hurt himself trying to make the leap.

He's still not quite ready to jump up onto the bed, but we're strengthening his back legs with work on stairs, hills and the playground equipment at our local park. The surgeon says he'll try when he's ready, and he's no longer in danger of hurting himself by trying. We are looking into building a step for him, and getting a ramp for the car. That will help mitigate the premature arthritis he's likely to develop.

It was nice to remove one of the last vestiges of his confinement, giving him the choice to sleep where he wants, and go get a drink of water in the middle of the night.

Sometime later this month, we hope to reinstall the dog door, so he can get outside whenever he wants.

You can see the fur regrowth on his right rear leg in the photo at right (click on any of them for larger versions). His left leg looks even better; they only shaved part of it for the second surgery in December.

This is the playground equipment we're working his leg muscles on...

It's been nearly 6 months!

Bo's initial CCL rupture occurred 28 weeks ago today.

His first TPLO surgery was almost 6 months ago (that anniversary is a week from Monday), and he's been recovering from his second TPLO surgery for nearly 16 weeks.

The fur on his left leg has nearly grown back out, and the right leg is getting there. He's running on leash for short sprints and jogging for long distances. He still runs oddly; when he breaks from trot to run, he begins using both rear legs in unison, almost like his "three-legged-hop" before the surgeries, but he can move REALLY FAST that way (faster than me!).

We let him run off leash very briefly, adding a little more running each time. Perhaps he will begin to run "normally" at some point, but we'll take what we get. Six months ago we didn't know if he'd ever walk again!

We've worked a lot of outdoor stairs into his long walks, and he's hopping up and down some raised platforms (about 10") in a playground nearby. He cannot jump up more than a foot; his leg muscles are still pretty weak. We're slowly building them up so that he can jump up on our bed once again.

Unfortunately, we still have to enclose him in a pen at night, so he doesn't try to jump up onto the bed when we're asleep. We are so looking forward to allowing him complete freedom again - perhaps it will coincide with his 6 month anniversary...