Journey standing for photograph. In third week after surgery.
Journey had his two week check up on Saturday the 3rd of September. Dr. Lozier said he looks good. There is still a little swelling in his knee, but he is placing it correctly and everything seems to be healing properly.
We are going to attempt to walk a little less and more along the lines described as moseying along. He still does not really get "mosey", but we will keep trying. There are just so many things he would like to do and places in the yard that he wants to visit. For one thing he wants all the blackberries he can get while they are still on the bushes. He has taught Andiamo to enjoy them also. It keeps me busy picking for both of them. They don't like the thornes.
We are still using the sling, and will be until about the 8th week. We have another appointment with Dr. Lozier scheduled for October 13, 2016. Seems a long time out. Journey looks so good in the mornings when we first go outside. He is using his right leg, regularly, though without putting much weight on it. Later in the day he is doing a little more hopping, especially when he turns to a different direction, or after he first gets up.
The sling is a good one. It is named after the maker's Golden Retriever, "Ginger". It has an attached short lead going from the sling handles to the dogs collar or harness. It is much better than the previous one I had for Quest, and then again for Spirit after he had back surgery. I have a couple ideas for improvements to it though. It needs a strap around the chest, hooked with velcro, to either side of the sling lift. I am almost finished thinking it through and I will get to the sewing machine and hopefully create one out of some old wetsuit material. That should be enough to position the sling out of the way of boy parts and save a lot of sling washing. I am still using a regular leash in addition to the short one on the sling. That one is too long and allows him too get too far ahead of me. I want to add that a lot of this is Journey's fault. He is not doing anything to make it easier. If, by some horrible chance he were to get away from me, he would take off running full speed across the yard. That would very likely be the end of the nicely healing bone situation and I don't want to even think about it. The extra leash, on his collar, is a safety measure. I keep the handle around my wrist and I keep it short to check him when he is pulling. His pulling is incessant. Considering that he did not pull like this before the surgery, I have to assume it is his way of covering up his injury. It is really not a good thing. The pressure on his hind leg is the worst part of it. So now every time he pulls me too hard, I threaten him with going back inside. It may be working, but I am still hoping for better behavior.
It is so beautiful outside, this may be why he so wants to be out here.
Pirate & Andiamo strolling under the apple trees.
Journey so wishes he could join his brothers, running and playing.
He is happy to pose beside my chair, for a few pictures though.
He is still taking pain medication but could possibly do without it. I don't want to give him so much that he is inclined to overdo it. But I want him to be comfortable. He was napping so well when he had his Trazadone pills, but now it seems to have stopped working and it makes him a bit keyed up. I have discontinued it for a couple days and may try again tomorrow. I need to take Pirate to his vet for a recheck and I would like to leave Journey home if I thought he would sleep.
Andi is now back to being confined to his crate when I have to leave him. He was doing so well for the last few times I was gone, then he regressed: he chewed up one pencil, two pens, an empty pill bottle a tablet of post-it notes, some kleenex, and an apple. And that limited list is because I closed the door to every other room in the house and put everything up where I trusted him not to get to it.
Anyway, it seems that with Andi in his crate and Journey sleeping in his gazebo, perhaps Pirate and I could sneak out to the vet appointment. The appointment won't take long, but it is about 45 minutes each way. I am not comfortable with that, but having a hard time visualizing all of us safely in the Subaru. Well, we will see how it goes.
I am really hoping not to have any alarms with Journey this week. Dr. Lozier is out of town for a week. That makes me nervous. He will be back on Saturday I think. Wish us luck!
