Follow me on Twitter Dogs need exercise, they need to be socialized and dogs need to feel freedom. But do it – responsibly.
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Discovery comes naturally to me. It was like the days when I would try to dig my way under the fence and get out of the backyard! Except that today, I was on a lead. Notice that I’m not complaining. I’m getting everything out of life that I can.
Here we were, my mom and I, without a care in the world. When I stopped to sniff, my mom stopped. When I started moving again, my mom moved. When I stopped again, she stopped.
I come from a long line of retrievers. Bred to retrieve. Born to cross streams and valleys, born to roam and sniff. Born to be a friend of men and women. Born to be gentle: We would carry a bird in our strong jaws and not damage it (which my Dad always reminds me of when he gives me a potato chip and watches me carry it in my mouth to my bed, where I eat it.) And my ancestors were champion hunting retrievers and today I was my father’s son and my grandfather’s grandson, and my great-grandfather’s great-grandson. That is my nature. And my mom was happy to let me just be who I am.
After crossing the stream and interacting with Cody, we moved along, down a wide path with tall trees and full bushes off to either side. I heard everything and smelled everything. Eventually we got to a place where we turned left and went down another path. Same thing. At the end of that path was a large body of water. There was one dog in the water and that dog kept trying to catch a tennis ball but as usual I was interested in the dog, so my mom kept me from playing with that dog by tugging gently on my lead whenever I threatened to climb onto the swimming dog. Soon that dog left and I had the whole body of water to myself!
Soon, more and more dogs were coming. Groups of 2 dogs, then 5 dogs, then 10 dogs. Dogs everywhere! I wanted to play with them and many of them wanted to play with me. There was one dog who did not like me. He didn’t like me because I’m a whole male and he isn’t. But the man with him kept him on a short lead and every time I went to play with the dog and the dog growled at me, the man told the dog “no”. Then when the dog was nice to me, he made the dog feel good and pet his head and said “good dog”. So all in all it worked out and the dog learned the rewards of being nice to me. There was a female there I was also interested in, and she seemed to be interested in me too so that was really great, too.
Then those dogs left. And again I had this wonderland to myself (and my mom).
I can’t say which I liked more – with the other dogs there or without.
Soon my mom took me for one last swim.One last opportunity to exercise my injured leg and get it moving. As usual, she came in the water with me. Then we headed out.
There is so much beauty and joy in the natural world and in the world of man. I’m happy to discover another part of it!
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Jessica and Bruno,
Oh, I’m sorry that Bruno is limping. How old is Bruno? Is he still a puppy?
Three weeks does sound pretty short. Here are a few things you can think about:
I limped after my splint was taken off but this is because I had gone for 10 weeks without using those muscles and I had to recondition my leg. My dad is fond of saying “muscle atrophy”. Big words he uses. Also, I had to get used to the plate and screws in my leg and learn how to walk again.
And then again: Did the doctors take x-rays at the point where the splint came off? Has the doctor taken x-rays in the three weeks since then? If so, did you see the x-rays? The doctor would be able to tell from the x-rays- and then to show you – if the leg has started to heal properly – and how properly. Puppies heal more quickly than adolescents or older dogs like me. Luca had his splint taken off four weeks after surgery, which was also early, and that was because Luca had developed a serious infection.
Bruno broke his front leg and I broke my back leg, so the splints would be different. Still, I would like to tell you a little about my splints: The first one was very big. It went from my toes to my hip. The next one was much smaller: It went from my toes to below my knee. This made it cooler for me and easier to move around. It looks from the picture on your blog that the original splint was pretty large; was the sore near the top, where it cut into Bruno’s front leg? If so, maybe there was an option to just make a smaller splint that does not cut into his leg, where he was getting a sore. Of course I do not know where the broken bone was. Maybe you do and this was part of the decision to use no splint at all.
Second, each time I had a bandage change my leg was washed with antiseptic and allowed to just feel the air for a while.
Next, when my splint was removed after week 7 after my surgery, the bandages were not. The bandages remained for a while to maintain stability while giving my leg a chance to strengthen and to get more air circulating. Rebandaging Bruno’s leg to just add some stability might be something you can put on your list to talk to Bruno’s doctors about. The bandages won’t cut into Bruno’s leg and will provide more stability.
I think that looking at the x-rays is the key and seeing how healed Bruno’s leg is – is the key.
Well, like I said, I’m not a doctor, but I know it’s very important for our parents to be more informed about, knowledgeable of, and involved in the medical options and decisions made for us injured dogs.
I look forward to receiving your photo!
Joey