The first thing that happens is that my my dad or my mom gets my lead and I get all excited because I think I’m going outside for a walk. Then either she or he clips it to my collar and adjusts it so I’m on a “short lead”.

Then I hear the words “upstairs” or “downstairs” and I know those words, so I get ready for action.  Of course I’d rather go outside, but upstairs and downstairs make me happy too.  I like to go the stairs quickly.  It’s easier for me to race my way up than to walk slowly. But I am not permitted to rush either up or down the stairs.  So Jane and I, or Phil and I, will go upstairs together and Jane will slowly say “S-L-O-W-L-Y” all the way up. She likes to remind me of things.

On the way down, I have an easier time going “S-L-O-W-L-Y”. She takes two or three steps, and I take two or three steps steps. Then she stops.  Then I take two or three steps and she takes two or three steps, and stops. We work together pretty well going down.  It’s a time of harmony for me and Jane!  I occasionally glance at her while I step, following her lead.

Today we are going down S-L-O-W-L-Y and I hear a delivery van near our house. Wow, just my luck! I love delivery vans.  And in each delivery van, there is a delivery person!  Maybe he’s coming to our house! I start lurching forward, toward the bottom of the stairs, with all my might, and Jane starts holding the lead with all her might. My might against her might. Then I add my bark to the mix, and she just says, “Shhhhh.”

Eventually we arrive – together – safely at the bottom of the stairs just around the same time as the delivery man drives away in his van.  The packages are on our doorstep.  This moment had so much potential!

Every day I have gone out for my daily walks but today I am finally allowed to go outside to sit outside on the grass, like I used to, as long as I am wearing a sock on my wounded foot, and have a plastic bag over that.  I still have to be on the leash at all times.  Dr. M said I might want to chase a squirrel or go run to say hello to a neighbor and the leash will prevent me from running off.  He knows me very well and we’ve just met; how could this be?  Doesn’t he trust me?  Still, it was fine with me.  I can’t run around much anyway, since my ankle is really sore from the surgery. For now, I’m happy to be outside in my world!

When I walk, sometimes I hop on my three paws, holding the fourth leg up in the air, and sometimes now I’m actually using my fourth paw, putting my 4^th leg down every now and then. Dr. M said this was a good idea, because he wants my muscles to get nice and strong again.

That hole over on the side that I dug…It’s still there. But today I’m not getting any ideas.

Wait.  I perceive some movement beyond the fence.  Who’s that I see and hear off in the distance?  Is that my little neighbor, Zooey, and her mom? Oh, it is! Can she see me?  I’ll just quickly wag my tail and say hello!

Zooey’s mom calls hello back, and tells Zooey to say “Hi Joey!” They wave. Then Jane calls out, “Joey had his surgery two days ago and now he can have visitors.” Soon Zooey and Zooey’s mom come over to my home to say “Hello, Joey!” closeup.  They walk slowly because Zooey is only now learning how to walk.  This is great. When Zooey and her mom come into our home, I am very excited, because I love to play with children. However, I’m a big dog and almost 10 years old, and Zooey is a small child and only 2 years old.

So on this afternoon, my mom puts me in the living room and closes the new gate that we have, and Zooey stands in the hallway in the arms of her mommy, and she waves at me from there, and says, “Hello, Joey!”  Then she smiles, and I wag my tail.  Both Zooey and I are happy.

We have great neighbors, and I’m a Labrador Retriever, after all, and being neighborly is one of my and our favorite hobbies.

I’d like to show you the latest in my series of designer bandages. This one seems to be designed specifically for me, the lightning bolt, since I like to bolt from the back yard as fast as lightening!

Now that the surgery is over, my parents are wondering if my experience getting hit by the car is going to stop me from trying to dig my way out again.  I’m not making any statements at this time, but maybe they have some plans to outsmart me.

In the meanwhile, I’m showing off my bandages.

Dr. Plonsky, at the University of Wisconsin, says that when humans see bright blue, dogs see a color that is softer, more faded, paler.  The lightning bolt yellow of my bandage is also a more faded yellow to the canine eye.

While you humans are enjoying this beautiful design, I’m going to get my rest, drink fresh water, eat some nice food that my parents have put out for me, and enjoy laying in my soft bed, which is right by the window, in the warm rays of the sunlight which bathe me.

A few days ago the FedEx truck pulled up to our home and the man delivered a large carton to my owners. I love when we receive package deliveries, because the delivery men can become my friends, too. But this delivery was different.

First, I wasn’t allowed out of the living room to greet or even see the delivery man. This was a huge frustration to me.

Then, Jane brought the large carton into our home and took out out something made of wood. Next,  she got a screw driver and started working. And working. I wanted to play with her, but she kept working. In addition, I thought she had bought me a new toy, and I let her know that by wagging my tail. But this wasn’t a toy for me.

About one hour later, there was a little wooden gate set up in the doorway to the living room that was too high for me to jump over. I couldn’t push it away, or figure out a way to open its little door. This was a huge frustration for me. I think this time they were too smart for me.

Spending all this time in the living room has, I think, something to do with following “the doctor’s orders”. This spacial limitation is the hardest part about recuperating.

The instructions also tell the distance and way that I am allowed to walk every day.

The way I am walked is a difficult adjustment. Even though I was wounded just a short while ago, I continue to want to run around outside and make friends with the whole, wide, wonderful world; nevertheless, because my dad and mom are following “instructions”, they won’t let me do that anymore.

As I mentioned before, I love to run, and before the accident I would run with my dad early every morning, sometimes in the dark before the sun had even risen. Because we would run so early in the morning way before the first faint lights of neighbors awakening going on, one room at a time, when there aren’t any other dogs or people around, he would allow me to run with without a leash. At those times, I would fly like the wind, with my nose up high, in step with my dad!

Now, we go outside, Dad and I, or sometimes my Mom and I, and sometimes Dad, Mom and I together walk me up the block and back home again, on my lead at all times, and then I have to go back inside.  As soon as I poop, we turn around and go back home.  I wish we could stay out longer, but they’re following the doctor’s orders.

I even have to be on my lead when we go into the back yard because they’re afraid that I’m going to chase squirrels or something. Would I do a thing like that? Absolutely! They know that chasing squirrels is one of my hobbies.  After all, Labrador Retrievers were bred to retrieve small animals such as birds and squirrels that had been hunted for game and for food.  Running after small animals is in our nature.

Sometimes Dad wants me to walk free; at those times, Mom will say to Dad that “We have to follow the doctor’s orders”. Then she says to him, “You want him to be able to run again, right?” She knows that my three toes and my broken ankle need a lot of time to heal, and to heal correctly.   When she says that, I feel alright, because, honestly, I do want to be able to run again. And so does Phil!

In this photo you can get a sense my occasional frustration.

But I’m not complaining!

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