MOTHER NATURE ONE, DOGS ZERO

It's been a tough few days recovery wise

Not because of anything wrong with Terra but due to the weather. Our mid-December ice storm (it is December right?) created some precarious situations for Terra, well for both dogs.

We're at the stage of Terra's rehab where the amount of exercise required has ramped up quite a bit; three 30 minute walks with figure 8s, curb work and the puppy squats. Those became almost impossible to do. First we had a sheet of ice over the snow so even taking her out to poo was a challenge, a couple of times she slipped Luckily no damage taken

Walking was a challenge. In our neighbourhood with no sidewalks, we are forced to walk in the road. Well the roads around here did not get blowed. So when the weather was mild there was a tremendous amount of slush and I was concerned with Terra missing her footing When the air cooled, all those slushy ruts became hard and slippery. Difficult for both dogs

Panda is a 13 yr old dog with some arthritis in her back legs. Generally she does just fine walking and jumping but I kept her off the ice sheet for fear of slipping. Even when the snow in the backyard (where we do our morning play) was not icy, the snow was very hard and her paws could punch through it with potential of twisting something

So for most of the weekend both dogs were on restrictive duties, as we say. I didn't like that Terra wasn't doing her rehab but that was preferable to her damaging herself

Because of the conditions and the fact that Terra had a couple small slips we've put her back on Metacam for a while. This is an anti inflammatory with a mild sedative. That should take care of any discomfort

All of this left be entirely pissed off with the weather. Me and Mom Nature, we gots a discussion coming up. But as of this posting conditions have improved. The roads are clear now for walking and both the backyard and the parks are in decent condition so I can take the girls out.

Considering when Terra had her surgery I certainly anticipated many challenges but snow and ice storms were not among them

Yeh. Mama Nature. You got some splainin to do