The rehab protocols are beginning to ramp up the activities: Walks up to 20 minutes, walks on the flexie leash up to 10 feet, some light trotting. We are doing Figure 8s (which are exactly as they sound) and increasing the puppy squats.
During these puppy squats (she sits down then comes up fast and repeat) I notice that her surgery leg is sticking out, she is not "sitting square". It's not as bad as some dogs where they tuck the leg right under her body but the idea is to get that leg properly under her. One way to correct this is to do the exercise with Terra up against a wall, the "bad" leg against the wall, forcing her to move that leg in. These seems to be working
The first few times I put all these new protocols together, I could see that it was really tiring Terra out. So amazing, this is a dog that throughout her life, would do about 2 hrs of really active exercise per day. But considering that for about 2 months before the surgery I was not allowing her to go "all out" it's not surprising that she has to relearn her stamina
So although I am following the rehab advice I'm also adjusting it as needed. So for a couple of days I eased off on the new activities to allow Terra to ease into it. That worked. Now she is able to better tolerate the new schedule and I can see her getting a little stronger every day
We've been warned that the next 4 weeks are very crucial; it's when the highest rate of re-injuries occur. The dog is feeling better, feeling stronger. I'm walking Terra in a park, letting her have more lead, and she thinks "Hey, we're back to normal" The other day I was bringing her home; she's still not allow to go up the steps so I've been carrying her. There was a neighbourhood cat sunning himself up on the porch, as I was shooing it away Terra put her front feet up on the stair and started to go up ...
This is the kind of thing we have to watch. No stairs, no jumping up (and jumping down), no balls, no full out wrestling with her stuffies Trust me, that's not easy to do
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