Lessons From and For 4 Legs

This week has been the week of 4legged rehab. Between vet visits for Magnus leg and Maizey’s anxiety we have spent the whole week working on getting them feeling better.

Magnus leg got really bad a week ago last Thursday. I got him into a different vet at the same clinic on Monday and after narrowing it down to a soft tissue injury the vet put him on complete rest. This is the go outside to potty, come back in, can’t even train, or go to class last week, yes his head is exploding with energy type of rest. He also started him on an anti-inflammatory. I’m unsure of why they didn’t do that earlier since it seems to have really helped.

The ban on all movement really put a cramp in our training since all we can train is non-movement related things. Their mat work has had a serious workout,we’ve done stays and tons of targeting. I finally broke down tonight and worked some simple spins and twirls, and in desperation let him slowly follow the target stick. He thinks that game is great. The rest he’s a bit bored with and honestly so am I.

I’m so glad to see improvement in him, if he keeps getting better we can start doing a little on Tuesday, after his week of enforced laying around is over. It will be slow going to get back to normal. For the first week he’ll still be cleared for only half, yes I said HALF, a mile per day walking. I swear when we walk that short of a distance he just thinks I’m crazy. I start for home and he starts dragging, walking slower and slower, like, “Are you kidding me?!? We are NOT done with our walk yet!”

Before out enforced laziness of the last week I was letting all of our walks be “follow your nose” walks. He just sniffs his way around and I follow him where ever he goes. It’s incredibly fun for him, but incredibly boring for me, but since we could only walk around the block it’s not like it’s roaring fun for me anyways and I figure one of us may as well enjoy ourselves. Needless to say our Walking Challenge miles are in sad shape.

I went to Tricks class without him on Thursday night. It’s really strange feeling to go to dog class without your dog. I felt naked! Our instructor is great and said I could work one of her dogs. They are all super smart and so well trained! I was like, “Sure I’ll work one of your wonder dogs, no pressure there at all!” But it was really fun working her little black poodle and now at least I’m not a week behind even if I couldn’t teach magnus what I learned.

He was so happy yesterday when he finally got to leave the yard for the first time in 4 days. I took him to get a massage. (Do you know there are people out there who actually have dogs that stay home all the time? I was trying to think of the last time I went four days without taking a dog somewhere, then I realized I’m probably the abnormal one as most dogs do stay home most of the time, just not my dogs.)

Ah, but I digress, so I took him out to get a massage. (There’s another funny digression, try telling your non-dog friends you can’t go to lunch with them ’cause your dog is getting a massage. Their reaction is really funny!) Anyways. . . the massage was very interesting! I went to a mini-seminar to explain the benefits of Acu-massage on Thursday night and then took Magnus for an hour of work on Friday.

Anita has a really thorough way of looking at the whole picture. She combines knowledge of chinese medicine and acupressure with massage. She showed me how to do a full range of motion on Magnus leg to help build back the muscle that has already atrophied. She also suggested use of ice, another thing I don’t know why I didn’t think of before. Then she showed me a couple of acupressure points to work on to help restore circulation.

Hopefully combining all of that will have my boy back to normal soon!

The news on the Maizey front is a post all its own. She’s doing okay and when I ever sort through all the opinions I’m getting about how to treat her anxiety I’ll let you all know what we narrow down.

For now it’s time for Magnus’ second session with an ice pack and then off to bed!