Photos and text copyright Romping and Rolling in the Rockies 2009-2017.

All photographs and text within this blog are copyrighted.

You may not copy or repost any photos or text without specific permission from the author of this blog. When in doubt, please ask.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Black Dog Pupdate - Week 7 post-CUE surgery

Our black dog keeps improving, now more than 7 weeks after his CUE surgery. He still has a noticeable limp but every other sign is looking great. Moreover, he walks really fast and enthusiastically compared to just a few weeks ago.

It is astounding to me how much of my day seems to be spent either doing R's exercises with him, walking with him, stretching his elbow, or icing his elbow. I feel as if there aren't enough hours in the day! I need a rest day :)

Here's a video to show his gait and his exercises for Week 7. His exercises have become far more challenging. He still targets with each paw while standing on a squishy disk but now he must alternate paws so that he learns to catch his balance quickly with his left front leg. He also does "push-ups", although they are now with only one front leg (I hold the other one up). He also crawls forward and backward, walks backward, and plays tug. Obviously, the vet is now focusing on rebuilding the strength and coordination in that his left forelimb.

Here's a video to show you the "state of affairs". One thing that you cannot tell from the gait part of the video is how much faster he's walking. He's speeding up by the day. You can watch the video here or at Youtube.


One unexpected twist has been that Shyla seems to lose confidence when I spend a lot of time training R during his rehab. So, I've been making sure to spend plenty of time training and playing with her. She's a lucky dog to get to play in meadows full of flowers.

But she and I are excited for the day that R joins us too!
That's the goal - and that's why I've been running myself ragged trying to keep up with all his rehab!

21 comments:

  1. R looks like he's making some great progress! Good job! I bet he'll be back to his old self soon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. R is coming along fabulously! You're a great caregiver to him, KB! We love seeing the two of you working so closely together. You'll get your brother back to 100% in no time, Shyla!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yay for R - he's doing so well! It was fun to see how you do the rehab exercises.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Go, black dog, go! Your dedication to both pups is so admirble.

    ReplyDelete
  5. His progress is amazing and you are wonderful. He's a very lucky dog to be owned by you! Such dedication!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow - your hard work is really paying off though - what a difference.

    ReplyDelete
  7. He's doing so well. Good job you!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I totally get what you mean about needing more hours in the day--when Barley and I first starting training to deal with her reactivity, we were doing little 10 minute training sessions all day every day and it felt like as soon as I got started on a project, it was time to do a little more training and nothing ever seemed to get all the way done! Glad to hear that R is making so much progress.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Go R you are making great progress.

    Aroo to you,
    Sully

    ReplyDelete
  10. He is such a lucky dog to have you. Not many people would be able to carry out such a complicated and long rehab process.

    I was looking up CUE surgery and there is only one place that does it in Europe, the amazing Fitzpatrick Referrals clinic of Dr. Noel Fitzpatrick in England.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for sharing your video and other info with us! You do have lots of patience and both Shyla and R are lucky they somehow "found" you and the runner as owners!

    By the way, those two last pictures of Shyla are priceless!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great news R. You keep up those exercises
    Lily & Edward

    ReplyDelete
  13. You should see all the rehab machine in our house, maybe R can come over and him and dad do exercises together.
    stella rose

    ReplyDelete
  14. We are so happy to see that R is continuing to improve!

    ReplyDelete
  15. R and Shyla are so lucky to have you and your dedication and perseverance. He is looking so much better. We can't wait to see him get the chance to run. Love that wagging tail of Shyla in the ficeo:)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Such amazing improvement! Thank goodness for your dedication!

    ReplyDelete
  17. The work that you have done with R is amazing. You are a very dedicated Mom. Poor Shyla is getting a little jealous. I am sure you will cure that quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Love watching the rehab videos. R is certainly improving a lot. And it's a delight to see him.

    ReplyDelete
  19. R is looking so much better. You are doing a great job. It also shows that all his previous training is helping the rehab.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Good to see R making progress! My dog P is 5 weeks out from elbow surgery (arthroscopic removal of fragments in both elbows) and I know exactly what you mean - my life has been taken over by canine rehab! Before the surgery I started training the dogs in Nosework thinking it could be a good low impact activity for while he was recovering. I see now how silly that was - there's just not time!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Watching R was very exciting! He is doing soooo wonderful!
    We cannot wait for Shyla and R to run in the wild flowers too.. Soon!
    love
    tweedles

    ReplyDelete

If you are a Blogger registered user, you can skip the step asking you to verify that you are not a spammer. For posts older than 5 days, I have comment moderation turned on.

Thanks for your comments!!!!!