Elliott is Already Out of Surgery

It's only 4:15 and Elliott is already awake from his surgery. We delivered him to the vet, met the personable and knowledgeable Dr. Joe, and lectured him about how important Elliott is to us. We left the vet close to 3pm. Dr. Caron called us a few minutes ago to let us know that the surgery went very well. There was very little arthritic change in the joint. There is no damage to the meniscus. The tear was about 50 percent. The surgery went very smoothly, no problems, and Elliott woke up very smoothly and calmly with no complications from the anaethesia.
Now, if we can get through the next 2-3 months without a reinjury, it should all be good.

Paul has gone to the store to buy me a large industrial size package of M&Ms, comfort food of choice during times like this.

Will post more tomorrow. Thank you everyone who was busy thinking good thoughts today.

Pretty Feathers

The lovely feathers that will soon be shaved off! Poor boy.

Living on the Main

Our living room post-prep. One of us will be sleeping next to Elliott
as he will not be able to do any stairs for a while.

Preparations

My living room before surgery...

Too Much Information

About a year ago, Elliott and Sadie were flying at a thousand miles an hour in the dog park. It was a cold and icy day and Elliott slipped and fell at one point but got right back up again. Afterwards he had a little bit of lameness. We took him to the vet who thought it was a soft tissue injury. The mild lameness, that he would walk out within a minute, continued off and on during the year. We took him for chiropractic treatments which helped a lot. We also did warm up and cool down routines before and after exercise and training which helped a lot. We saw good improvement but not a disappearance of the problem. In the summer time I even asked our vet if it could be a cruciate injury but there was nothing to indicate that.

About 2 weeks ago, Elliott's cousins Libby and Tom were over to visit and the four of them were flying at a thousand miles an hour in our icy cold backyard. Elliott came in on 3 legs. After about 3 or 4 days he still was lame and would not bear weight on the sore leg. We went to the vet and this time there was ample evidence to suggest a cruciate injury. X-rays showed the beginning of arthritic changes and the vet did a test on his leg called a "drawer" test which shows if there is too much movement in the joint.

So, now we think that the injury a year ago was probably a very tiny tear to his ligament. These ligaments cannot heal themselves. They cannot regenerate or grow back together. In a very small dog the joint may stabilize to the point where the dog is not in too much pain and can function pretty much ok. In a dog Elliott's size, and in a dog who competes in some sort of sport like obedience, you have to repair the joint.

We have visited a canine rehabilitation specialist, and had a surgical consult with an expert in these repairs. We have chosen a method of repair and arranged surgery. Elliott will be having his operation tomorrow afternoon.

I would be so thankful to anyone who would keep a good thought for our boy during this time. The most challenging part of all this will be the recovery period of eight weeks during which time he cannot have any uncontrolled exercise in case he re-injures himself.

Improvement!

Yesterday we were in trials in Ancaster. I love going to dog shows. There are so many lovely dogs to watch, in the ring and outside of it. Also the people who go to the shows are at least as hopelessly addicted to dogs and obedience as I am. That means people to talk to who understand when you spend 20 minutes explaining the various ways you are trying to fix sit-stay. In the real world when you try that, regular people are usually rendered unconscious within a few moments of you saying, "....so then I put food behind the armband..."

Here are a couple of nice pups, just hanging out helping their person to work the registration desk. Their heads pop out of their crates for cookies!

This is River. In between trials, he likes to carry his toy around.

And then there is this handsome fellow, who started the day off badly by not doing the "drop" portion of the drop on recall and also laying down in the sit stay AGAIN!!!!!! in the first trial but who redeemed himself by dropping nicely and proudly holding a very nice solid sit in the second trial, ending up with a very respectable 194.5. Hopefully the start of a turnaround.

Time for some Lubbin

Valentine's Day - the international day of lub, is coming up very soon. In this fast-paced world, everything is available express. Here's a business that is obviously looking to capitalize on both
things. Get your lub - express. Get three lubs if you want.

SIGH.....

Great scores we have blown. Most recently, yesterday, Mr. Boo was entered in the Open class at the Golden Retriever Club of Greater Toronto obedience trials. He worked beautifully in both trials. Heeling was gorgeous, we got 38.5 out of 40 in both trials. He worked beautifully until we got to our sit-stay exercise. Then he decided to lay down. In each trial we *could* have come away with a lovely score of 196.5. Sigh. If there are any obedience gurus reading this who have ideas for more proofing of the stays, I would love to hear from you. Otherwise I work stays until I'm blue in the face. One tip I got yesterday was to work a 4 minute stay just before meals. I am also working stays and rewarding back to the armband so that his focus is not out in front. I worked with another handler yesterday to set him up so I could get in a correction and then jackpotted when he held. THIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY. Ok, I feel a bit better now.

I am Furniture

It's nice to be useful.

Life on the Inside

Tonight on our investigative report - a chilling expose on real life
behind the crate bars for a cat. How is it possible to run with the
big dogs when at heart you're just a cool cat? Where can you hide
catnip when the screws are shaking down your crib? How can you remain
true to your nocturnal instincts when lights out is at 10 pm? This
and more as our investigation looks at "Life on the Inside".