June 9, 2012 19 days post surgery

The Arri stories will be few and far between now.  My boy is still making impressive progress.  He goes to the park every day and though he can only handle 10% distance of his past trips; he is doing a little more each day.  Many stairs in a row are still a challenge for him.  He can do the outside landscape steps on his own.  Some days he likes a boost up the first 5 steps as they are almost normal steps. The rest are longer so he can get his whole body on the step before doing the next one.   With just a little help, he can do the 5 steps up to the deck.  We have also tried the inside staircase.  One day last week, Arri lost patience with me.  I left him down stairs and told him just wait, I’ll be back in a minute or 5.  Well, the phone rang and it took me a little longer.  By the time I hung up, I heard the thumping.  I raced to the stairs and there was my boy, sliding backwards.  At that point he was 3 from the bottom.  Based on toenail marks in the carpet, he may have done 6 steps on his own before his back leg collapsed.  I put him in a down and sat with him, massaging his leg and back.  Arri has been having muscle spasms lately,  the more exertion, the more spasms.  Well, he was spazzing.  I quick went upstairs and heated up a pad to lay over his side and kept on rubbing.  It took about 20 minutes but he finally relaxed and settled down.

At this point, he is trying to jump more.  He can get on the basement ‘dog’ sofa on his own but still likes a little assistance.  I suspect he just likes me to grab his tush.  When I help him without a sling, I put my hand behind his good leg, where the feathers would be if he had them.  I let him attempt the jump with my hand staying in contact with the leg.  When I feel his leg go off the ground, I catch his rump as it starts to fall back and lift it the rest of the way.  He just doesn’t have enough strength in the one leg yet.  He still can’t jump on the bed and refuses to use the ramp.  He also really doesn’t like being lifted so most nights he is on the floor. 

Arri has become more of a momma’s boy than in the past.  He won’t always go out with the other dogs if I am not going out also.  If I stand up and go to the door, he is right there – most of the time.  Tonight I tried to take Oregon for a walk to do some training.  Oregon was leashed and not so willing to go but Arri busted right through the door.  He knew he was going to be left behind.  Ok, so our walk is going to be much shorter.  We went three houses down with Arri stopping, starting, sniffing, peeing….more pauses to rest up but he was moving much faster than me when he was moving.  I made him turn around at the 3^rd house because I wasn’t prepared with the sling or harness.  He gave me a little attitude but decided home was good.  He had already been to the park and it was a warm day.  I don’t need any more sick puppies.  Two dogs with broken digestive systems is more than enough.