bohdan has stopped limping after our walk at the beach.
i think he had just been laying on his leg in an odd way or that it
might have been a little sore. nothing that an afternoon of sleeping hasn't cured.

I don't think I have taken bohdan to walk at the beach... so today
not that I have mastered getting him in and out of the car, I went down
to the esplanade and we had as a short walk. He loved it, sniffing around and marking spots...

I even attempted to take him down to the sand, and he was interested, until he got all 4 feet into the shifting dry sand. I think this was a bit too much for him so he grabbed his leash in his mouth and headed back to the car.

I didn't think we were done yet, so I took him along the grass and he lay down for a bit. I let him rest then we walked back to the car. All in all we didnt'
go more then what I would guess was around the block.

His lateral stability has improved vastly from what it was this weekend. I think
we are going to get there.. just need to keep taking these walks and
building up strength and stamina.

He got into the car with my help and we headed home...
I tried to get him out of the car and he wouldn't get out. He actually moved to a different part of the car to make it more difficult for me to get him out. So I put the windows down a bit and I left him there.

Finally I got tired of this and he was a little warm in the car so I
got him out and into the house. He is limping slightly on his left leg, but that could be from the way he was laying on it while in the car.

we went to oxnard for the 3 day weekend. it was really nice to be out in the sunshine, and I think bohdan enjoyed the warmth too.

we didn't go to the local park as I had planned, bohdan was having problems with lateral stability... and was falling down a lot. However with the sunshine and the back yard he was much more active then he has been at home. He did some light running and tried to do a lot of pivoting, but ended up falling down a bit. He looked more like he had sore muscles and nothing seriously injured.

Today was our third 1 hour session with the trainer.
She came to the house again, and when I let her in and we got bohdan, he
actually greeted her with a wagging tail. I had his metal cage muzzle on him, since we weren't sure how he woule behave and we went into the back yard together.

He happiley took hot dogs from her, ad gently too I might add.

He also let her pet his head, and gave her his paw when asked.
We switched from the cage muzzle to a soft muzzle, this means
it is easier for him to take treats, looks a little less comfortable, but he could nip through the end of it and maybe make contact.

She pointed out that he looked much better, more relaxed and like he was feeling physically better. Told her that I had noticed that as well.

Since it was the middle of the day and our back yard is full sun at this time of day we were there for only about 30 minutes. We then went into our livingroom which meant a change of scenary and a potential for bohdan to get a little
aggressive, but he was fine. He gave his paw when asked.. well when asked and he saw a hot dog in hand. He is a little manipulative.. so we had a good session and will follow up for another one.

We are going on a family outting this weekend for memorial day weekend. We are heading to Southern California, and I was telling the trainer about this. We talked about the area that we were going to, and how I can take bohdan to the parks down there and not worry about his getting tired and just sitting around with him, cause people, including small children are smart enough to ask,
" is your dog friendly?" before approaching. And if you say no, then they do not
get closer then leash length or they walk away.

It is very different to how things are here... parents don't teach their children to ask first, they let them just run up to the dog and then get upset when the dog barks, or nips, or the owner of the dog yells at them to conrtol their child.

Bohdan is getting better, he is being so much more active, getting up and going outside whenever Trillian needs to go out, which is often. Bohdan seems to be sleeping more heavily, but I think this is due to his being more active.

This increased activity at his own pace really seems to be helping him out.
His disposition seems to be a lot better, he no longer seems depressed, he is more tolerant of trillian and is actually wanting to play. He play bows, and does a little bout of chase now and again. It is very encouraging.

We went back to the chiropractor today. That will be two visits in two weeks.
As Dr. Szabo pointed out to us, not like I wasn't aware of this fact. But last week we didn't get to work out the kinks in both shoulders.

Bohdan did very well, and held the adjustement in his low back, and right side, so we just had the left side to work on. He was fairly well behaved about his adjustement and it looked fairly painful.

The downside to this visit is that the vets office floors are so slippery that he could not get up from the waiting room floor. It took him three tries, and
help from Shari and I. Then when we were in the room it required a tech, and myself to keep him standing. Nothing like holding up the front end of your 150 pound dog, while keeping him focused and not thrashing about.

I got clocked in the face with his hard metal cage muzzle. But that is me and this journal is about him.

After our visit bohdan and I walked quikcly out of the office and started on our
traditional walk down the street to help stretch him out. Shari caught up and told me that Dr. Szabo had said that she would be willing to work on Bohdan out front on the cement so that he had some traction and would not be as freightened.

Once Shari was with us, we walked a bit and then turned back to the car, bohdan didn't want to get into the car so we crossed the street and walked a bit more... so he walked about 3/4 of a block.

We went back to the car and he was ready to get in. Home we went.

He was unable to get out of the car on his own when we got home, so shari and I scooched him out of the car and walked him to the garae door and let him in.

All in all he is getting better....

Well it has been awhile since I have posted. I should be more on top of this daily, but I haven't. Bohdan has been getting better slowly.

I spoke with the Holisitic vet on the 13th and we have bohdan on
additional Calcium and magnesium for the muscles, a homeopathic remedy (calcera carbonica), skull cap, and a few other things.

We have been to the chiropractor, after the visit it looked like he wouldn't be able to walk to the car... but he made it.

We even took a short walk before getting into the car.

Over the last week he has been playing more with the puppy, and walking
around more. Participating in what is going on around him, although I think
he still hurts it isn't as bad as it had been.

We have not been doing much in the way of focused walking around
the neighborhood, but getting him moving in the back yard is important.

I am waiting on a "perscription" from his vet to take him to hydrotherpay.
The people at Sol Companion are willing to work with us. But they require a perscription from the vet.

We will be going back to the Chiropractor this week. Hopefully she will be able to work the kinks out of his shoulders and we can get back to walking.

Today we met with a new trainer. Her name is Stephanie. She used to work with Bohdan when he attended K9to5 and was one of the few people who
would take him for a walk.

We are working on his socialization, mental stimulus, and getting him moving again. He has suffered being kept isolated after his TPLO and we are now at 12 weeks post TPLO it feels like he will never get to where he needs to be.

I know this is my perception, he is a big boy and it is going to take him longer
to get better.

So we had him muzzled and we were out in the front yard, we also walked
about 1/2 a block and he was pooped... but we are going to keep on doing
this and see where it gets us.

The muscles in his hind legs seem to be increasing....

We are still taking it easy. Walked around the back yard a little today.
It seems that it is bohdan's neck and front end that are really sore.
He is having problems getting up and moving backwards.

I think with massage, and chiropractics along with exercise we can overcome this.

So we went to the vet today. The visit was mixed.
The vet is leavig this practice and going into private consulting, mostly
focused on herbology and acupuncture. This is a good thing and a bad thing.
We really like her and I would like her to be the only vet who works with Bohdan. ahh well.

She thinks that bohdan has a soft tissue injury and that it will take a few weeks of rest, heat and massage for him to feel better. I think we will do light walks or something like that.

She also thought that his injury was exacerbated by the addition of a puppy to our household. I can see that. Bohdan is not the most confident dog and would see this new addition that is what 1/15 his body size as a challenge to his placement.

The vet gave us some herbs to use as anti anxiety, as well as anti inflammatories. I am not sure if this will make things better or worse, but
we will see. I also confined him to a smaller space while I am at work.
It might make him less reactive to noises outside.

Oh, and I am to start giving him rescue remedy and Ruta Grav. as
a homeopathic remedy... all to help his muscles and the adjustment to the new dog.

Today was a very hard day for me... I guess for bohdan as well.
We spent a lot of time in the back yard sitting in the sunshine. At one
point he got away from me and ran and jumped up the retaining wall to
talk to the neighbor dog.

He also got very excited with the new puppy. He was play bowing and wanting her to play.

He seemed to be getting worse... He had more and more problems getting up.
He spent time sitting in the sunshine with his sore leg against the warm cement.

Before dark we took Bohdan on a walk down the street. Bohdan was not looking stable on his legs. He was using his hind legs evenly, but they were wobbly. We only went 5 houses before bohdan had to sit down and rest. Bohdan didn't want to return home, and we had a very slow walk to get us home.

When we got home, Bohdan settled on the front lawn, and would not get up.
When he settled down he cried. When I finally helped him up and into the house it was with much coaxing and pain.

Since then he has been very somber. I took Bohdan out back to potty and he had trouble getting up. His hind right leg could hardly support him in getting him up.

I have applied heat to the leg. The swelling of the right leg is below, the knee.
We have a 10 am appointment with the vet tomorrow morning. I am hoping I will be able to get him into and out of the car on my own.

I have fallen down on the job when it comes to keeping this log up to date.

Here is a recap:

Monday: we went on a two block walk. Bohdan was walking a little funny but all in all he was alright. I also took him with me in the car to pick up shari.
He slipped getting out of the car when we got home. He didn't seem to have hurt himself.

Tuesday: we went to the chiropractors. It was a fairly painful session where
she did some trigger point therapy on his low back and knee. We went for a short walk after the chiro. Then we went on a two block walk later in the night.

Wednesday: we only made it on one walk, around 2 blocks. This was enough for Bohdan and we came home and he slept.

Thursday: We took a late night walk. When we hit the corner, there was a dog
across the street and bohdan wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and he slipped off the curb with the right side of his body,
mostly the hind leg. We continued our walk, and went only one full block.
He was tired by the time we returned home.

Friday: We walked a block and a half, the cats were following us so we turned around and went home.

Saturday: Bohdan woke me up in the middle of the night crying. Something wasn't right with his hind legs, I can't tell if it is hips or knees, but I have not
heard like this throughout all of his surgery. He didn't want to get up and go outside in the morning. This was a red flag. I left him locked in my room sleeping, and Shari and I returned with a new puppy. We brought bohdan out front to meet the new puppy, this too much coaxing as he didn't want to leave my bed. Usually given the chance to "go out front" he is excited. He insisted on going for a walk, before he would deal with the puppy, so I took him
down to the end of the block and back. I could see he was having problems walking.