there is nothing wrong with a stubborn dog, if you can pick them up and ultimately get them to do what you want them to be doing. however when your dog weighs 150+ pounds and he wants to stay in the car, that is where he is going to stay.

eventhough his foot is still sore and in a bandage i decided to take him to the park for a walk. he did really well and listened to me and since it was ust the two of us i dropped the leash and walked away from him and when i got about 15 feet away he got up and came to me. eager to not be left behind.

when his bandage fell off and i could see walking was painful i brought him home. i put a fresh bandage on while he was in the car and now i am trying to get him out. well i am no longer trying, i have decided to come inside and make myself a cup of tea. good thing it is an overcast day with threats of rain, and that he will be cool enough in the car with the windows cracked.

we had a fairly quiet weekend, the weather was up and down, and we didn't really go anywhere, until sunday when the people went whale watching and the dogs got to hold down the fort. while we were gone bohdan chewed his front
right paw bloody.

i put a bandage on it, after looking to see if he had anything stuck in it. monday he was hardly able to walk on it, looks like he removed the bandage from his foot in the middle of the night and chewed on it some more. i am such a sucker, for that sad dog look and wont put the lamp shade of doom on him if i think he is going to leave it alone.

so yesterday i thought i would take him on a short walk to get some of the kinks worked out of his shoulders, and had a hard time getting him around the 2 blocks. he just wanted to lay down and watch.

today we went to see dr. szabo, the chiropractor. bohdan was sporting a purple bandage on his foot to keep all the nasty's out. his back was in spasm, and it looked like his right hip was out as well.

he was a good dog about it all and even put up well with lots of people coming to talk to us for the 45 minutes we waited, she was late and we were there with a little time to spare.

he has been sleeping fairly solidly since we got home at 6.

we have moved our afternoon walks to morning walks, in preapration of my going back to work. these morning walks seem to be helping to lower the destruction and overall energy in the house during the day. hopefully we will get into the mode of morning and evening walks, i know it will really help bohdan.

oh and he is getting a waist. i can feel ribs, and see less of a protruding stomach.

today is the one year anniversary of bohdan's TPLO.
he seems to be doing really well. in the last week he is limping a little but i think that is related to his increased activity. when i leave for the day the dogs are left alone together and i have caught them jumping, and bouncing.

we will go see the chriopractor next week and see if we can help him out a little there.

i can't believe we have made it a full year.

it has been raining here since tuesday. i was too cold on tuesday to walk bohdan and i had an interview on wednesday am so i was rather focused. so when shari came home at midnight she took each of the dogs on a short walk around the neighborhood. she then needed my help getting bohdan in off the front lawn, as he was very focused on be out of the house for as long as he could.

wednesday he was limping a lot so we didn't go on a walk.. well that and it was raining.

tonight although i was not feeling well, both of the dogs got a long walk around the neighborhood. bohdan seems to be limping a lot on his right leg. while we were out on his walk, it looks like his back was bugging him as well.

we have been going down to the beach with the dogs on weekends before sunset when the beach is pretty much just for us. the pas tfew times we have brought a ball for trillian, we thought it would be good for her to chase it and work on recalls. well bohdan started show an interest in chasing the ball.

so today i put him on the 30 foot long line and held it loosely and shari threw the ball. i ran with him so the line would not go taught but he would still have the opportunity to chase the ball.

he was so excited by this. he looked like a little puppy... well maybe a puppy, not little. he seemed trimmer, like all of his muscles were primed and ready to pounce.

shari threw the ball and he chased after it a couple four times.
he was limping a little on the way back but still was having a good time, and was very happy to see other dogs, and met two small dogs whose owners seemed concerned about their pups meeting such a big dog.

it was a good adventure and now he is rested.

he also seems to be handling the rabies vaccine much better then he did 3 years ago.

in the one month since bohdan went to the chiropractor he has dropped 5 pounds. i realized that both of the dogs has gained a little too much weight so we are working on fine runing the diets for the dogs, to reduce some of the fat they had been consuming and reduce the overall amount of food that they were eating.

i didn't really begin to focus on this until 2 weeks ago, although the exercise has been increasing and more consistent for a bit longer then that.

it has been 3 years since bohdan had his rabies vaccine. so last week we started upping his anti oxidant levels. yesterday he got a homeopathic remedy called lyssin. and then today after his visit to the vet he got another dose of the homeopathics.

i hate that we have to give rabies vaccines to our pets.

he was a fairly good dog... he lay on the floor and let the vet pet him, and only got upset when she reached for something. he didn't budge when he got his shot.

we then went for a walk near the vets office, and on the way home i decided to stop at fort funston. where we went on a short walk. i think, bohdan's waiting in the car for me while i paid was a little too much for him, and he got a little warm.

when we got home he drank lots of water and he has been laying around ever since. i was a little worried because he had planted himself on the kitchen floor and didn't budge, but when trillian and i went outside he came out
and lay there and watched us wonder around.

oh.. the vet checked out his knees and they both seemd solid. this vet isn't the one who did the surgery or the follow up care. she said she didn't feel any arthritis in either knee and he is in good health. YAY!!!

oh and while we were at fort funston we got go meet other dogs, and bohdan was a perfect gentleman. he would approach the dog, no whining, crying, barking, and then he would sniff and just as i was about to say "lets go" or " enough" he would begin to head away on his own.

we have been walking every day this week but one. mostly it has just been bohdan and i taking a walk in the neighborhood in the middle of the day and he has been great.... one night we went on a power walk with trillian and heather and tim. it was great and we were all pooped when we got home.

we are coming up on one year post TPLO.
we should celebrate.. not sure how we will do that, but we will.