Dakota the Gripper Girl

Dakota is doing really great with her recovery.  She has gone to several doggie PT sessions which seems to have really helped with getting her stride right, NO Bunny Hopping is the goal and of course getting her back leg stronger.  She has also gotten a some great massages and even traction on her back where her eyes roll back in her head and she gives a big kiss to the therapist. They are helping us to learn the right stretches and massages so we can help work out the knots in her muscles from her changed body mechanics.

The therapists are really happy with her progress. So far she has just done the water treadmill.  She handles it well and the therapists let her “cheat” by holding on with her front tippy paw toe nails so her back legs can focus on the stride.  She can go about 6 to 8 mins on the treadmill and then it’s time for a break.   She goes in on Friday Oct 28th for her 8 week followup to see how the bones in the back leg are healing.   Once she get the clearance she can do some swimming in the endless pool for with the awesome red EZyDog vest that she won in September.

We had big intentions of writing more and putting up video clips of her recovery but coincidentally her Aunt, my older sister with two young kids,  was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymph cancer just a little before the surgery.  She has just finished two rounds of chemo and is doing  great considering the fight that she has on her hands right now.     I’ve gotten the chance to be out with her and my nieces to help through this fight and recovery.  But getting back to work and shifting focus into other areas of life have gotten us away from updating Dakota’s page.  Once I get back I’ll  get some more videos and fresh pictures of that show in fact her fur is coming back.  With much gratitude for the support we received during the peak of the emotional times of the surgery.

Nothing like visitors to raise my spirits and do some tail wagging.   Thx so much for stopping by and giving me some love.

And I’ll be dreaming about those homemade popsicle liver treats for days.   Thx for giving Mom the receipt cuz I’m sure going to be asking for more of those.

Video of Dakota’s last swim as a quadpaw before becoming one of the elite community of TriPawds.  She can’t wait to get back out swimming.

Are WEEE really going out the front door?  Oh, please, please say it’s so!

(note – collar on means going out the front door to the park.  And the tails a-wagging.)

Yup, going for a ride! How great is this!

(and yes, the P’s are still a bit nervous and Dad did rode in back to the park with me.)

For Real?!?? Awe Mom, stop, do you really have to take a photo of my most private moments?  

(Yes – It did take a couple of pauses to rest to get her the 20 feet to her favorite spot  – but she wouldn’t go until she got there! and boy did she have to go).

Hmmm, maybe if I keep this up I’ll get a car ride to the park every night…..

Oh, I’m so much happier.  I think I might even eat tonight.  

(which after just a little nudging and some cottage cheese did happen, so we can all sleep well tonight).

Tomorrow marks the end of the first week since surgery and the start of counting down to week 8.

Video of Dakota walking the hop on Friday (3 days after the double surgery).  She is doing great with the walking. But you can see she is still nervous cuz her tail is slightly tucked.  She does give some good wags of being real proud.

After some good walking in the yard on Friday, Dakota gave a quick little hug.

Dakota had kinda a blue day today.  She made it outside a number of times which we are proud of.  But she is refusing to eat today which has us a little concerned.  She will take her pills with peanut butter and drank some water in the morning.   Hopefully tomorrow she will be up for eating her food.

Last night (Friday) Dakota declared that she does not need to get picked up to be carried inside or outside the house anymore.   She can do it on her own.  She made it pretty clear that she preferred to do it herself!   We were again amazed that she made it the 50 feet and up the ramp all on her own.  And this morning she went down the ramp and out to the grass all on her own and then back up again.  This is only 3 days having the double surgery.  So, we are discussing to start weening her back on the pain med’s.

We are so proud of her.  But at the same time we can see that our jobs of being diligent and restraining her is going to get tough.  The doggie PT should help to get some of that energy out.

As soon as I figure out how to post a video I’ll put up some footage of her first steps all on her own.

Dakota got up on her own again this afternoon after laying around looking depressed for most of the morning.

So, we took her outside to feel the grass under her paws and sniff out those pesky squirrels.  She had to say hello to Gus and May (her neighbors) who were out.  Her dear co-parents (who take awesome care of her when were out of town) came over at lunch.

She either had to show off or she really had to pee.  I think it was the later.  After about 10 mins and us all hanging around outside she got up on her own again and started hopping her way over to her pee area.  And yes it was a long one.

She walked around a bit more on her own and is now resting wonderfully in the grass.

Wow! When we went to bed, Dakota was about 5 feet from us.  Moving the spare bed mattress to the living room was  just not close enough for her.

All on her own and in the dark Dakota got herself standing upright.  We shined the flashlight to check on her and she had taken the steps and was at the foot of the bed wanting to get in.   Which is rare for her cuz she never sleeps in bed with us. So, we moved her bed those few extra feet so she could be closer.   We all got a good night sleep.

Up until this point and even this morning we were helping her up, so that shows she has a pretty strong will and is on the road to recovery.

Still anxiously waiting for her to go pee – she is very private in this area and does not like us looking at her whens he is doing her business so this might be the hardest part.

Darren and I are surprised at how alert she is when she’s awake from those much needed naps. She seems to be in minimal pain, thx to some pain meds. She is going between getting some good sleep, watching our every move, trying to sneak a lick of her stitches here and there, to dazing off and wondering what in the world just happened to me, to being just plain happy and wagging her tail.

She has tried to get up herself a few times and can make it to a propped up position to look around. She has gotten up and outside (of course with our help) three times this afternoon and did take a few steps out on her own.  And she did eat and got some water.

By far the cutest so far is when we saw her phantom leg try to reach out to keep the petting of her belly going. This was one of her favorite things to do when we’d stop petting her and something we all will surely miss. You can kinda see this in the video.

Stitches will be out in two weeks which is when we can start some PT to help her start getting her muscles back. Did you know they have dog rehab centers with doggie treadmills in the water and recreational pools for swimming? … who would have guessed that! pretty darn cool.