Week 8 starts today!

I'm not sure where the last 2 months have gone. It will be 8 weeks ago that Howie had his CCL surgery next Monday, but since we start rehab the day after surgery, we're already on the last week of official rehab! CRAZY!!

The last 8 weeks have not only gone fast, but really have been a lot easier (at times) than I expected. I really think that having the x-pen with the kennel in the living room really helped with the crate rest that Howie needed while recovering. We never felt that we were punishing him by keeping him his space & it also worked well when Vivi went into heat.

The last two weeks of rehab included daily massages (which he still hates) & two walks a day that we need to keep increasing the length of time each day. We're up to two 15-20 min walks a day now. With the return of summer here in Minnesota, I'm thinking we should go visit Grama Judy & Grampa Steve to go swimming at their pool! Swimming is a great way to rehab a knee injury!

Howie still somewhat favors his leg that he had surgery on, but for the most part, does indeed use it quite a bit. In the video below, you can see how he is using it, but he's still adjusting himself when he sits. It doesn't seem to be causing him any pain, so I'm still not worried, but he is still doing it. Maybe it will just take some more time...after all, the recovery period is 6 months long.

Enjoy the video...I was just playing around with some obedience commands I have watched Sandy do. (I know I'm not doing the commands right, but they seemed to work??) I was impressed with Howie's natural ability...to follow commands when food is involved of course. We have worked on the "side" command & I use it when we walk, but that's the only thing we've worked on. I'll give it a few more weeks, but I think I'll start him with some obedience classes soon so we can start working on some rally titles for him.