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Post by Andreina on Apr 19, 2012 13:39:30 GMT -5
Ive been following your thread about Jack.. Glad to hear he is feeling better. I bet you will be relieved when he can run free again!
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dobedaddy
Junior Member
Prinz Auguste Vom Dobereich
Posts: 64
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Post by dobedaddy on Apr 20, 2012 13:00:51 GMT -5
Great to hear some good news
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Post by hooligan on Apr 21, 2012 20:26:33 GMT -5
Rats!! A setback.
At training on Wed. of this week, Jack did a short track -- but nothing else. And he seemed fine afterwards. So by Friday (yesterday), we were fairly confident that he was back to normal, and while we were out hiking him (still on-lead), Bill did a bit of obedience practice with him . . . and boy, was he ready! After two weeks of very limited activity, Jack was ready to explode, and he pretty much did.
Afterwards, he seemed fine. But then he had his evening nap, and sure enough, when he woke up, he was limping again. Not too badly, and he walked it off fairly quickly, but the limp was still there. And it was there again for a while after he woke up this morning. So no training today, and we're back to restricted activity.
At the suggestion of an experienced schutzhund guy, we've added Traumeel, an herbal anti-inflammatory concoction, to the alfalfa. We'll see how this goes over the next few days.
Thanks for your thoughts. Keeping Jack calm and quiet has been -- and is -- a bit of a trial, as I'm sure you can imagine!
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Post by dobermoms on Apr 21, 2012 22:06:19 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about the incident.....
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Post by Dobereich on Apr 22, 2012 1:23:14 GMT -5
Rats!! A setback. At training on Wed. of this week, Jack did a short track -- but nothing else. And he seemed fine afterwards. So by Friday (yesterday), we were fairly confident that he was back to normal, and while we were out hiking him (still on-lead), Bill did a bit of obedience practice with him . . . and boy, was he ready! After two weeks of very limited activity, Jack was ready to explode, and he pretty much did. Afterwards, he seemed fine. But then he had his evening nap, and sure enough, when he woke up, he was limping again. Not too badly, and he walked it off fairly quickly, but the limp was still there. And it was there again for a while after he woke up this morning. So no training today, and we're back to restricted activity. At the suggestion of an experienced schutzhund guy, we've added Traumeel, an herbal anti-inflammatory concoction, to the alfalfa. We'll see how this goes over the next few days. Thanks for your thoughts. Keeping Jack calm and quiet has been -- and is -- a bit of a trial, as I'm sure you can imagine! I'm really kicking myself here, because I thought to myself when I was on yesterday to write in and warn you about being fooled by Jack's attitude, and mistaken his willingness for readiness. Even though the inflammation or pain has subsided, any deep tissue injury will require a min of 6 weeks to heal, up to 3 months of crate rest for some. Its hard not to surrender to the desire (or need) to exercise a high drive dog too soon after an injury. But doing so too early just means delaying a full recovery. Remember, if it were us, a person, we'd still be limping around complaining long before a dog has moved-on from an injury. But the older anyone gets, the longer injuries seem to stick around. Oh how I don't envy you with this set-back in training. But you can always still get some stuff in, just not the stuff you know Jack really wants to do. Hang in there. Oh, and yes, I use traumeel for the dogs... wonderful stuff. Didn't really think about it too much for a deep tissue injury, but why not.
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Post by hooligan on Apr 23, 2012 12:23:07 GMT -5
I'm really kicking myself here, because I thought to myself when I was on yesterday to write in and warn you about being fooled by Jack's attitude, and mistaken his willingness for readiness. Even though the inflammation or pain has subsided, any deep tissue injury will require a min of 6 weeks to heal, up to 3 months of crate rest for some. Its hard not to surrender to the desire (or need) to exercise a high drive dog too soon after an injury. But doing so too early just means delaying a full recovery. Remember, if it were us, a person, we'd still be limping around complaining long before a dog has moved-on from an injury. But the older anyone gets, the longer injuries seem to stick around. Oh how I don't envy you with this set-back in training. But you can always still get some stuff in, just not the stuff you know Jack really wants to do. Hang in there. Oh, and yes, I use traumeel for the dogs... wonderful stuff. Didn't really think about it too much for a deep tissue injury, but why not. Yup, even though we kept the session short, we definitely reintroduced too much too soon. And we made it worse by using the schutzhund ball as a reward. The ball is is definitely Jack's favourite, but after two weeks of no exercise, he was so delighted to see it that he nearly exploded with joy. Jumping and tugging and running around like a crazy dog -- all the while, cranking his leg. Next time (whenever that is), we'll ease into OB, using food at first, and this means that he will be calmer (though "calmer" is a relative term right now -- sigh). He seems better again today (no limp this morning), so we're hoping that the Traumeel is actually helping and that he's on the mend again. But we will be waaay more cautious this time. He is really, really antsy, though -- and being very demanding. He wants to play and becomes frustrated when we won't engage with him. ("What's wrong with you morons? I tell you and tell you that I want to play, but you're not listening," he seems to be saying.) In the evenings, I've been stuffing cheese and other treats into his Kong, then hiding it so that he has to find it. This works well and does seem to tire him out somewhat. Does anyone have ideas for other "quiet" games that keep his mind occupied but that don't involve running around?
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Post by hooligan on May 8, 2012 10:57:33 GMT -5
With fingers crossed, I'm happy to report that Jack is on the mend again. We had his hips and elbows x-rayed a week ago yesterday, just to be sure that there was no bone involvement in his injury — and the x-rays were fine, so that was a huge relief.
He hasn't limped for a week, and at training last Saturday, he did an article track and some obedience using food as a reward so that he wouldn't bounce around too much and crank his leg again. No ill effects.
Then, on Sunday, we visited my sister's place in the country, where he ran off-lead for the first time in a month. And boy, did he run! It has been a long time since I've seen such a deliriously happy dog. He was crazy!
We were a little worried that he might have overdone it with all the running, but fortunately, there has been no sign of a recurrence of the limp. Yesterday, I had to roust him out of bed for his morning potty and breakfast, and then he went back to bed and slept all day (yes!).
Still, we plan to be careful. We'll steer clear of ball and kong play for the rest of this week and we'll definitely keep and eye on him with the goal of starting to ease back into full training this Saturday.
Thanks for all the good wishes. This sprain or strain or whatever it was took a loooong time to clear up.
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Post by Lisa on May 8, 2012 14:27:26 GMT -5
Great news! Jack is a happy dog again
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Post by dobermoms on May 8, 2012 21:43:50 GMT -5
We are so happy to hear the news also.....
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Post by Andreina on May 8, 2012 22:25:49 GMT -5
That's great!! Hopefully whatever it was is healed for good...
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Post by ictdobe on May 16, 2012 14:02:18 GMT -5
Haven't been on in a while, hope Jack is better!
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Post by hooligan on May 22, 2012 8:41:21 GMT -5
Yes! It has been three weeks with no recurrence of the limp. Jack is back to full training with no apparent ill-effects. We are a still a little nervous, though, so we haven't yet reintroduced the fetch sessions on his afternoon hikes. Although we saw nothing at the time, we suspect that that's when he must have cranked his leg, so we're being extra cautious.
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Post by dobermoms on May 22, 2012 20:55:25 GMT -5
Glad to hear that he is on the mend, hopefully for the long haul. We are so happy to hear he is well....can't wait to see him again.
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