Hi everybody. Sorry it's been so long since our last post. Recently, Easton and I were invited to visit some old friends who now live in Tucson. Jon and Debbie have two beautiful Rottweiler girls and a swimming pool. Easton was in heaven. I don't think there was five minutes when he was outside that he wasn't soaking wet from fetching up whatever toy was floating in the pool. We sure had a wonderful time.
This week I will be posting some Tucson pictures that I took, our staff photographer Michael took and a surprise contributor AKA "The Tall Guy" took at the McDonald dog park! Jon, Michael and I go way back to our US West days in Seattle in the late 80s. Jon and I worked together at Thousand Trails before that. Wow, how time flies.
PS: Everything the Tall Guys says about Jack is true. Debbie and I witnessed it first hand. We are available to testify at the Tall Guy's trial when they commit him to the loony bin.
Here are pictures from the swimming hole and the lovely Sophie and Mia. Dog park follies tomorrow.
Will post Michael's pictures when I get them (they are always way better than mine).
Sophie and Mia
Big Girl Sophie - she is so mellow and sweet
The lovely Miss Mia - sassy, full of mischief and sweet as pie
Easton
wants to thank his new pal Harley for sharing his pool, stuffy toys and rawhide
today. Easton
had a grand old time while Harley watched in astonishment. Most of the time, I
don't think Easton even
knew that Harley was there! There were so many things to get into, just not
enough time in a day.
Oh My Dog, A POOL !! Now, where are those steps? He never did find them, but that didn't slowed him down one bit.
"Oh man, this is the life. Can we stay? Think Debbie would adopt me?"
A rare shot of Easton playing with the toy like a cat! He's done this many times, but it's hard to catch on film.
The elusive Harley - barking at me taking his picture. I don't think he liked my hat! Later he relaxed and warmed up, proving to be quite alright with the two and four legged invaders.
Easton slobbering on as many stuffies as he could find. Harley has the biggest toy box I've ever seen. Courtesy of his grandpa - he's a lucky dog.
Thanks to Harley, Debbie and
Jerry for the fun afternoon.
After several weeks of taking it easy, Easton gets to swim tomorrow at Splash Dog, here in Edmonds, WA. He continues to make good progress resting and healing his injured right leg. I can see some frustration lately as he grows stronger and more restless. I've encouraged a few rough-house sessions where he is on the floor, but he wants to escalate it to a full-blown zoomie or fetch game. Hold on Big Red, we'll get to that soon.
It's been over three weeks since Easton injured his right rear leg after being attacked by an off-leash dog. We were hoping that after a few sessions of swim therapy he could grow strong enough to heal, but that is not the case. A trip to the Vet last week brought a preliminary diagnoses of a torn/ruptured ACL. When our Vet first met and examined Easton a month ago, she thought there might be some minor soft tissue damage to his knee even though his range of motion was good and he was not limping. Since the day we got him, he has "drug" his right-rear paw, occasionally scraping the nails on the asphalt when we toddled around the neighborhood. It has become obvious to me that Easton has had a knee condition for some time now. The attack has made it worse, aggravating or even completing the tear of the soft tissue in his knee. We are expecting an opinion from the radiologist today or tomorrow.
Here is video from Easton's last session at Splash Dog Spa (it's really not fancy, just very well thought out). You'll see in the video, at times, Easton seems to swimming harder; because he is! Leigh Anne turns on the jets and Easton swims against a raging current. Let me tell you, it wears his baggy ass out! Plus, he gets a massage every 5 minutes or so. WOW. He just loves it. When I win the Lottery, we'll do it 5 times a week....ha, ha.
On the advice of our Vet, Easton has to go cold turkey!
NO toys
NO fetch
NO rough house - It's like we've done this all our lives. He is gentle, but tough!
NO dog park
NO more swimming for now - If he has surgery, he'll be swimming a lot for therapy.
Short, controlled walks
Less food (no weight gain allowed) - he is not overweight, but no chances taken!
....And, the toughest one - NO stairs (or at least minimum up-and-down). This one is just about killing him, because he needs to follow me EVERYWHERE. Both flights of stairs are blocked, but I let him come up to sleep with us at night.
When I know more about what the course of action is with Big Red, I'll let you all know. He is still a happy-go-lucky boy who doesn't seem to realize he could be seriously injured. I'm trying to teach him how to play laying on his back. He doesn't get it yet, but I see signs he is starting to relax and let it flow.
This post is for our friend Jack who desperately needs to be freed from his strings so he can do what all Labs do - run, fetch, swim, run, fetch, swim, run, fetch, swim, run, fetch, swim, run, fetch, swim, run, fetch, swim (oh yea, its Jack - disclaimer, not necessarily in that order).
A standing invitation to join us anytime.
We went last weekend, but dumb Dad left his memory stick at home (the one in the camera wise guy).
