Oh, The Sad Puppy...

 Oh yes, we have ourselves a sad puppy on our hands. A few weeks ago while playing fetch, he came up limping. We took him to the vet and he might have some arthritis affecting him. He's not an old dog, but--like all of us--he's getting older with each passing year.

The remedy is basically bed rest for a dog...not jumping, no getting up on couches (hence the cardboard boxes on the couch...), avoiding stairs (more than necessary...), and no playing fetch. Right now, the snow would make that even more difficult than normal...just one more thing puppy can't do.

What makes matters worse is our puppy is a poodle and poodles are high-energy. almost every day after work, I would take the dog out for fetch. Our dog is smart. He knows when it's getting close to log-off time so I'll hear him coming down the hall to wait for my work day to end. He knows, after that, it's fetch time.

The dog loves to run. 

We were so happy to finally get a fenced yard so Bec, the dog, could run and run. Since Bec's been on bed rest, he still wants to run. He'll pick up a ball and bring it over to us letting us know what he wants. It brings up the question, do dogs know they're sick?

I'm sure dogs know when they don't feel well. But, does a dog who loves to run realize he may re-injure a leg? We're not letting him run around yet, but I'll bet he'd love to play fetch right now if we'd let him.

I've owned three dogs in my life, two little dogs--a shih tzu, a shih tzu mix, and the poodle. Both little dogs were spared the problems that come with the larger breeds. I don't have a lot of experience with bigger dogs. I'm hoping the medicine and the bed rest will help. I'd hate to see a dog that loves to be physical restricted from those activities. 

As with almost all things, time will tell.