Thanks, everyone, for the great replies.
I am so relieved to hear that there are dogs out there playing flyball after TPLO!
I hadn't thought of the nonslip matts, she'll definitely need them to get from the living room to the family room because the kitchen inbetween has a vinyl floor. I never seem to throw away old rubber backed matts and I think I even have one that's about 6 ft long somewhere. I knew they'd come in handy one day! LOL
I won't be able to lift her into the car myself, having done a number on the tendons in my own arm
, but I will just have to book followup appointments when my husband is around to help me lift her up. I'm not sure if I want to show this dog a ramp! We do agility just for fun and the thing she has the most trouble with is the A-frame....not because she's afraid of it but because she gets so excited when she sees it that she leaps on to it and tries to leap off the other side. Jumping is one of Dresden's favorite activities.
Usually Dresden travels in a harness attached to the seatbelt in the back seat of the car, but I can just manage to squeeze a large crate in back if I put the seats down. I assume crating, as opposed to seatbelting, is the best way to bring her home after surgery?
I have an x-pen but I'm just not sure how well that would work. My old Maggie is a bit of a bull in a china shop and I'm rather worried she might bang into it on the way by or try and entice Dresden to play through the bars! It's going to be a very hard juggling act to make sure that neither dog lacks for attention during all this. I will do what I have to do obviously to make sure Dresden heals but I'm not looking forward to having to use gates, etc to keep them away from each other. For those with multiple dogs, are there any hints about dealing with more than one dog during this time?
As far as crates go, I have a vari-crate she can stay in in the living room when I'm at my desk and at night. She really likes it and feels very safe in it so I'll use it part of the time. I'm going to see if I can borrow one of those all wire crates from a friend...they do open at both ends I believe and she can use that in the family room which is where we all usually are in the evening. I am planning a lot of on-leash time just hanging out with me too.
They sell slings at the vet's so I think I'll buy one there. Even if it's not something I use for her, it wouldn't hurt to have one around for Maggie if she ever gets to the stage of needing a little help up and down stairs.
I'll look for a BiteNot collar and reread the lauriebryce website. Okay, I'm starting to ramble...I think I'm concentrating so hard on getting ready to take my mind off the fact my poor little dog needs major surgery...oh well, at least I'm doing something constructive.
Thanks again for all the advice and I know I'll be back with more questions.