Week 6 with injury

[Nikki's Dad]

A few weeks ago I posted regarding my Rotti Nikki who hurt her ACL. While I'm glad to report that she has definitely gotten better and is showing improvement, she is still favoring the knee while running and I continue to restrict her activity as much as possible.

The downside to this is a few things - I can definitely tell that she gets bored at times. I'm only supposed to take her out for 30 min at most in the mornings, and possibly another 15-20 min walk in the evening. She wants, and tries to run, but I have to restrict her for fear of her injuring it further. I've looked in to other way to exercise her, but taking her to a dog pool is costly and its still too cold to have her swim at the beaches.

Another big concern for me is that she is not getting socialized - AT ALL. When I walk her, and she sees other dogs, we would like to approach the dogs, but the other owner's either walk the other way or try to walk away fast because my dog is bigger and they are afraid. I'm dont want to take her to the dog park simply because I'm afraid of her running or playing too hard and injuring her knee. I could take her to PetSmart's Doggie Day Camp, but again, I'm afraid of her re-injuring the knee.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do??

[tla0126]

Maybe enroll in an obedience class? Always a good refresher, plus, you will be there to control the situation so there will be no running or jumping... It's definately a good way to get her around other dogs and to wear out her excited brain a little bit...

[Crazy Joe Davola]

I just had ACL surgery. It sucks. My wife won't take me out anywhere either so I'm getting terribly bored.

I also fear I'm not getting socialized enough. Thank god for these forums :)

[SABELLESMOM]

Take another class with her, preferably obedience, once a week. This would be least taxing on her healing ACL. Stimulate her mind, and her "body" will seem tired as well. A class would provide enough socalization for the time being.

Play some interactive games with her. Show her a tidbit of leftover meat. Give it. Then request an action from her to earn another... It can be anything, from sit, down, or around the orange cone (walking, of course). Get 2 cones and teach her a figure 8. Place a couple of yardsticks on the floor and have her walk over them. It will challenge her mind as to her foot placement. It will make her think.

Print out some Rally-O cards, and make yourself a course. Be easy on yourself and the dog, physically. But, I'll bet she perks up at the concept! She'll find it fun. You have right/left turns, U turns, Halt and walk around your dog, Take 5 steps, Halt and have dog walk around you..stuff like that.

I didn't catch the original post 6 weeks ago. You did or did not have surgery? Was it only a partial tear?

[Nikki's Dad]

Originally Posted by SABELLESMOM

I didn't catch the original post 6 weeks ago. You did or did not have surgery? Was it only a partial tear?

Thank You for all of your suggestions, I didn't think of any of those.

She ruptured the ACL - so I took her to an Orthopedic Surgeon, and he said that she will not need surgery, however to limit her activity. Like I said, I walk her, but thats basically it. And every day I massage her legs, expecially around the knee area, and I stretch out the knee a little bit to help bring back the flexibility. I'm going to take her back to the Orthopedic Surgeon in the next few weeks for a follow up, and hopefully he'll give me some good news that she's finally OK.