12.15.07
Dougie the wonder dog!
This little poot is an amazing little dog. If you haven’t heard of Dougie, GO HERE to read his story.
Thursday, we went to see the surgeons to have sutures and staples removed. He was great. All healed, no infections - ready for fun. Then we had the first rehab appointment and he got to “walk” in the water treadmill. This contraption, which you’ve seen before, is truly amazing - use of it dramatically speeds up their recovery time.
Dougie’s problem right now is the leg that wasn’t broken but luxated out of place. The sciatic nerve sustained severe damage and he could not make his right leg work correctly. Two weeks after surgery, Dougie can now walk, but is “knuckling” his toes on that bad leg. That means he bends the toes under and doesn’t realize that he’s walking on the top of his toes.
Work in the water treadmill is designed to help improve his overall control of that leg as well as start building up the muscles on both legs.
Dougie did two sessions of four minutes each on Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon, he didn’t wake up until around 8 pm and even then wouldn’t stand. We certainly taxed his little body. I was so nervous about it, I had to call the rehab director to make sure he was ok.
Saturday morning, the little guy was walking better than ever. Here is a short video showing his amazing progress.
Thanks to everyone who so very generously donated so that we could save this boy. I know we always ask for more and more and more, but when we have one or two good stories like this, it gives me the emotional balance I need to keep going.
Little Dougie received two care packages this week. One from Odean in PA which had a blue blankie, a Christmas afghan (Dougie-sized), a pillow and a little toy. The second from Ellen, came today and thankfully included two little coats. Dougie is modeling one of the coats in the first picture on this page. And above, he is very happy to have that little blue blankie on this really cold day!
Thanks to you wonderful people. You make my heart sing!!
