Perri Rehab Update

Perri is still trucking along with her rehab.   After our recheck we were to increase our walks to an hour, rough terrain okay within reason (no steep downhills.)   We were to continue underwater treadmill sessions every week, or every other week.   Re-check after six more UWTM sessions.

We have done four UWTM sessions since the first re-check and our second re-check is scheduled for January 14th.   We have been hiking and doing longer walks and loving every minute of it.  I have increased Perri's freedom slowly over the last month: she has been allowed more free roaming in the house and less closed doors.   This has mostly been problem-free, though sometimes she taunts Molly into a play session and I have to shut that down.  The leash is still always on for potty breaks and hikes/walks.  About two weeks ago I tried to remove the leash for a river trail walk and Perri abused my confidence in her!   She started barking and doing crazy loops and pounces and all sorts of things I did not want her newly healed shoulder doing.   No more off leash since that!

Increasing freedom is terrifying.  How much is a good challenge?  How much is Too Much?  I have to admit I have been struggling to limit her hikes to just one hour.  We got completely carried away on Sunday with a hike that was probably over two hours.   Bad!   A lot of that was spent geocaching (lots of time is wasted in geocaching in the fruitless peering around for the cache container and walking in circles.)  But still.  I spend a good amount of my time miserably convinced that her recheck will reveal an reinjured shoulder and all hard work erased.  But I can't allow my paranoia to dictate our life.   Perri is still using her right front leg consistently to rise from a down position.  She is not off loading onto the left front.  Her UWTM work is going well and no lameness is presenting there.  No reason to be concerned other than my racing worry-brain.

Last week Perri reached thirty minutes on the UWTM, that is the maximum amount of time that a dog will be on the treadmill. (two minutes have been added per session.)  When a dog at our rehab facility reaches thirty minutes they get their pawprint on the "Honorary Motivated Milers" wall!   (When the dog does a mile in 30 minutes, they get on the "Motivated Milers" wall.)  Here is her pawprint, complete with a little spaceship (Perri is a martian, after all!)

Two more weeks will reveal if our progress is being maintained.