Post Surgery Workout
Vinny could hardly contain himself, quivering with excitement as he sat at the line, ready to make his first retrieve in weeks after surgery. His desire nearly overwhelmed him, as the bird launched into the air. Still, he sat steady not moving an inch forward. His eyes locked in on the area of the fall. He waited to hear his name, “Vinny!”, so he could blast off the line to retrieve a dead duck hitting the ground just seconds before.
He rocketed forward like a bat out of hell, upon hearing his name. Ears flew back as if he had his head hanging out the truck window at 60mph. While not as fast as before the operation, he moved his 75-lb. mass with ease. He had grown during his recovery from abdominal surgery, nearly adding another 5 lbs. of muscle onto his lean body. Oh, the advantage of youth to be able to throw caution to the wind, as if nothing ever happened. Still I worried slightly.
Recuperation Activities
I shouldn’t have been too concerned about him opening any stitches. His protective head cone came off a week earlier. He took full advantage of his newfound freedom to jump, twist and run in his kennel as he played wildly with his toys. Vinny would get bored and toss them into the air for himself. His favorite game was kennel hockey. Dumping all his water out, he put one paw in the bowl and slammed it to the opposite end of the kennel across the wet floor, barking all the while. At times, he looked like a fish just pulled out of the water, wiggling and thrashing about. It was clearly time to move forward with training once again.
We kept his training sessions short. No reason to press our luck after Vinny’s great adventure into glove swallowing six weeks earlier. The emotional and financial toll was enough to make anyone cautious. This tale wouldn’t be complete without a shout out and thank you to; the Animal Emergency of North Texas and the Dallas Surgical Center. Coming up soon. Our adventure into shopping for dog insurance for Vinny!