{"id":6936,"date":"2024-02-11T06:41:06","date_gmt":"2024-02-11T11:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=6936"},"modified":"2024-02-11T07:17:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-11T12:17:41","slug":"a-sad-sad-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2024\/02\/11\/a-sad-sad-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sad, Sad, Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a Sunday Story \u2013 no politics here, just another \u201cdog\u201d story.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dahlman Dogs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a whole \u201cseries\u201d of these \u201cSunday Stories\u201d about dogs:  finding dogs, taking care of dogs, and even losing dogs.  But what you need to know for this particular story, is that Jenn and I have five dogs.  They are all rescues, two from even before we knew about Lost Pet Recovery<\/a>, <\/em>the charitable organization we help that finds lost dogs for owners and, returns them home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other three are what they call in the dog \u201cbusiness\u201d, \u201cfoster fails\u201d.  They were dogs we brought into the house on a temporary basis, until LPR found a suitable \u201cforever home\u201d.  But, as John Wayne said, \u201c\u2026My fault, your fault, nobody\u2019s fault\u2026\u201d; we fell in love with them, and now we have five dogs in our \u201cforever home\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five dogs are a life altering experience.  They need to go out, they need to eat, they need medical care, and most of all they need love and attention.  It\u2019s not just fifteen minutes morning and night, let them out and back in from the fenced back yard.  It\u2019s time, it\u2019s love and in return, all of them, from the eleven year-old Buddy to the four year-old Cece, are loving dogs back to us.  We had to buy a bigger bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baddicus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Our second dog, a \u201cbefore LPR\u201d dog, is Atticus.  He\u2019s a Yellow Lab, big and goofy, taken from the Franklin County Shelter before he was \u201cput-down\u201d for major ear infections.  It turns out they weren\u2019t infected; Atticus is allergic to most animal proteins.  He can\u2019t eat beef, nor buffalo, nor chicken, turkey, deer or even duck.  If he does, he gets crazy reactions in his ears, so much so that when we brought him home from the shelter, we thought he might be deaf.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelters don\u2019t have the time or money to work out those slow problems on stray dogs found wandering the park, but we did.  So, after trial and error, and with the help of our outstanding Vet Dr. Hicken, we found what Atticus could eat.  He\u2019s a sweet potato and salmon guy, and for treats he can also have carrots (and celery, though too much isn\u2019t good for him).   And he hears just fine, even if you stand up at the other end of the house.  He\u2019s right there, an escort, ready for whatever you\u2019re going to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atticus is a \u201cneedy\u201d guy.  He wants snuggles, he wants attention, he does not like to be left alone.  Anxiety often is Atticus\u2019s middle name (not the \u201cBaddicus\u201d we nicknamed him.  All of our dogs have dual names, Buddy Budreau, Atticus Baddicus, Lou-Easyiana, Keelie Lee, and Cece Baby Yoda).   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Game Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And they all like to run around and roughhouse in the backyard.  Even Buddy, at eleven, on good days will go out and bark at everyone else, trying to get them \u201cin-line\u201d as any good herding dog should.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we don\u2019t know what happened.  But  a few weeks ago, Atticus was limping on three legs.  He just didn\u2019t want to put his right-rear leg down, except for the times he required it to take his stance.  Both Jenn and I examined it, but couldn\u2019t find a place where we elicited pain.  So we figured he bruised a pad in his foot, or stressed a muscle.  He didn\u2019t seem particularly upset, and found a new, high-speed limp that worked for him. We gave it a couple weeks.  But the limp didn\u2019t get better.  So it was a visit to the Pataskala Animal Hospital. Dr. Hicken wasn\u2019t available, so we saw another great veterinarian, Dr. Borders.  And she gave us the bad news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACL<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I was a track coach, and over forty years I became very familiar with knee injuries. The ultimate bad news in knees is the dreaded initials \u201cACL\u201d, the anterior cruciate ligament that keeps the thigh bones from grinding against the lower leg bones in the knee joint.  When the ACL is torn, the knee is unstable, and surgery is the only answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now ACL surgery for athletes is a big deal.  There\u2019s a minimal six months recovery rate.  When an ACL is torn this season is over, and there\u2019s a ton of rehabilitation to get ready for the next year.  And there are few shortcuts in successful ACL surgery, pretty much getting the diagnosis means the entire plan \u2013 from the Bengals Joe Burrow to a high school girls cross country runner.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for dogs it\u2019s even worse.  The knee joint in dogs isn\u2019t the flat-on-flat of the human knee.  A dog\u2019s knee joint is at an angle, with serious shearing forces against the ligaments.  So when a dog\u2019s ACL tears, the knee just doesn\u2019t work right.  And meanwhile, all of those shearing forces are doubled on the other knee.  Fifty percent of Labs that tear one ACL will tear the other within a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you know where I\u2019m going \u2013 Atticus tore his ACL, just like Cincinnati\u2019s Joe Burrow and that high school girl runner.  And there\u2019s only one solution.  It\u2019s a different surgery in dogs than it is in humans, one that requires a total change in the geometry of the knee.  Bone is altered, plates are screwed in:  it\u2019s a big deal.  For most dogs, it\u2019s a two to three month recovery rate to get back to about 85% of \u201cfull\u201d.  Atticus won\u2019t be catching passes in the \u201cPuppy Bowl\u201d (and he won\u2019t be playing the piano either!!).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exile<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

He had surgery yesterday.  It\u2019s tough \u2013 he was so excited to \u201cgo for\u201d a ride, and meet new people at COVE \u2013 the veterinary hospital where Dr. Howard did the surgery in Delaware, Ohio. Rochelle, his surgical assistant, quickly made Atticus her “best friend”, and is managing us in managing his care.  When we picked him up, he was still stoned on the anesthesia, headed into exile in a crate in Jenn\u2019s office.  He can\u2019t jump up on the bed to sleep beside us, can\u2019t hang with the rest of the pack, and has to figure out a new way to poop (without spinning at least three times).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atticus is drugged, big time.  It\u2019s the only way to keep him down for at least the first two weeks until the staples come out.  We did get rid of the \u201ccone of shame\u201d.  We\u2019ve switched him to a more palatable air cushion ring, like the thing frequent flyers use to sleep on a plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0But he\u2019s still miserable, clearly trying to figure out what he did wrong to get crated in exile.\u00a0\u00a0Jenn spent the night with him last night, I\u2019ve got the day shift right now.\u00a0\u00a0CeCe, Keelie and Lou are just outside the office door, desperate to see their friend.\u00a0\u00a0We are on Day-One, at least ten days to go before our new \u201cstoner-boy\u201d will be allowed to get sober.\u00a0\u00a0At least he’s sleeping \u2013 now.\u00a0\u00a0But there\u2019s a nose under the crack of the door.\u00a0\u00a0Inquiring minds want to know — what\u2019s up with Atticus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Sunday Story Series<\/h5>\n\n\n\n