And so it starts. Boden went one year before his accident proneness kicked in, Holly made it 4 1/2 months. Yesterday afternoon I was outside cleaning up the yard. I deposited some of her deposits in a bag, then picked up a ball and flung it for her. My eyes were still looking for deposits when I heard the yelp. Holly was on the ground with a wide eye stare and her left rear leg quivering. It melted my heart when she pushed her head into my chest wanting so much for me to make things better. We just hung there for a bit until she wanted to go inside, getting herself to the door on 3 legs. Not a good sign. When inside she laid down for a long nap. Later, DeeAnn had her leg wrapped in ice packs, which Holly didn’t object to at all.
As time passed she started weight bearing again and wanting to chase Gracie, a good sign. One of the greatest securities in life is to have a great vet and I do! I placed the call to the Doughterty’s Vet explaining what happened, in about a half hour Dr. Lisa calls me to discuss. We agreed to give her the night and see how she was faring in the morning. This morning, I truly wouldn’t have been able to tell she had an ortho incident with exception to how she went down the stairs. She actually walked them, touching each step, a far cry from the dash and daring 4-stair touch she makes in attempt to beat Gracie down to the bottom. The fact that she walked down the stairwell normally was criteria to go for an evaluation. Holly let out a couple whimpers during Dr. Lisa’s manual manipulation assessment which led to having a couple x-rays. I didn’t go back with Holly with them but Dr. Lisa made comment about how cooperative Holly was lying on her back and spreading her legs during the X-ray. I had to chuckle, this likely was benefit of the wingy-wingy game DeeAnn has been doing with her! X-rays looked great, no apparent bone or joint involvement. Holly has a soft tissue injury and is to rest and be leashed walked for a ‘few’ days. The goal is to make it to the week-end! Fortunately this evening DeeAnn and I attended a concert so Holly was inside her crate, that took 3 hours – about 50 more to go.
Holly has a different crate, generously provided by Kooper. Lana brought it on Easter and set it up in my bedroom upstairs. It is a stronger and better quality than the wire crate I was using, which will now become the basement crate. The new crate, now named the Kooper-Crate, has sat in my bedroom a couple days unused. I walk into my bedroom and Holly is taking serious interest in the Kooper-Crate so I jump on the opportunity to introduce her to it. I praise her for her interest and guide her further into it, locking the gate. Then I hear a thump, thump, thump – her tail hitting the sides of the crate. And I have this fleeting thought of how odd that is, for her to be so happy about being crated. Then I hear the hiss! I look into the Kooper-Crate only to have Gracie and Holly both looking back at me, sitting side by side each wide-eyed and frozen in space. I had just locked Gracie & Holly inside the crate together. I quickly get to the front and fumble with the latches until both are undone so the door opens. Gracie is the first one out and she was not shy about expressing her feelings to me about my ignorance. Holly stayed in the crate and peered out at me. I had to give her an all-clear signal before she would exit. I have no idea why Gracie decided to take her nap inside the dog crate. She’s probably asking herself that same question.
Holly has a way of changing habits.
