Molly’s Diary – Week 8

Anybody interested in what Molly has been up to lately? Well you already know about her accident which resulted in a broken leg. At her check up with Dr. Rob, he took an x-ray and was concerned that Molly’s bones had started to separate. On his recommendation, we scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon at North Georgia Veterinary Specialists.

Within the week we had a consultation and Molly was taken in for surgery to place a plate in her leg to help with the healing. Surgery was on Thursday and she came home on Friday – oh what a pitiful sight she was… poor Molly. We were instructed to keep her quiet and on kennel rest with her cone collar on and to return in one week for a bandage change.

That was a hard week. I mean, trying to keep a 5-month-old Labrador quiet and not let her run, jump, and play was a challenge, but if we want Molly to heal we will follow instructions the best we possibly can.

Molly has been unable to walk by herself up and down stairs so we have been getting quite the workout (she is weighing in at almost 30lbs now). During Molly’s down time, we have been concentrating on training exercises which can be done in place, such as leave it, paying attention, sit, down, and relaxing on her mat.

One of our concerns was that the doctor had warned us that Molly was very likely to gain weight due to her lack of exercise during this time, so we have been very conscious of using her kibble as training treats so as not to overfeed her. Another idea we had was to put some kibble in a bowl, soak it in broth, and then freeze it. This is great to keep her occupied in her pen during times when there were things going on that she would usually be trying to get involved in.

Molly had her sutures removed one week later. She is doing well but still limping and is to be kept on kennel rest until her next follow up in two weeks. We are hoping at that point we will get the all clear to add more exercise to her routine – she is really wanting to play with Mitch and he is confused as to why we are stopping them from playing together. At least the cone collar is gone now though.

While it’s important to keep Molly from moving around too much, we thought it would be good for her to get out in the fresh air and meet people. We took Mitch and Molly and spent a nice hour at the Vickery with them sitting on their mat outside the Cherry Street Brewery watching the world go by.

Some things Molly is discovering:

• Even though she is not allowed to jump, it won’t stop her trying.
• As soon as her crate door is opened, if she moves really fast, she can get right past us and to Mitch before we can stop her.
• She is enjoying the attention and still loves the vet.

Keep looking out for Molly’s next diary entry and in the meantime if you want to check on how she is doing please don’t hesitate to ask!

Karen@sauteedogtrainer.com