Hi peeps, My 20 month old lab had surgery for elbow dysplasia and vet insists on 6 weeks no exercise. Oh my goodness, he is going bonkers. I have a little dog walking business which I do part time and he usually comes with me. How guilty do I feel now, he can't come with me?! No let out, I play with him a little bit in the garden and with toys. Hide some treats in the house (not allowed upstairs either) but what else can I do to entertain him? I feel terribly sorry for him
You have my sympathies! Here is a thread you might find useful: https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/things-to-do-for-dogs-on-restricted-exercise.10654/
I really feel for you both, hold in on there it will be worth it and I’m talking from experience. The thread @Beanwood shared was an absolute life line for me. It saved my sanity. I didn’t look at the bigger picture of four months, just took one day at a time. A bit like breaking an almost impossible task into bite size chunks. Making the task less daunting and easier to achieve. Hope that helps you a little.
Is it completely no exercise, or are you allowed to build up gradually? Lady had ops for ED about 6 years ago by keyhole surgery and was allowed to build up from 10 mins a day by an additional 10 mins a week if I recall correctly. Complete nightmare at first as she was supposed to be on-lead all the time, but she's one of those dogs that needs to examine every inch of a field before finding the EXACT right spot for a wee. I figured I was doing more damage by having her on the lead during this routine than by letting her off the lead so that's what I did if there were no other dogs around. She was ok and the 6 weeks actually went by quickly enough. Good luck!
Hey David, vet recommended 3 x 10 mins max in the garden. I have taken him over to the local park though for 20 mins. But we need to allow time for the tissue to regrow and the joints to heal so yes, the least as possible. I work in London two days a week and after picking him up from the dog boarder the other day, he went completely bonkers, running around in circles like a mad dog in the back garden!
Following our surgery for ED at 8 months we were allowed only 3x 3 minutes for the first 4 weeks and only on lead to prevent any running around/rzoomies etc to give the elbows the best chance of healing well. After 4 weeks we were allowed to slowly build exercise by extending one walk at a time by a minute. Mind games really do tire out dogs without lots of exercise and the best/most appropriate games will depend upon whether your dog likes to investigate with nose and mouth or paws.
I totally feel your pain and frustration. We have an 18 month old who just completed 12 weeks of strict no exercise restriction. Short lead to go business only. It was very difficult at first because of his extremely high energy nature. The link posted above has some great activities that really helped. I believe he also slowly got accustomed to a more sedate life style. We also had to put rugs down so he wouldn’t slip on the hard floors. He spent most of his time in a pen with frozen Kongs. “Find it” really helped tire his brain out and made the days bearable for him. Good luck.
