After surgery on her elbow, we have been told we have to keep Lola in the house with only frequent lead walks in the garden for 5 weeks. I am so worried that she will get depressed as she loves her walks. Its only the first day after surgery and she is crying and standing by the front door, literally begging to go for a walk. Of course she doesn't understand why we are being so mean. She is only 2 years old so is bouncing with energy and doesn't seem the slightest bit bothered about her elbow, just the fact that we won't take her out.
Re: House bound after surgery Oh poor Lola and poor you too , I really do feel for you, must be awful to have to restrict her so much . The only thing I can say, by way of comfort, is that the weeks will fly by and as dogs have little conception of time , she will cope . Its hard, but its for her good to stick to the regime , good luck my thoughts are with you
Re: House bound after surgery Thanks for the words of encouragement. I am so sorry for Lola as with the ED being diagnosed it means no more ball chasing (too much strain on the weight bearing front legs) and I think that is what she will miss the most.
Re: House bound after surgery Very sorry to hear of your health issues with Lola, but don't despair... Julie went through MONTHS of crate rest after Charlie tore his cruciate ligament, and David's Lady was operated on for ED and regularly goes picking up on their local shoot, so don't worry, you will get through it and Lola will have a happy and active life.
Re: House bound after surgery You'll both get through this take heart and you will find other things that she'll love to do even if she can't chase tennis balls Here's a really useful post from JulieT to someone else who was staring down the barrel of weeks of restriction:
Re: House bound after surgery Poor Lola. She might not be able to run for a ball anymore but you can still do retrieving with her even with a ball. You can do blind retrieves and memory retrieves on walks. You could even start doing things like that inside or in the garden while she's on lead. You could go out first and hide a ball then take Lola out on lead and tell her to find the ball. I'm guessing it will be nose down tail up straight away. It might make only being able to go in the garden more interesting for her and take her mind off wanting to go for a big walk.
Re: House bound after surgery Ah I'm really sorry ,it might not feel like it but you are on the up now...the diagnosis has been made, the operation performed and you just need to get through this recuperation time.we are lucky to have such a huge forum membership ,there's a lot of experience out there and people are so kind coming forward with advice .....this time will pass and Lola will have a full ,rich life with you x Best wishes Angela x
Re: House bound after surgery Thank you everyone for your good wishes and for the tips on how to get through it. Luckily for us, Lola is a very calm dog most of the time and doesn't jump up and is not allowed on our sofa or upstairs so I am really hoping that it will never be necessary to have her on a lead in the house - can't imagine how difficult that must be. However, I do think that one of the reasons she is so calm is that she has always had lots of walks, play and company so has never been cooped up in the house for long. I have already tried some of the hide and seek games and have her Kong at the ready for tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.
Re: House bound after surgery Happy speedy and thorough recovery for Lola!!! Terribly frustrating for you, but as the post from Julie shows...it's all about finding ways to occupy their need for stimulation. When my Bella is bursting at the seams in need of something to settle her down...I usually opt to do a clicker training session with her...and focus on making her think, and puzzle out things....101 things to do with a box is the basics of it....challenge her to think and offer different behaviors. Once you've done it a few times, you see the wheels turning as they try and figure out which action will get them the treat. We usually end up laughing at her antics with no appreciable skill having been achieved...but good mental stimulation. 4 paws in a box (recent post in clicker training about it) is another one, and I also have a wooden box about 2 inches tall that we work with to get her to stand on things and spin her but around...and I've almost got her to sit on it....almost....need some more rainy day training for that. Just be creative and find ways to mentally stimulate her during this time.
Re: House bound after surgery So sorry to hear of Lola's problems with ED. I'm just facing the prospect that Juno has ED and she is only 8 months old. Our thoughts and best wishes are with you as Lola recovers from her surgery.
Re: House bound after surgery Best of luck with the recovery. It can seem like such a long time, but it does pass. Charlie had no lasting effects from months of rest as a teenager - well, perhaps it didn't help his generally over excitable nature, and missing out on training when he was younger again didn't help that, but that's about it. Certainly no other long term issues or problems resulted.
Re: House bound after surgery I have heard the "No walks - No worries" book is very good too from another group I frequent. I do wish you luck. And lots of patience x
