Recovery

It’s been eight weeks since the big stack and it feels like it’s been a really, really long time. We are making progress in the right direction even though we did have a set back with one of his shoulders. Thanks to Pam I found an amazing physio in Leigh from Animal Physio Perth. As soon as she put her hands on him she told me that his shoulder muscle was torn along with a very sore back and hindquarters. After treating him she put him on a strict rehab program which basically decreased everything we were doing, some very low impact strengthening exercises and no stretches at all. He was frustrated and struggling with the lack of exercise and I could feel every bit of that frustration which was essentially then radiating off both of us. The amount of management required to stop a nineteen month old working border collie from going insane from boredom and lack of exercise is seriously exhausting. In saying that there have been some positives. He has learned to become calmer and his reactive moments are getting fewer. We have developed our relationship beyond it mostly being training time into time that we just hang out. There are some things he did that bugged me a bit and I think most have disappeared because I’ve spent more time focusing on those things rather than it coming second to fitness work or agility training. It doesn't mean that he suddenly has become an angel but he has matured over the last couple of months and has become far better at relaxing and chilling out.

Veto @ twenty months

If I thought Ve hurting himself was crappy, things got even more challenging a few weeks later when my Mum became unwell and I had to rush her to Emergency at St John of God in Murdoch. She was so sick she couldn’t keep either food or liquid down. They admitted her immediately and she spent the next two weeks there being treated for a serious lung infection. So my days became pattern of sleep, work, exercise dogs, rehab for Veto, feed dogs, visit Mum in hospital, dinner, sleep and repeat. It was utterly exhausting and I was hugely relieved when Mum had recovered and the doctors would finally let her come home so everyone’s lives could get back to some sort of normal.

Full moon at home

Ve has improved enough now that he can have a few on normal length leash walks every day. He has muscled up really nicely, especially through his core with the strengthening work and Leigh thinks that he can probably start some fitness work in another couple of weeks. We head off on our belated honeymoon this weekend and we’ll be away for two weeks so I’m hoping that when we get back, if Leigh gives us the all clear, we can start the process of getting him agility fit again and get back into it. It would be nice to have him back in the ring in October sometime but it will depend on how quickly things progress. It is a totally different process getting an experienced dog back into the ring as opposed to a total novice. I ruled out any thoughts of entering the Perth Royal Show a while ago which will be the first time I haven’t done the Royal in probably 15 years or so. Even if he was doing well in training I don’t want his first time back in the ring to be in an environment that he isn’t familiar with (not to mention highly stressful), on equipment he doesn’t know all of which has lots of potential stressors attached to it.

Everyone loves the food man...

Right now I’m looking forward to two weeks overseas with a few days in Singapore followed by eight nights on the resort island of Ko Samui as our belated honeymoon. Lots of chill out time with no responsibilities! A very rare thing. Not to mention I get to wear shorts and t-shirts which is also a rare thing at the moment in Perth because it has been an unusually long, cold and wet winter. Hopefully by the time we get back Perth might have warmed up a bit. But I have to say it's been so nice to enjoy the property again this winter. I never get tired of getting home from work and enjoying what we have here.

Spring is on its way