Surgery and slowing down a vizsla

As Henley's limping and holding up of his left paw increased in frequency due to having Osteochondritis Dissecans aka OCD in his left shoulder I decided that he had to go and see the vet about having surgery. Our local vet referred us to a specialist at SASH (small animal specialist hospital) where Henley went when he had toxicity a couple of months ago.

The side entrance to SASH

Come on this way!

Waiting to see the specialist

The specialist was running a bit late so my dad took him outside for a bit of a stroll.
When it came time for us to see the specialist Henley of course bounced around like a jumping bean instead of limping like he has been doing a lot of.
The orthopaedic specialist thoroughly examined Henley's joints and advised that the best option for Henley to recover would be to have surgery to remove the flap of cartilage. It would be an arthroscopic surgery (unless they have a problem removing the flap and a larger incision is required) and would be in hospital over night to recover. So late this afternoon I will be dropping Henley off at SASH where he will be staying overnight, having his surgery tomorrow morning and staying overnight again on monday night and if all goes well coming home on tuesday.

This morning we went for a casual stroll (this is me trying to slow Henley down so he isn't in too much pain before his surgery) at Pennant Hills Park.
And I am pretty sure Henley sniffed every square in of the oval we visited.

All these new smells.

Excitedly pulling on the lead while wearing his easy walk head halter.

Left, right, left which way should we go?

Hey mum isn't this place great!

hmm not sure what this smell is from

A blurry Henley licking his nose after a particularly interesting sniff

A treat break (training) is always a good thing

I hope we come back here again, this place is great for investigating!

Even though Henley is meant to be resting as much as possible a short casual walk is a must otherwise Henley goes crazy being inside all the time and his zoomies (crazy racing around the yard or house at breakneck speed) are the worst thing he could be doing to his shoulder. So we have been to different neighbouring areas where Henley has never been, so sniffs and gets to smell all new things. This tires him out mentally and keeps both of us sane. 
With Henley's shoulder injury he has gone from being fit and able to run rings around his canine friends at the dog park to getting worn out by just walking to the park. The vet said that his fitness condition and the small amount of muscle wastage is normal with this type of injury/ illness and that once he has recovered we can build him back up to how he was pre-OCD. 

I'll keep you all posted on how Henley's surgery and recovery goes. Wish him luck!