Nearly back to normal

It's been a while since my last post, I apologise but now Henley's shoulder has healed rather nicely and he is allowed to start visiting the park for a run. Henley loves the dog park and knows when we are heading there. We aimed to get to the dog park when there weren't any dogs there (as redundant as that sounds). The reason being so that he does get to involved with other dogs in running around, playing and possibly re-injuring himself. We did however get to the park one day to come face to face with a 4-5 moth old Vizsla pup. We were quite surprised as we have yet to come across one at the park. Henley and his new Vizsla pup friend Ollie had a blast together and enjoyed being with each as they both seemed to gel. I've found that at the dog park some of the different breeds tend to come out more in each dog. The Shepard breeds (Collies, Kelpies, Shelties etc) tend to be ball crazy and have no time for a young Vizsla who wants to chase and be chased. The Greyhounds and whippets run at such a pace that they are impossible to catch. Try as Henley does he can only catch up with them when they are having a drink or resting which isn't any fun for them or Henley. The smaller breeds generally stick to themselves and when there are rambunctious giants (in comparison) racing around like idiots and wrestling who can blame them? Henley does have a couple of smaller friends that he loves to run and play with: a black and white Papillon named Axl and a Beagle named Sam.
Henley has been away from all of his friends at the dog park for so long (two months seem like a lifetime for Henley and his humans). So he'll be weaned back to going to the park at the 'peak' dog periods once he's been to the park at less busy times.

One thing I have noticed is that Henley has gotten even more sassy since his surgery. He's not afraid of telling who's who and what's what. Especially if it is a impudent inanimate treat that needs a good talking to and smack before being devoured.

Henley has always been a vocal dog from letting us know when something is amiss, battling over the best bed with Tess to groaning and moaning when he can't get comfortable when he's tired and wants a nap. And as summer approaches and the flies, moths and butterflies have come out in force his day can be quite busy chasing down flies and leaping after butterflies and moths. If they fly out of his reach or they are on the wrong side of the glass door he is no afraid of letting everyone (and I mean everyone) know his frustration.
An update on the battle against the alien (cat) invasion of earth (or at least the family room): Henley is still fighting and not letting the aliens (cats) presence get him down, its the little victories/ battles that make up the war. Tess (alien threat in Henley's eyes) is being her ever patient self and lets us and Henley know when she has had enough. Do you have a war waging in your house? Is it one sided or are both species giving as good as they get?

Post Shoulder Surgery

Let me start off by saying that you really don't realise how much you miss your fur baby until they aren't there. I dropped Henley off to the Small Animal Specialist Hospital (SASH) on late Sunday afternoon and he was one of the first to be operated on, on Monday morning. I was waiting for the phone call to hear how his surgery went and they said they would call at around 12pmish. I watched the minutes tick by until 1pm and called them to find out how my lad went. The veterinarian said the surgery went well and that Henley was already awake and was groggily already up on his paws. Staying overnight they said that he should be fine to be picked up on tuesday (today).

Our house had changed massively with Henley coming into the family but I didm;t realise just how loud and boisterous he had turned our house into till he was absent. The old tabby Tess and the two younger cats Skitz and Princess kept looking around behind them expecting Henley to pop up and pounce on them out of the blue. Our house was a lot quieter in Henley's absence as he is the most vocal dog I have ever come across. He groans, moans, sighs, grumbles, chats, whistle whines and makes a row row row sound that always has us laughing when he belts it out.

After receiving a call that Henley was good to be picked up and brought home in the afternoon I went to pick up my boy. Sitting in the waiting room to see Henley and his Veterinarian as I heard a door open and the sound of nails on the linoleum floor could be heard my dad and I looked up the hallway. I quickly glanced at my Dad and could see that he didn't recognise the dog walking towards us. "It's Henley dad," he was shocked and asked "is it really him?" at the sound of our voices Henley started to pull on the leash and whine to get to us. You may ask how could you not recognise you own dog? I recognised him but I could see why dad initially didn't recognise our boy. Over a quarter of my once golden rust coloured boy was white! He had been shaved and boy could you see the difference between fur and bare shaved skin.

What do you mean my haircut isn't the latest fashion?

He is still regal even looking a little yin yang/ cow spotted like.

There's a big difference in texture when you pat Henley at the moment.

 It's going to be tricky keeping Henley rested, but in order for him to recover well it has to be done (even when he pulls out his Bambi eyes and wants to go running around the yard like a crazy cyclone). I know one thing for sure dad is certainly happy that his little man is back home.

I think dad's happy to have his little man back at home.

Grandad loves his little fella being back at home where he belongs.

For the next 7-10 days Henley's allowed very small walks to the letter box and back (we live in a battle-axe block so the drive is a little longer than normal and suits the distance the vet recommended) three times a day. Then after having a check up in a fortnight we can slowly but steadily build up to more exercise and eventually he'll be back to normal (fingers crossed).

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!