Lizards better watch out!

Nathan has had such a great week.  Check him out today walking like a maniac....fast and steady!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dl7PxZdUoY

He's walking almost as if nothing ever happened.  You can hardly tell he has a weak side now. Now that's a happy thanksgiving!

And, happy thanksgiving to everyone!
Warm Regards,
Heidi

Out of the Blue - Tail Wagging

Who would think after 8 months Nathan would finally start wagging his tail??!!  I came home from work the other day, and Nathan was standing (yes, standing) at the door wagging his tail, really wagging it.  Wow, all this time, he never has been able to really wag his tail.  It would have very small movements, but not like this! I remember reading all those articles about the order in which recovery happens...tail wagging is supposed to be first, then potty control, then walking.   This is just another reminder that recovery continues to occur, month after month.  Nathan continues to surprise me.  He is such an amazing dog!

Getting to a stable place

So, we are finding that Nathan is now doing best with 2 short walks and one longer walk (limited to about 1/2 mile).   Overall, he's getting about 1 mile of total walking per day.  This seems to keep him from having setbacks while still toning his muscles.  We'll stay at this level for awhile and see how we do.   One bit of good news, over the last week, he has managed to empty his bladder on the long walk a number of times.  With any luck, we can get this happening on the short walks.  Not sure if we'll ever get to the point where we can just run him outside to go potty.   

  

Dox-a-Palooza!

I need to sidetrack today to brag about my little Frankie, aka Doodlebug, so named for his compulsive need to drink water and subsequently pee.   Yesterday was the Dox-a-Palooza, which is DARE's annual fund raiser (Dachshund rescue).  For the 3rd year, Frankie took home 1st place in the Lick-a-Lot contest (most face licks in 1 minute).  At 152 licks, he beat his nearest competition, which was 93 licks.  Nathan was there to cheer on his best friend....and..Nathan...

is back in good shape after his Thursday acupuncture treatment.  He walked all over the park at Dox-a-Palooza and those who know him from our normal local dog park were rightfully impressed.   It was a fun day for all and I had two very tired doxsies when we got home! 

A bit of a set back

After 2 1/2 weeks of Nathan walking like a maniac, Tuesday came and something was wrong.  He could barely walk.  I didn't panic on that first day.  Then, Wednesday, same thing.  Slightly better, but nowhere near where we had been and he really needed to walk with his sling.  So, then, panic began to set in.  Could he have ruptured another disk or was this just extreme fatigue?  He had an acupuncture appointment with the vet on Thursday, so I tried to keep calm and waited for today.  So, I relayed the events of the past 3 weeks to the vet.  Immediately he said, it was probably too soon for us to have switched from every 2 weeks of treatment to every 3 weeks.  He examined Nathan and said he had low Chi.    We will go back to treatment every 2 weeks again.  We gave Nathan a rest tonight, no walking.  We'll slow start walking, shorter walks again tomorrow.  Hopefully, we haven't caused too much of a setback. 

I can't deny I am a bit heartbroken as this is really the first major setback that we have had.