Today my neighbor with the GSP and Border Collie asked me if we wanted to do a walk down the slough with the dogs and his grandkids who are visiting (3 year old and 6 year old). I said yes!!! and off we went. The grandkids are very dog savvy (their mom is a vet tech) and Dudley was excited to meet them. We had a good walk until we turned around at the end of the slough to walk back. Dudley absolutely lost his mind!!!
He was roaring about, hopping logs (barely) and running up into the bushes on the bank and exploding out of them. The other dogs were confused and the border collie tried to herd Dudley to calm him down. My neighbor said “maybe he’s tracking something?” and then seconds later he said “I think he’s playing!” We had never seen this type of behavior with Dudley, ever! He was just tearing around like a mad dog with the happiest look on his face. Basically running up into the bushes and bursting out of them. It was so fun to watch him but my parent brain was all “oh, that’s going to hurt later”
Now he is crashed out on his bed with the heating pad. It’s so hard…that brief moment of absolute joy that he has to pay for later. It was a moment for me, to see him so happy and just not caring about his missing leg. It made me realize that we have to let them have those moments but not every day. There need to be resting days as well. I know that once I get him doing acupuncture and on supportive supplements, we will have more of the happy dog days. He also went over to my parents house for about 45 minutes of just hanging out, eating snacks with grandpa and chilling out on the floor. They have a wonderful little cottage home with a wood stove so it is nice and warm (love that wood heat!) and lots of fun things to smell. And Dudley is totally The Dude…he just chills and may eat whatever dog food he can get to but he’s good with a nice rug and a warm space.
What a joyful thing to watch! It’s like a lightbulb went on and Dudley finally knew he found his forever home, his forever human, his forever family, his forever friends! WHEEEEE!!!! I can see it now. That feeling of being seen and supported and loved just clicked for him. He’s home!
I agree it’s hard to let our Tripawds be a dog and do dog things, while staying protective and vigilant. It’s all about balance. In the future, keeping an eye on how long those zoomie sessions last, and requiring break rests will help keep him protected against injury. You’re giving him great care and support, he’s got a great future ahead.
He’s sore today…but the rain and wind showed up so staying on the bed was a no-brainer for him 🙂 He’s also got a little log rash on the inside of his back leg from when he attempted to hop over a log. I wish we could have gotten a video of him, the looks on our faces and the other dogs were confused 😀
and two days later he is finally willing to go back down the slough road. I let him tell me what he was willing to do in terms of his leg being sore. Fortunately we have our little fenced yard over at my parents house that he can do his businees in. tonight he finally was willing to go down the road and take care of some serious business. I’ve learned with him that when he digs his legs in and gives you that look, it either needs to be serious business where you have to coax/tug him forward or you turn around and take him back home. He is a very polite boy and doesn’t want to have an accident in the house but he is also a master at holding it.
I figure that right now, with our new relationship, I don’t push my dominance any more than needed. If there was a real emergency, Dudley would be surprised. I would toss his grumpy grumbles in the car or tug him across the road. He knows that I will overlook his feelings in a serious situation. We can deal with that business later 🙂