Lame dog

[skinnydipper]

Secondhand baby gates/dog crates at both properties.

Games and enrichment for dogs on restricted exercise:

Food/treat dispensing toys, snuffle mats, lickimats, stuffed kongs, put food in egg boxes, toilet rolls, in boxes filled with waste paper, in muffin tins with a ball over each 'cup', long lasting chews, interactive toys such as Nina Ottosson, teach her the shell game.

 

[meggymoo]

Well if you want your dog to recover I think you are going to have to put up with inconveniences like moving stair gates around - it isn’t difficult. Our dog is 3 months on from cruciate surgery. Yesterday our vet congratulated us on obviously following their instructions to the letter (8 weeks crate rest with just toilets breaks on a lead), 2 x 10 minute walks a day from 4 weeks, increasing by 5 minutes each week, no off lead, no jumping on sofa etc. When he was allowed to ditch the crate our house looked quite ridiculous with footstools lined up on the sofa to stop him getting on, clothes horse in front of the window to stop him putting his front paws on the sill to look out etc etc. Having put him through the surgery, not to mention the cost, the least we could do for him was to give him maximum chance of full recovery. Just sometimes we have to put ourselves out a little.

 

[Redders]

Playing was most likely meant by the vet as mental stimulation rather than playing with lots of physical activity. The ideal is rest, cage rest. Sometimes I know from discussing with the owner that it won’t be done, it just means recovery is longer and more chance of a relapse. The point to physio and things is controlled movements to support muscle mass during recovery, they key to that is controlled movements

 

[Sandstone1]

Things like snuffle mats, stuffed kongs, brain games and interactive toys will help give mental stimulation. A 2 min sniffy walk will also wear her out. You would not take a horse on box rest out on a hack for instance. Think of it the same way.https://www.amazon.co.uk/walks-worries-Maintaining-wellbeing-restricted/dp/1787115054.
Dont think link works but look up No walks No worries on Amazon.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

...

Besides which when partner spoke to the vet in a tongue in cheek way about having a very bored dog due to not having walks (as she is a very active dog) he was told that in order to alleviate the boredom he could play with her, so we are not talking strict cage rest, more like no long walks, running across fields, etc.

I need to get the report from the vet in order for my physio friend to treat her and then get some clarity on what's wrong with her. For a dog that can't go on walks for 4 weeks but is allowed to play with its human, either something has been lost in translation or the vet hasn't a clue, or she's not nearly as bad as we thought.

Your first update said the veterinarian had said she needs 6 weeks rest, and "4 weeks until she can go on walks on a lead starting with 5 mins a day."
But now the veterinarian is supposed to have said playing is okay, as long as she's not running across fields, and going on long walks?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect your partner suffers of a severe case of only hearing what he wanted to hear.

Or the veterinarian eventually realised your partner wouldn't agree to no exercise at all so basically gave up, and perhaps said Fine, you can play with her, but just don't take her for long walks. Could you call your veterinarian, and both ask for a report to your physio friend, and a clarification about what they actually recommended about her care for the next weeks?

Your dog looks so sweet, and I'm sorry she's ill. It sucks that your partner won't crate her, but I get that it's not always easy to arrange everything to be optimal when she's not only spending her days in your home, with stairgates etc.
However, if your partner's brother can't be expected to just put on a lead, go outside the door, wait until she's gone to the toilet, and then go in again, when she's not even allowed to go for a 5 minutes walk, then can you really leave your ill dog with him? I presume he usually just lets her out, and eventually in again, for her toilet breaks during the day, which is fine when the dog is okay, but just doesn't sound doable at the moment.

I was also going to suggest the things others have already suggested, with e.g. Nina Ottosson brain training toys etc. Also if she gets dry food, don't feed in a bowl without throw it out over the floor, and let her use her nose to find it all.
Hope you find a solution that works for her, and that her recovery goes as smoothly as possible.

 

[alibali]

I'm sure if you check with the vet they will clarify that by play with your dog they weren't meaning fetch or tug of war! They will mean things like mental games/sniffing games to engage and tire her mentally not physically. You can buy lots of toys where the dog needs to problem solve, usually for a food reward. Try Googling dog puzzle toys for ideas

As someone who has had to nurse a very large, very active, high drive dog through tibial plateau surgery for a cruciate rupture I know how hard it is to keep them quiet but the long and short of it is that unless you make the necessary adjustments to your lifestyle/home her chances of a good/timeous recovery are not great. I appreciate you have an awful lot going on in your life at the moment but trying to make the modifications needed will hopefully keep the hassle to the shortest possible time.

All my dogs are crate trained from puppies for exactly this reason, it makes enforced rest so much easier on both dog and owner. Properly crate trained dogs love their crates associating them with happiness and security. My current dog was crated trained at his breeders from birth and on his first day with me ran straight to the crate when he saw it, went in curled up and fell asleep. It was his security having been taken away from his mother and litter mates and introduced to a strange new house. He still sleeps in his crate every night now. Even though the door hasn't been closed for about 5 years if absolute rest was required it could be enforced with minimum stress to either of us!

As an aside for anyone reading this, please always remove collars when leaving your dogs unsupervised, it's not only in crates that random and horrible accidents can happen.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

I’m afraid I would not be paying any attention to what your partner wants. Isn’t he the one you said hit the dog? Right there is where I would have left him. He doesn’t appear to have much of a clue.

 

[SilverLinings]

I often see free baby gates stacked up at the local tip or advertised on Gumtree as free as long as the buyer collects. Dog crates are also often advertised on Gumtree for free or very little, so you should be able to get what you need to kit both houses out either for free or very cheaply. Free baby gates are so easy to find that I don't keep any, just track some down when I need them (e.g. have a new puppy, or have a dog that needs rehabbing).

It is amazing how quickly dogs adapt so hopefully she tolerates the restrictions well. I hope that she makes a complete recovery.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

My local dog rescue has crates for free.