Mumble on Bed Rest?!

So Mumble has been limping a little bit over the past week, and I took him to the vet on Friday for a check up and to have her look at the limp. It's not really a pronounced limp, more like a slight hobble in his gait, and I couldn't for sure isolate which leg it was, since he continued to bear weight on all of them. The vet did a thorough orthopedic exam, carefully examining all of his joints, etc. She found that one leg (his front left one) was not extending as well and was the location of his pain, and called it an "overuse injury."

Her prescription:
Pain medications and supplements to support healing in the joint and muscle
Rest for two to four weeks; no agility, no doggie daycare, no play dates with dogs, no rigorous walks!

Mumble's "rest" and restricted activity began on Thursday, when I called the vet the day before our appointment and she instructed me to have him rest until we came in. So here we are in day three of the sentence and it's going reasonably well, although I already know what a challenge this is going to be for both of us.

Anyone who knows Mumble (or has ever read this blog) knows he is an extremely active, energetic dog. (I'm sure this high activity level is the biggest contributing factor to his current "overuse" injury). In times past, he has moved large furniture in my apartment, climbed things, escaped confinement, removed screens from the windows, etc in an attempt to find "work" to do when he is bored. I've implemented a combination of various activities and exercise to combat these issues, very successfully. The biggest components are doggie daycare, vigorous walks, and agility training, all of which have to be removed in his current regimen to allow for healing.

How do you tell an active border collie / bull terrier that he needs to rest?!

So far I'm trying to work a lot on his "mental stimulation" in an attempt to compensate for the lack of physical stimulation. Thank goodness for all of his training! I'm so grateful now for the timing of taking the Therapy Dog training at Zoom Room Culver City, as this gives us plenty of skills to practice that don't involve high impact physical activity! Walks consist of practicing skills like sitting next to me when I come to a stop, the "look at me" command, etc. We practice down stays in the patio area outside my apartment, and (try to) practice walking past other dogs without running towards them. Working on these things for every single walk means we can go out for just as long of a time period, but go slower / shorter distance. It's certainly mentally exhausting for me, so hopefully it is for Mumble as well!

I'm sure there will be lots to report as we go through these next two weeks, and I'll try to keep this updated. Wish us luck, and keep Mumble's healing in your thoughts and prayers!

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