Rogue Goes To School...

Whats This Place?

A little over a month ago I found a hidden gem in our sleepy little town, a dog training school. I made a mental note to investigate this as an option for my boys in the near future. Then I got the news about Rogue and for financial reasons had to put those plans on hold. When Dr. Shelley told me I would have to keep Rogue "quiet" for three months following each surgery, I was overwhelmed...

Watching Future Police Dog's On Their Climb's

Rogue is high octane, nothing holds him back, he runs, leaps, jumps, and climbs with the best of them despite his physical challenges. I knew I would need help to accomplish the task of keeping him calm. Last week I sent a lengthy email to Pappaws Dog Training Center and asked them if there was any way they could give him a crash course in obedience and help me with some things to keep him calm, as we likely have no time to complete the entire obedience course. I received a very prompt reply that there was a command that they could teach him, likely in a single one hour long session, which should do the trick...

Rogue On His Climb During Our Session

So on Monday afternoon Rogue and I went to class. While there I received a wealth of information, and in under 30 minutes Rogue had learned the command "climb." Basically "climb" teaches him to go to his special place, we are starting with a pet cot, and hope to be able to transition this command to a dog bed by the time he has surgery. Once he is on his cot, he can do anything except go to the bathroom, bark, or get down until I tell him to. We have been working on it every day sense we went to class, and each day he amazes me. Yesterday I added in distractions and he didn't respond to a single one! I am hopeful he will have this command completely mastered by the time he has surgery.

Rogue Working On His Climb At Home

The Good Doctor

It was a little shy of two weeks before we could get in to see Dr. Shelley for a consult about Rogue's knees. In that time Rogue managed to remove all of his stitches by himself (less one which I removed for him) in-spite of the cone he had been sporting. Rogue's handy work saved us a dreaded follow up appointment to the clinic where he had been neutered. On Friday 4/29, Rogue and I made the 40 minute drive to Bradford Park Veterinary Hospital to see Dr. Shelley. It was pouring down rain which honestly paired well with my mood, I was a ball of nerves and anxiety after the experiences of the past month.

From the moment we arrived at Bradford Park, I was impressed... This two story veterinary hospital is beautiful with its own in house lab and state of the art medical equipment, it is truly a human grade hospital. We were seen by the Doctor very quickly, he was AMAZING! Dr. Shelley not only examined Rogue but interacted with him, speaking to and playing with him. He went out of his way to answer questions before I even had a chance to ask them, bringing out medical text books to show me what specifically he was talking about.

He said that Rogue would indeed need not one, but both of his knees corrected. He will need to shave away portions of bone to make a new tibial crest, deepen the patellar groove, relocate the tibia into the correct position, and secure it all with pins. This will be a two surgery process focusing on one knee at a time. Dr. Shelley noted during the examination that Rogue seemed more tender in the hips than his knees, though the x-rays do not indicate any hip issues, he wants to see him back in a month to re-evaluate his hips to see if an issue is beginning to present itself, or if he is simply sore from his recent surgery.

Rogue will be 9 months old on 5/10, and closer to 10 months at the time of his next appointment. By this time his growth plates will be nearing closure, and I would not be surprised if his first surgery is scheduled soon there after. Dr. Shelley advised me that for three months following each knee surgery, Rogue will need to refrain from running and jumping. We have already been working on the use of a ramp instead of jumping on furniture at home, but he is young and feisty and not the best listener. For that reason I contacted a local dog trainer and told them of our situation, and asked if they could give him a crash course in obedience coupled with some commands to keep him calm.

On Monday 5/2 at 2pm we go for a session where they believe they can teach him one command that will help greatly with our needs. I would love to send him through their entire obedience class, but we don't have the time right now as it can take up to 6 months. We have been so blessed in the last couple of weeks to find the right people in our community to provide answers, reassurance, and help in a time when we need it most! After meeting Dr. Shelley I have a lot more peace about the entire situation, I know he will be in the most skilled hands he could possibly be in when he has surgery.

You'll Never Walk Alone...

After recovering from all of his parasitic issues, which took quiet awhile, Rogue finally began to grow. Things were really looking up for him in the health department, and we enjoyed the holidays, and began to look forward to Spring and warmer weather. In Spring and fall I love to take hikes and bring my pups along, I had neglected leash training Rogue until such time, so that when coupled to his brothers on hikes, they could train him. Before we could hit the trails though, the boys were due for heartworm prevention renewal, and flea and tick prevention.

In December our amazing vet had retired, and the boys were not due for anything until April, so I didn't search for a new vet until that time, knowing that in a pinch we could just see another vet at the practice we had been going to. On April 1st we tried out a new vet, going just for a well check to renew prescriptions for Heartgard and Nexgard... Julian and Maurice went first, everything was in order and they received clean bills of health, then it came time for Rogue. After palpitating his knees the vet on duty told me that his knees were in very bad shape, the left being the worst, and that I needed to act quickly before arthritis set in, and have them repaired. She said it was one of the worst cases she had ever seen... in just 4 months his knees jumped from a grade 2 to 4.

Before I even left the office that day, I booked an appointment to have him neutered and evaluated by the vet who does their orthopedic surgeries. I spent the next two weeks researching, crying, and feeling helpless... Some wonderful friends established a GoFundMe account to help with the cost of surgery, and gifts from an amazon wishlist began pouring in. While I strengthened my resolve to support Rogue in any way possible, I grew to love him even more fiercely. He would never walk alone, and I learned, neither would I...

On April 18th Rogue checked in to be neutered, he had a retained testicle that would also need to be located and removed, as well as several retained baby teeth that needed to be pulled, while he was under they also did xrays of his hips and knees to evaluate. When I dropped him off that morning I asked the secretary if they would call me when he was finished to let me know he was ok, she curtly replied "No, he will be ready between 3-5pm." Those 7 hours were some of the worst in my life... left to worry and wonder if he was ok. I arrived promptly at three to pick up Rogue, and asked to speak with the vet who preformed his surgery, I was told I would have to go speak to him while he semen checked bulls if I wanted to speak with him at all...

He told me that Rogue would need three procedures combined into one surgery on the left leg, and then they would see if the right leg would self correct. I thanked him for his time, and asked the vet tech to show me the xray which I snapped a photo of knowing full well I would not be using this practice again. Nearly an hour later they finally bring me my boy, he is a trembling mess and has TWO incisions and 5 stitches total, even though the vet told me that the testicle was in the canal... I left before realizing I had not been given pain meds, so I turn around and go back, to be told that they do not give pain meds... I demand that they give me pain meds and am only given enough for 4 days.

The next day I call a highly recommended veterinary surgeon  and schedule a consult for 4/27. It takes Rogue a good two days to fully pull out of his anesthesia cloud, this being because they used old school injectible anesthesia. Three days post op he falls over from the standing position, pulls his left leg up and begins screaming, I massage the leg until I feel a pop and he lowers the leg again. Before surgery he showed no signs of pain, now he needs PRN Rimadyl for pain and discomfort, he falls, slides, and his gait is even more compromised than before. I begin counting the days until he can be seen by the new surgeon...