It's Been a Long Road...

The cutest!

but I'm hopeful that Sadie is making progress with her bilateral knee surgery recovery. The vet said it could take 6 months post surgery for us to see any sign of real progress but I have. We are at about 4.5 months and I've been doing some therapy with her in our backyard (in addition to her 1-2 times weekly where I drive her 40 minutes away for her structured therapy).  

During our backyard sessions, she has been able to get up easily from a sit to a stand and then from a lying down position to a stand. I couldn't believe my eyes so I had to videotape her. See for yourself below.

This is like people rehab, really. She has to completely learn all over again how to stand up. Now it's harder when she's inside and doesn't have any real traction on our floors or carpets but outside she makes it look easy. Before the surgery, she would definitely struggle to get up even after her stem cell therapy. She could do it but it took a mighty effort. Now it's like no big thing to her. We just need to train her to tell her brain again where to position her feet to stand up. Often they are splayed out to the side and she has no idea how to tell her brain to get them underneath her. 

It's definitely been a long process - I mean we've basically been moving her on our own the last four years since we now first suspected she tore her knee. It's a lot of work to have a dog but to basically have a dog with special needs is like having four dogs! After this, I need a big long break with no animals! But Sadie will definitely live longer than Adler, I'm sure, because she's the most work!

Enjoying watching Hailey's soccer game

Backyard time