Three Kids and a Dog: Happy 8th Birthday to Our Sadie Monster!

Yesterday, we celebrated Sadie's 8th birthday with lots of pets and treats...and also a car ride (to pick up her cake)!

The fact that she's made it to age 8 is somewhat miraculous with all that she's been through. She is one strong girl with a high pain threshold. Just to summarize - emergency surgery at 6 months because she ate her own toy and then when we got her home, she was bleeding so off to the emergency vet for a few days. At 14 months, diagnosed with Wobbler's where she knuckles her front paws and drags her back ones. At age 3, she probably tore her ACL (CCL in dogs) but went undiagnosed for at least two years before we tried stem cell therapy on her and that helped a bit but did not completely heal the tear. By this time, she needed surgery on both knees so almost two years ago underwent bilateral knee surgery. That recovery was brutal for her and for us as she had to be on a walk out level (no stairs) for at least 6 weeks. She also weighed more than 100 pounds so lifting her was exhausting. That surgery did help a bit but her lazy personality coupled with her atrophied muscles from years of not getting up hindered her from making a full recovery.

Today, two years later, she still gets regular laser treatments and acupuncture as well as some hydrotherapy sessions to keep her moving. Her walks are short. She still does stairs (and we have a lot of them in our house) but very slowly and depending on the day sometimes not very well. She mainly lounges around on our main floor all day but we do still bring her up to bed with us at night and she does fine going down the stairs in the morning.

She is a lot of work and on a lot of medication/supplements. She's such a happy girl and so patient and loving with everyone. She likes to lay in the grass on our front lawn but the Amazon or Fed Ex or UPS drivers don't like it much as they honk their horns and wait for me to come out because they're afraid of her. (Glad she gives off that vibe!) She loves donuts. She used to love snow but hates when it's icy now because she knows she's even more unstable on the sidewalks or driveways when she has to go for a walk.

Her favorite time of day is when we are all at home and she gets to lay on the couch and we (I) literally lay on top of her. She also enjoys sitting under my desk every morning while I type away or make calls, etc. Right now, she's snoring away at my feet - content, secure and safe - dreaming of another few fun years with her family whom she loves so much. Happy 8th Birthday, Sadie! We love YOU so very much!