A Good Dog is Hard To Find: Bandit at 6 Months

I know what you really come here for.

It's ok.

Bandit laying claim on his old friend, St. Francis.

Bandit is ~6 months out from surgery. So, by the most generous of predictions, he should be done healing. The surgeon said 2 months (at which point B was only learning to stand on a 3rd leg), and his acupuncturist vet said 6 months (or that was the longest span of healing he'd ever seen in a dog...).

But, I suppose he is his mother's son.

Which is why he wears tutus.

He's supposed to have a 4-6 week plateau signaling that he's done. I'm still waiting for him to go one week without clear improvements.

This last week, he decided to stand on his left leg 95% of the time while "peeing." As in, he holds his body weight on this leg for 10 seconds or more. I say "peeing" because I still think about 80% of that happens in his diaper. Though I'm pretty grateful that's the only thing happening in his diaper. I never wake up to the smell of dog poop in my face anymore. Coffee tastes so much better now.

Bandit modeling his left leg for your viewing pleasure.

A few weeks ago, he couldn't stand on just his left leg at all.












His improvements continue to come at a snail's pace. But, they always did, so this is nothing new. He can run on all four legs, though he moves his back legs together like a rabbit hopping, and he pretends his left leg isn't there half the time anyway. But he has nerve growth through most of his left leg, and we're just waiting to see if the foot area recovers more fully. Right now, he keeps knuckling, or standing on the top of his foot, but that's supposed to be the last thing to heal. And every so often, if you put his foot down wrong, he fixes it without thinking... which is what is supposed to happen.

His physiology is different: not all of the muscles are fully enervated; but confidence is probably his biggest problem. He has mornings when he cries and tells me he couldn't possibly walk up our four steps to get outside, even though he has climbed them hundreds of times before. Every new set of stairs is a big question mark for him, and without encouragement, he often won't try. 

This is our next project.

As you will see in this video: his intelligence is a barrier to his healing. He works to get up one set of stairs, then finds a way around the next two. We see what you did there Bandit.

There are a couple small issues that continue. 1. new swelling around his internal hardware, 2. serious diaper rash/ urine scalding, and 3. the top of his foot frequently has an owie because he walks on the wrong side of it. The last two I manage with extra nursing care, the first one means minor surgery to remove the tip of a bolt is still on the table -- a procedure they would have done ages ago if it wasn't within millimeters of his spine.

At this point, all of it is pretty manageable. I have said that I will consider Bandit healed when he can get onto the couch again by himself. (How else is he supposed to wait by the window for me to come home?) However, I brought him with me to Boston a couple weekends ago, and realized that the tea-cup yorkies we were staying with couldn't ever jump on the couch or get up stairs. So Bandit's "disability" is actually just their normal. Which gave me something to think about.

And about a week after we got back, I walked into the living room to discover that with the help of a meditation cushion, he'd climbed right into his chair. No fuss involved.

What? Sometimes I cuddle in my chair. Why are you staring at me?

Bandit has one more week of PT down here, which he will continue in Madison over the holidays. He also now gets occasional massages which help him sleep through the night (bonus #1 for mommy) and for some reason, really inspire him to try new things enthusiastically (after the first one was the first time he started standing on his left leg). As his left leg gets stronger, looking into more creative solutions for urine control will be all that remains.

I am feeling pretty good about that.


When Bandit saw his regular vet for acupuncture last week, I expected a "it's time to be realistic now" talk. It had been 6 months. That was the outside window. I braced myself. The vet was discussing diaper rash cream and said "well, if he only needed it for a week, I'd say go with the zinc oxide. But, for a long term guy like him [this is where my heart sank--it was coming] where it's going to be another four months or something -- because I do plan on fully healing him -- [WHAT?!?!?!] we might not want to use anything poisonous." He said all of this quickly, distracted, while examining Bandit's legs.

"Really?" I asked, hardly daring to look up.

Most of the time I listen to experts tell me what isn't possible. And no matter how much authority they say things with, they have consistently been wrong. Because the truth is that they actually don't know.

I know this vet can't see the future either.

But I also know that his willingness to keep going down this road with me is integral to Bandit having the best chance possible. And as the woman who washes her sheets more often now than she did even in the aftermath of bed bugs... even just having someone willing to try with me feels really, really good.

And however it turns out, if I ever get married, this vet is totally going to be invited. Heck, he'll probably be in the wedding party.

Namaste.