Two Torturous Weeks

We're a couple of days in to this now, and Marge seems to be dealing pretty well so far with her limited activity protocol.  She is spending lots of time in her crate by choice.  I think she's actually enjoying having it up on the main floor.  When not in her crate, she mills around the house pretty calmly. She is on a muscle relaxer called Robaxin, which may be helping our cause, as sedation is a possible side effect of the drug.  Still, I wonder if after a week or so, she'll start getting stir crazy!

I, on the other hand, am not dealing with the situation as well as my dog is.  I am really missing her! The weather has been so beautiful the past couple of days and it plain old sucks that I can't take her for some long walks.  I'm trying to make sure that I spend other types of quality time with her instead, like sitting outside with her or brushing her.  We also practiced "watch me" and "touch" today, since they are two behaviors that don't really require any physical movement.

I also worry about how much deconditioning will take place over the next two weeks - muscles very quickly begin to atrophy when not being used, and thought two weeks isn't an extremely long time, I still think it's significant.

My final worry is how well my family will continue to adhere to our protocol.  My dad took Marge for a short walk today, and though it was only a short walk (within our time limits), I can't really know for sure how fast or slow he had her walk.

As you can tell, I'm worried all around, as I tend to be with anything involving my dog! The next two weeks cannot go by fast enough.

In the meantime, here is a picture of Marge and Arrow sitting by the cornfields in Quakertown, PA last weekend.  Hopefully I'll get a chance soon to write about what may have been Marge's final agility weekend for a little while.