The Dude is Back

I mentioned the other day that Samson had sprained his ACL and was supposed to “lay low” for a while.

Guess what – he didn’t.

Typical of a lab, he forgot about his pain, got all excited and tried to run, “tearing the hell out of his ACL” (that is literally what the vet said).

So he had to have surgery yesterday.

They did a procedure called a TTA which basically puts implants in the leg to correct and stabilize. Doc said Samson did great and they found no signs of arthritis in the knee. He does have arthritis in both hips which is what was forcing him to adjust and put more weight on his knees, hence the tear.

I picked him up today and brought him home.

Poor guy.

You can see they shaved his fur off from the hip all the way down the leg and he has a big old bandage on it, which is solid like a cast.

He is starting to put some weight on that leg which is good. Doc said he’s a strong boy and will heal up like a champ.

Getting him home was interesting. He couldn’t figure out how to lay down in the back of the car but yet I didn’t want him standing in case I had to hit the brakes hard or make a sharp turn. With the bum leg he wouldn’t be able to stabilize himself and could fall. I fought with him for 10 minutes to lay down and he wouldn’t. So I buckled him in standing up and just drove like a grandma.

He seems a bit out of it still. Laying down doesn’t seem comfortable yet. I think he really wants to lay on his right side but can’t because of the big bandage. Laying on his left probably hurts the hip. So he’ll wander around for a bit, looking lost, and then finally get tired and plop somewhere. He’ll figure it out eventually and after 4-6 weeks the leg will be good as new again.

Isabella missed him and made him a welcome home gift. Here he is laying with it.

Apparently that’s an airplane.

We moved his kennel down to the first floor so that he wouldn’t have to go up and down the steps every morning and night. We also have to take him outside on a leash every time he goes potty. We don’t want to risk him taking off running and tearing the ACL on the good leg.