Canine Capers

Well what a week.

Was at work Tuesday, and had a phone call from one of the people in our street. Two small dogs in her yard, one white and brown called 'Cooper', and one black and brown called 'Oscar'. Oh dear, this does not sound good.

Sure enough, the two canines that run our household had made a jailbreak, and were tearing the neighbourhood up. Both Els and I were at work, we'd both ridden to work, neither of us were close, and I had bad mental pictures of what had been going on in our absence.

Adam, our neighbour, came to the rescue (he works at home), and headed down the road to collect the escapees, safely corral them back in the yard, find and secure the perimeter breach.

Dogs safely returned, an open side gate being responsible for the egress. Not sure who was responsible for the gate - Els had been through it that morning, but it would be most unlike her to leave it open. Maybe someone had been through that day?

Anyhoo, returned home to find two dogs, one sporting a rather big tear in his lip and a lame hind leg. Looks like the Alpha male has been brawling and come off second best. A trip to the vet the next morning confirmed our suspicions - he'd managed to rupture his crucient ligament, football player style.

So the result? Dog going under the knife next week to have a knee reconstruction. At some cost, I might add! (Not that we're too worried about that though).

The issue is going to be the recuperation and rehabilitation. Movement needs to be strictly limited for 4 weeks, and then only heavily controlled, easy exercise after that. Essentially 4 weeks in a kiddy play pen, and another 8 weeks on leash. He's going to go crazy, and I suspect the owners will as well! Neither of us are too keen in leaving him home in a cage, so he may well be spending a couple of days a week at work with us.

An old Arab curse once said "May you live in interesting times". Hmmm, who have I pissed off lately?