Yes, after three months of "rest and rehabilitation," we've finally come to the point where Maiki's knee bone fracture has healed. Her mobility buggy has been a real blessing over these past weeks, but I won't be sorry to dismantle it and pack it away in a box. I'm getting kind of tired of pushing it around in this hot weather, and Maiki's getting pretty tired of being stuck in there instead of being allowed to walk on her own four legs. But we're finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Starting this weekend, we can begin getting back to "almost normal" life.
Not completely normal, because the injury was in her growth lines, and, as the growth plates don't close until a dog is a year old, the vet says it means we'll still need to be "careful" over the coming five months, until that growth line has completely closed and the bone is solid. So, we can begin going for walks again, she can start playing with other puppies again...... but no wild running and playing with bigger dogs that could hurt her, no longish walks on mountain terrain, not too much going up and down stairs.... There's also to be no walking on sand/beach for at least another couple of weeks, so we'll be well into the summer before Maiki has her first experience of seeing the sea and perhaps learning to swim.
And after the next five months of "almost normal" life, she'll be a fully grown dog and we'll finally be able to enter the season of normal life at last.
Although I was convinced that adoption was the right way to go and that this year was the right timing, I opted not to adopt a “rescue dog” in the traditional sense of the word. I didn’t feel I had the time available to dedicate to a pup that was already six or eight months old and came with the emotional baggage and behaviour issues caused by neglect or abuse. I wanted this “last puppy of my lifetime” to come to me at two months old, so that I could raise her from the beginning into a happy, healthy, well-adjusted dog.
So it's sadly ironic that Maiki’s mysterious knee injury put an end to all that, robbing both her and me of that smooth and joyful experience. While I’m thankful that she’s been slowly recovering, I realise that I now have a “rescue dog” to rehabilitate - a puppy that has been “inappropriately treated” for almost half of its lifetime, in the sense that she’s been locked up and restricted, constantly corrected; not allowed to run or play or do all the things that puppies need to do at 4-6 months old to grow physically strong and emotionally/socially well-balanced. So now she has some of the dysfunctional behaviours that typically result from that kind of mistreatment: barking, pulling on the lead, trying to chase birds (and Teddi, the cat), digging up the lawn in the park…
So, that's why I say that today I begin life with my "rescue puppy" - as we start to undo all the negative consequences of these difficult three months. It'll take some patience and perseverance, but I know she'll turn out great.
