200910 - Max

We just got back form a Caribbean cruise on Monday (I will be publishing some photos very shortly) When we picked up Max at the Kennel he was not using his right back leg at all. The kennel had a bunch of small dogs so they let them play together and it seems that Max was having a little too much fun. The kennel said it had happened on Sunday and they thought it was something wrong with his hip. We went immediately to our vet who took X-rays and diagnosed a torn ACL. I did not know this happened to dogs as well as Skov soccer players. Anyway, long story short, Max had surgery yesterday and is back home with us today. He seems to be in a lot of pain. He is talking a lot and walking not at all. Poor baby. We are not supposed to let him jump or run which right now seems easy but when he starts feeling better, who knows. They shaved his entire leg and he has a bandage from his toes to his hip. The surgeon said his knee was supposed to have a groove in the patella and he did not have one so he (the surgeon) made one while he was in there fixing the ACL. Sounds awful to me. Max is supposed to take it easy but still get a little exercise for the next 2 weeks. After that he gets the bandage removed and we will be giving him some PT. Sounds like manual stretching the leg. Should be very interesting. Hopefully the pain will be long gone by then.