As of a few days ago, we have had Sydney in our lives for two months. What a two months it has been! It is amazing how much she has changed and how much we have acclimated to her needs. It was tough in the beginning, taking care of Sydney and learning how to make it work for her and for us. In the beginning she had accidents relatively frequently during the night, which made for many nights of much disturbed sleep and many tired days. For those of you who know me, you know I do not do well without my sleep.
As the days and nights passed, we learned Sydney's needs and patterns, which allowed us to tweak our patterns so as to align with hers. Diapers made a big difference at night. They allowed us to sleep through the night. We learned what time in the morning Sydney needed to go out in order to avoid a morning accident. We learned how to take her down the stairs quickly while putting the least pressure possible on her bladder with the hip harness. This reduced the number of all-the-way-down-the-stairs accidents. We also learned the different times of the day that she generally needs to move her bowels. A visit to the vet and a round of antibiotics also helped her #1 accidents.
The most exciting changes, of course, have to do with her recovery. As I have said in previous posts, Sydney's rear end was extremely atrophied when she came to us in early July. She really could not do anything with her back legs. Now she stands completely unassisted for several minutes at a time. She takes a few slow steps unassisted. She walks down the street with slight support - mostly for balance and a little for weight-support. She can stand up on her own when encouraged to do so (she is still reluctant to do it of her own accord). The other day she stood up entirely on her own, entirely of her own accord (although I did tell her to "stand" and her right leg was crossed behind her left leg, so not a perfect stand), while playing with Shiloh. I was nowhere nearby. She frequently makes small attempts at standing when moving throughout the apartment. And a few days ago she walked - with assistance - the furthest she has ever walked when not on the underwater treadmill. Her walking is certainly not perfect, even with assistance, but it continues to get stronger. We are pushing her harder now, to get her past a slight plateau in her recovery that she seems to have reached; it seems to be working. :)
Perhaps most importantly, Sydney is happy. She is lively and sweet, a typical loving lab. She follows us around, especially when she hears us open the pantry door where her food and treats are stored, perks up her ears and gives us that wide-eyed labby look that just melts your heart. She is independent in the sense that she doesn't mind being in a different room than you if she is happily stretched out on her bed when you get up to go to another room, but she seems to always keep tabs on us and after a while will appear in the doorway, where she pauses, as if surveying the scene, before she scoots over to the bed in that room. She loves attention and cuddles and does her best to roll over and show her belly - she either doesn't try to or still can't lift her back leg up for that - when you pet her. When we pour food into her bowl from a measuring cup, she lifts her face up to ours as if to give us a kiss and say "thank you!" before she eats. She gets overly excited for treats and smacks her lips for 5 minutes after getting one. She is calm and sweet, but also playful. She loves stuffed toys (they don't stay stuffed for long!), and sometimes will suddenly get up from her bed where she has been resting peacefully, to scoot over to her toy basket, grab a (de-) stuffed toy, and excitedly scoot back to her bed to play with it. In short, she is a wonderful dog, a joy to have around.
She has made such amazing progress, but she still has more work to do. Classes have started for the year, which means our routine is a bit different, but we are as focused as ever on pushing her to new levels of strength and coordination. For a while, when we first got Sydney in July, I set the end of the summer as a hopeful goal by which I hoped to have her walking. We did not make that goal (it was a bit overly ambitious!) but I could not be happier with how much progress she has made this summer. She WILL walk. It's still just a matter of time. :)
