It has been over two months since my last post. As I expected, I have been very busy with classes, and frankly, blogging has simply taken a back seat to everything else. I really should be doing work right now, but I am procrastinating, and what better way to use my procrastination time than to give everyone an update on Sydney?
Things have been going well. The recovery/learning curve is slower now than it was during the summer, but Sydney has had some impressive improvements. Last month she stood up outside and took four or five steps completely on her own. It was so exciting! What I have been learning, however, is that one of the battles is getting her to WANT to walk. Sometimes she doesn't want to put in the effort, it seems. But when she wants to, she does so much! The day she stood up and walked a few steps on her own last month, she had incentive - I had put her rear end down so I could pick up her poop, but apparently she was not done. This is what made her stand up and walk - finishing her bowel movement. She even was squatting while she took those steps, which as I am sure you can imagine, is harder than just walking upright. Since then, we have had a number of episodes where Sydney essentially walks down the street without much help at all. It has been amazing! It started one day when I came home from school - I took her outside to go to the bathroom and all of a sudden, it was like she was just "on." She was taking steps and not getting her back legs tangled, and she was supporting herself completely. This has been the general norm since then, which is amazing! The only thing is, we had a small setback recently because she scraped her toes on the pavement. In order to let them heal, I have to give her more support in the back and not let her do too much walking on her own. Otherwise she just opens up the scabs everytime we go outside. But her toes are healed now and we are back to making her work again.
Now the walking routine is less of me holding her up and much more of her doing the work. I usually help get her started - she sometimes needs to warm up a bit - and then I pinch her tail periodically to stimulate the nerves in her back end, while she walks. She falls over regularly, but another really important development is that she can get herself back up now! This is huge! So if you can imagine it, we walk along, sometimes with me hunched over behind her squeezing her tail and looking really ridiculous, I'm sure, and sometimes with me just walking beside her, and she'll take 5 steps or so, sometimes fall over, but then STAND BACK UP and start walking again. It's amazing! People in our neighborhood have stopped and exclaimed over the progress she is making. I imagine it's nice to see her walking like that - most of these people have been sort of watching her progress since July when she was in the wheelchair. Such a difference!
Sydney's bladder and bowel control have gotten so much better too. When I first started classes in early September, I generally tried to be gone for only 4 or 5 hours at a time. But now I can be gone for just about the entire day and she can hold it! This is also a huge improvement. It also will make a big difference for anyone who might adopt her.
Sometimes people ask me how we take care of Sydney and work/go to school at the same time. In the beginning, in July, taking care of Sydney was a lot harder. Her bladder and bowel control were not good, and she had absolutely no muscle in her back legs and hips, which meant I provided 100% of the support for her rear end. But now, Sydney really doesn't require much more than a normal dog. It's so wonderful to be able to say that! She doesn't have accidents during the night anymore and hasn't worn a diaper at night in quite a while. We just take her out in the morning - she pees and poops, sometimes we walk around for a bit if we have time - we come back in, she has breakfast, and then she is set for the day until we get home. I usually come home around 4 or so, at which point I take her out to go to the bathroom again - she usually both pees and poops in the late afternoon/early evening, we work on her walking for 15 to 20 minutes, then we go back in. She eats dinner at 5, and then is happy to hang out for the evening. In the evening she might go out one or two more times, depending on what time we go to bed. I also do some indoor exercises with her for about 15 minutes or so. If I don't get to work on her walking in the morning, I take her out again in the evening and work on her walking again, but really, every time she goes out to go to the bathroom we work on her walking - it just makes sense. She wants to walk around before going to the bathroom, like most dogs, and she wants to smell things, so it's a perfect time to get that work in. So, to give you an idea of the time it takes - let's say we are able to work on walking each time we go out to go to the bathroom (rarely do we not have time to work on walking when out for potty) - that's 15 minutes in the morning, 15 to 20 minutes in the late afternoon, and 15 minutes in the evening, and maybe 10 or 15 minutes before bed. And then another 15 minutes for indoor exercises every day or every other day. See? It's really not much. She has come such a long way.
Our biggest obstacle, frankly, is her motivation. She doesn't really lack motivation in general, but sometimes she seems to just not feel like putting in the effort to walk. But that has been happening less and less. Now she is used to the routine, and she knows that going outside to go to the bathroom means she is going to walk. Sometimes I feel discouraged that she isn't walking completely on her own yet. But then I put everything in perspective and think about how far she has come since July, and about the fact that she keeps improving, slowly but surely, and I feel more positive. Walking inside seems to be harder for her - wood and tile floors are slippery. But that also might be out of habit that she does less walking inside than outside. She does stand up periodically on her own while inside, and sometimes takes a few steps if I'm bribing her with a treat.
When I think about her prospects for adoption, I worry that people are more intimidated by her disability than they need to or should be. I hope that my descriptions of our routine in today's blog post help get the idea out there that it really isn't hard to care for her. I have considered all kinds of possibilities re: her recovery - if she never gets any better than she is now (and I really believe she is going to keep improving as she gets stronger), the wheelchair will be a great "fall-back" for her. Let's say her adopters don't want to have to go outside with her at night in the winter. All you have to do is put her in her wheelchair and let her out (as long as there aren't steps she has to go down- she can handle one step down in the chair on her own, but needs help with more than that). She gets around well in the chair and can go to the bathroom in it just fine. If she is never able to go for long walks without any help, you can put her in the wheelchair for those longer walks. She loves it. But again, I think she is going to keep improving. She is able to support herself on longer and longer walks every week. She doesn't need much. Just a loving home and the chance to enjoy her life. She's a happy girl and she is definitely enjoying her life right now, I can tell you that much. :)
In all honestly, my fiance and I would love to adopt her. She is the first foster dog we have had that my fiance has seriously considered adopting. She is such a happy, mellow, loving dog. But there are two big reasons why we have not: 1) we may be living in Italy next year. My fiance is applying for a fellowship which would have us living there from September through June. And 2) we hope to have kids within the next 3 to 5 years, and we think it might be a bit too much to take care of a baby and then a baby and young children, as well as a disabled dog, even though she doesn't require that much. For that reason, I think Sydney's best fit would be a family with teenage (or older) children, or a couple whose children are out of the house or who don't have children, or a single adult looking for a companion. Sydney makes a WONDERFUL companion. The bond you develop with an animal that needs extra help is something truly special. It is difficult to articulate the nature of my relationship with Sydney, as her main "caretaker." Working with Sydney on her rehabilitation is a very special experience. I took her to the vet not too long ago for a check up on a bladder infection, and the vet asked whether anyone was interested in adopting her yet. I told her there had been interest but that people seem to be intimidated by her disability and would rather wait until she is fully rehabbed. The vet looked at me and said something like, "That's really too bad, because her rehab is such a bonding experience." Frankly, I was a bit taken aback by her intuitiveness. Perhaps she has experienced something like this with an animal as well? But she got it, she understood how special my relationship with this dog is, and how special the relationship would be between Sydney and anyone who adopted her. And that is something that I can't seem to explain to anyone. I guess I don't know where to begin. Recently someone asked me how I could handle all the work it took to take care of her (even though like I said, it's really not much work now at all) and work on my PhD at the same time. I tried to explain to them that aside from the fact that she doesn't take much work now at all since she has gotten so much stronger and her bladder and bowel control have gotten so much better, it just doesn't feel like work. Taking her out, helping her learn to walk....these things don't feel like work, and I guess the best way to explain WHY they don't feel like work is because of that bond I have with her. The feeling you get from working with this dog, being there every step of the way as she heals, giving her the love and the life she deserves, is really just indescribable. Some people might think I'm strange - some people think something like, an animal is an animal and should be put down if they need extra care. But I couldn't disagree more. Why shouldn't Sydney be able to live out her natural life? She's not suffering. In fact, she's much happier than you might expect. She does not appear to be phased by her disability at all. Animals can adapt to their circumstances in amazing ways, and she has done that. And there is honestly nothing more fulfilling, and gratifying, really, than being the one to help her heal and learn to walk again, and to give her the chance to live a happy life. And I really believe Sydney is grateful for it. She is so sweet and loving, and even lifts up her nose to me when I put food in her bowl, as if to say "thank you." She is happy to just be part of the family. It's all she wants and needs.
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