Rylie is MY dog

Have you ever heard people say how alike pets and owners can be? Rylie could not be my dog any more if she tried. She is klutzy, occasionally gets carsick, doesn't listen when she is in trouble (yea I admit it, if you yell at me I tune you out!) and she is blonde. I get it... the universe either thought it would be hilarious to match us up or that whole nature vs nurture debate can extend to puppy/mama relationships as well.



As a pup, Rylie has a LOT of energy. Usually we go on a two to three mile walk everyday and play fetch either down by the river or at the apartment. We also go outside on mini walks throughout the evning. As the weather has been gorgeous I have come to really enjoy our walks. There is a dog park down at the riverfront in Old Town that I had been debating taking Rylie to. Last week I left her on the leash (it is a good 25 foot extender) and let her run around, she did alright. Friday night I decided I would try her off the leash.

For the most part Rylie did very well and she definitely had a blast. She had her first jaunt into the river (not as thrilled as it IS the Potomac, but I let it slide as she was crazy excited about it) and ran around with the big dogs. Once she went up a little too close to the street and I yelled at her, but otherwise she stayed nearby. The bigger dogs, the goldendoodle and the labordoodle, were outrunning her quite a bit and she did her best to keep up. It was between the running and the play wrestling I noticed she was hobbling a bit. Uh oh.

I checked her paws and didn't see anything. I felt her legs and she didn't whimper or seem upset, so a little while later we left the dog park. Rylie did not want to walk home, the poor thing was exhausted and just laid on the sidewalk looking at me like, "Walk? Are you nuts? I'm wiped!" Eventually she did get up and her walk seemed better when we got home. I scrubbed off the Potomac River residue and my clean pup got to air dry in the apartment post-bath.


Drying pup!

Saturday morning her limp was back with a vengance. She didn't even want to walk further than ten feet from our front door, she just sat down on the sidewalk. She could walk and go up and down the stairs, but she did not seem happy about it. I called the vet and they told me just to bring her in. We got ot Banfield, the vet at PetSmart, so I asked if I needed to make an appointment. They told me no, just come in. I knew Rylie was not feeling well because she promptly got in the car, laid down and was quiet. Usually she is sitting up, whining and restless and a furry drool machine (carsick). Saturday she was silent.



So we get there and go and sit in the waiting room. It is pretty crowded and Miss Social Butterfly wants to say hi and play to every dog in the place, forget that she is injured. We sat in the waiting room for two hours. I ended up hearing I had to be a walk in because all the appointments were booked, but I would have tried to make one for Sunday if I had known that! Two hours in a waiting room with a crazy pup is not fun. We finally go back to see the doctor and her back left leg was definitely injured. They needed an X-Ray.... not cheap.

I tried to get a hold of Ryan to ask what to do but he was doing Community Service and didn't get back to me until it was too late. So I told them to go ahead. It was another hour wait so I dropped her off to wait for that and ran to eat for the first time all day. As I finished lunch Rylie finished her X-ray and the verdict.... torn meniscus. Really pup??? Running around and you tear your meniscus??

Ok, I once got a concussion doing a presentation in college when I hit my head on the podium... I can't talk. See how alike we are? Injuries in silly/normal situations. Sigh.

So Rylie is on a week's worth of anti inflammatories and puppy morphine twice a day. I am glad she is not in pain, but the drugs make her comfortable so she wants to run and play. I have to keep a five month old puppy from running! We can only do short leash walks, no two milers and no fetch. The little putz was faking me out yesterday too! She acted like she was sniffing to go to the bathroom then would dart out and try and run in circles around me! Ugh. It is going to be a long ten days!! She needs to heal because if the meniscus tears/ruptures completely she will need surgery. And that is a lot of dollar signs.

Oh pup. She was pretty passed out Saturday night.... not sure if it was teh four hour vet visit, the weather, the drugs or all of the above, but the pup did not move from the couch most of the night! Poor pup.



I may have gotten her a big bone so she'd feel better and not go too crazy!