Merry Christmas

Can you believe the nerve of this squirrel??



Christmas Haul.

Strike a Pose

Working it for the camera...


Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

Hair Club for Dogs

All is well in Walterland. We are going for more and longer walks and he seems to be healing very well! Of course, the squirrels are still out there plotting against him, but he's got that situation well under control.

His fur is growing back except for two small spots and we are starting to wonder if he's going to need hair plugs, or a toupee, or maybe... The Hair Club for Dogs? Is this an idea who's time has come?

What do you think?




He is of course, still very handsome.

Turkey Day

Our friends Liz, Harlan and Mark spent Thanksgiving with us. Liz and Harlan brought their dog Alice who coincidently had a TPLO surgery on her right knee about four or five weeks after Walter. Unfortunately she doesn't have a blog of her own. None the less, her recovery is coming along quite nicely.

She made herself right at home...


Lately the squirrels have become even more bold than usual. They have taken to walking up on our deck as they seem to know that we won't let Walter out to chase them. In a few months they may be in for a rude surprise!

Meanwhile, here is one squirrel that knows it's place... Behind bars!


We had waffles and pancakes before our big Turkey Day bike ride. Guess who wanted some for himself...

Eight Week Check Up

Walter had his 8 week check up last friday. Okay, it's been 10 week's, but we had scheduling problems and couldn't get in until then. Anyway, other than the fact that Walter hates going to the vet, things went well. Dr. Beebee was very pleased with Walter's progress. He showed me the x-rays and you could see that his bone is healing very well. Good news all around!

Dr. Beebee measured Walter for a knee brace and we're trying to decide if it's something that Walter will put up with wearing as it's quite substantial as you can see in the link below!

Knee brace

Hooligan!

TPLO dogs are not supposed to jump up on the furniture so they don't re injure their legs...

Going for a walk

First of all, Walter and family want to send our best wishes to Alice who had a TPLO procedure today. Alice, you'll be feeling better in no time!

We've been taking Walter for more walks outside and even letting him roam the house to a certain extent when we're home. It's funny though, sometimes he still likes to go back into his pen.

Walkin' Dog

Outside dog!

I have been hearing from the MANY fans of Walter's blog that he needs to update it more often. Today is your lucky day.

Since the weather is so nice outside, Walter told me that he wanted to hang out in the back yard. Well, who am I to argue. I set up his many blankets and used a couple of exercise pens together to give him a nice place in the shade to hang out.


There has been a lot of chatter on the squirrel terrorist network. In fact the Homeland Security Squirrel Terror Alert System has been raised to it's highest level, "Gray". Walter knew that he was a high visibility target. It was only a matter of time before they made their move.


Unfortunately for this terrorist, Walter is aways ready.


Who's next?!

Staple-ectomy

Another trip to the Vet yesterday to get Walter's staples out. He looked dashing as ever waiting in the car with his E-collar.


As we walked towards the Vet's office a woman who was coming out just burst into laughter as she saw him. I can't figure out why...

So, after a lot of panting and fretting on Walter's part, the staples got taken out, he got his Chiro adjustment and he was on his way.

No more need to wear the E-collar! Walter is pretty happy about that. Still a long road ahead, but now we are getting to the point where we can give him just a bit of exercise. One block long walks a couple of times a day. We still need to keep him in his exercise pen though to keep his activity down and to keep him from hurting himself.

We're going WHERE?!?!

Dad! This isn't the way to Briones! For God's sake TURN LEFT!!!


Dad, I can't work the door. No thumbs! But I know the way out. If you open the door we can make a run for it! Hurry!



Today I took Walter in as he was scheduled to have his staples taken out. Unfortunately after being good for two weeks he licked them pretty good last night. Dr. Beebee gave us some cream to put on his incision and we scheduled an appointment on Wednesday to take them out. He was pleased with Walter's progress otherwise and thinks that his healing is on schedule. That was great news.

In the mean time, it's a new look for Walter...

Some of Walter's favorite things

Favorite web site: http://www.deadsquirrel.com/

Favorite new picture:


Favorite political commentator: Stephen Colbert



Biggest fear: Jedi Squirrels


Favorite food:

Healing is hard work!

And oh so tiring...

Lately during the day I've been giving Walter a little more space to move around when I'm in the room. He likes his bigger room. We are hoping to actually sleep in our own bed tonight and set Walter's pen up in our bedroom. I just hope I don't wake up during the night, trip on the pen and kill both of us...


He likes to look out the window for the squirrels but sometimes he likes to lay down close by so I can scratch his rear end. He especially likes to have his Marine Corps "high and tight" buzz cut scratched. His fur is slowly growing back, but I think it will be a while before it's all the way back.



And by the way, the fact that the squirrels have computers and are trying to hack into his blog doesn't surprise Walter at all. He is much more aware of their activities than anybody realizes. I saw a squished squirrel in Danville the other day. The squirrels can believe that it was a car at their own peril!

But all in all, he is a happy dog!

How we go outside

Though Walter can walk on his own at this point (with a limp) it is important that we protect him from himself. And, his mortal enemies... The squirrels. Already the squirrels are using their evil ways to get Walter to hurt his leg. Calling to him. Taunting him. And yes, even throwing acorns down on the roof. Nothing will stop the squirrels in their pursuit of evil.

To protect Walter we keep him on a leash when he goes out back to go to the bathroom and we sling a towel under his abdomen to give him support in case he slips. We do take the towel away before he goes to the bathroom though! I took him out the other day in the afternoon. Luckily I had him on the leash because there was a squirrel running along the top of our fence yelling at Walter. He would have bolted without the leash and his bones are certainly not healed enough for that!

One week later

One week down the road from surgery and Walter continues to do very well. I think he's a little bored with being penned up all the time. But better bored than re injured!

Picture of the day:



Cruising in his convertible crate while I move his pen down to the family room.

Post surgery day 4

Things are continuing to go well! Both last night and the night before Walter (and thankfully us!) slept the whole night through.

We have our routine pretty well down pat now. We are all sleeping in the family room. In the morning we move Walter and his pen to our rear sliding glass door so that he can look out over "his domain".



When the sun gets too hot we move away from the door into the living room and then back to the family room for the evening.

He is putting more and more weight on his right leg. He still favors it of course but he isn't hopping and avoiding putting pressure on it any move.

I PROMISE not to lick my staples...

Actually he has been really good and done very little licking. So far he's only had to wear the collar for this photo op.

So far.

Second night

What a difference 24 hours makes! We got things down to a pretty good routine yesterday. In the evening we moved Walter down to our family room so that we could watch TV and have him close by. Later on we setup up our inflatable bed down there so that we could sleep in the same room. Our bed room is small enough that there really isn't enough room to set up a "pen" for him.

Kitty went out and bought a bunch of non-skid rugs to put down on the hard wood floor. That make taking Walter outside much easier.

He had a good night. We got up a few times to take him out to go to the bathroom. I even slept in his pen with him for a while because he was crying a bit. But all in all we got a pretty good nights sleep.

First night after surgery

This was a difficult night for all of us. It is very important to limit his activity after this surgery for many weeks and especially so immediately after. We bought a crate to keep him in over night. We hoped that he would be drugged up enough to sleep. That did not happen. We ended up taking shifts so that we could get some sleep. He cried almost all night long. In talking to our Vet. it's not pain it's just basic unhappiness. He's uncomfortable, he can't move around, he's cooped up, etc.

Here is a picture of Walter's "Magic Carpet Ride" out back to attempt to go to the bathroom right after we got home. No joy...

By about 2am though he was good enough so that I could take him outside by using a towel as a sling to support his back end. We did that again this morning and after some food and water he felt better. We set up a small pen for him and that seems to have helped a LOT. He can move around some and he can see what is going on around him.

Again using the shift system we were able to get in some exercise and get some errands taken care of. While Kitty was out running errands I took him out from for a bathroom break. He did his business and then we took a few more steps out and he decided to lay down in the front yard. I figured what the heck, I might as well let him see the outside world for a while so we hung out and watched the world go by.

I just hope he sleeps well tonight...

Surgery Day

Walter tore the Cranial Crutiate Ligament in his right knee. We decided that the best choice for for him to get corrective surgery. The procedure is called: Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy

Some links:

http://www.vsasurgery.com/surgery/orthopedic/cruciate-ligament.asp.htm

http://www.vsasurgery.com/surgery/orthopedic/tplo.asp.htm