Mojo had her 4th physical therapy appointment at Back on Track yesterday. She has definitely gotten used to the idea of going there and looks for new friends to meet (both human and dog) and loves Dr. Shaw. Dr. Shaw works with Mojo, giving her treats and teaching her new "tricks" (they are really new exercises). She also works on limb and spine manipulation which Mojo believes is her massage time. Sometimes Mojo gets fussy with the range of motion palpation that Dr. Shaw does, but with some petting distraction from one of the techs she settles right down. This time Alicia helped out and did a great job keeping Mojo focused.

We learned some new exercises that Mojo, of course, is picking up quickly. We are now working on strengthening and providing flexibility to her hocks (ankles). She has to do a complicated sit pretty to stand (balanced - no cheating) and then down to a sit. The Cheez Whiz works great at home! She is also learning to back up, stepping one leg at a time. This often times turns into a couple of sits but she is getting it. She's got her ramp exercises down and even the uphill sit is good with minimal spotting from us. Michael does the best with her with her obstacle course. We are using the frame from our bed (did I tell you we took it out so she could get up on her own?) and it's the perfect height for her. I usually just have her walk through, which she does quite well, but Michael has her turning and going over one foot at a time. She's a star and will be ready for agility any day now!

The last part of physical therapy is the underwater treadmill. The first time she did it she really didn't get it (or like it) and by the last time she was having fun playing in the water. She'll walk on the treadmill (without cheating) as long as there are treats in front of her. The funniest thing is that she'll walk, take the treat and ride the treadmill while she chews and then walk forward again (double time) to get the next treat. During breaktime it was attack the water playtime again and she was having a blast. Michael was there to document the event and Mojo was glad to show off. We even got pictures of her playing with a squeaky fish which was pretty funny. She did get some exercise and found some time to workout a little. If only we could have so much fun at the gym!

Next appointment August 18th.

Mojo had her 3rd physical therapy appointment with Dr. Shaw last week at Back on Track. She really is improving well and we've given up the funny orange band for her legs and are now focusing on her core strength. She had her third round in the underwater treadmill which is always an adventure. This time she was not terrified. In fact, in her I-love-life kind of way, she decided it was actually really fun (but she was not really into the walking part). You see, we discovered on our trip to Northern California that Mojo loves tiny movements. In fact they make her crazy! On the beach she would watch the little rocks (sand) move when she jumped forward and she would try to "get" it. And then she'd jump again and more sand would move and again and again until she was running like a crazy dog! The water wasn't much different. One splash and water droplets and bubbles would appear and she would try to "get" them. Then she would splash more and there would be more to get until soon she is living it up in the water completely ignoring the fact that she is supposed to be walking. Well, at least she wasn't bored and trying to ride the treadmill backwards instead.

sitting pretty, to develop her back legs

sitting downhill on her ramp

Her new exercises are more of a challenge for her. We have an obstacle course and she plays "bull in the china shop" and knocks stuff over but she tries. If things are spaced out far enough she does better. She also has to do inclined sit-stands which she is more than happy to do facing downhill but uphill she has trouble. All of the sit commands in the world just can't convince her that she's supposed to really sit! She does better with some spotting and I think we are getting somewhere on that front.

Walking to work has been a bit of a challenge as well. It's a little embarrassing to be seen "dragging" my poor 3-legged puppy down the street. (Yeah, these people didn't see her running crazy on the beach!) We live on a busy street and starting off is tough for her. I think she may be really worried about the cars judging by her injuries and her being found running down 82nd Avenue. So it goes like this. We get down the driveway and she sees the first car. She sits and watches it go by. She gets praise and asked to walk again which she does and then the next car comes (after a few steps) which she has to stop and watch. Sigh...it can take awhile to walk a block. Once we get into the neighborhood things are good and she moves more freely as long as there are no people. Even if she sees people on the opposite side of the street she is convinced that they want to come see her so we must wait and watch them until they pass!

She is a lot of fun and even DeeDee is starting to like playing with her sometimes. DeeDee certainly does enjoy it when Mojo has to do exercises because she also participates in the cookie handouts. Mojo is also an Olympic snuggler. Her favorite thing to do is sleep and she is even starting to respect personal space just a little bit and keep her nose out of my eye but lounging across my body is still fair game. Her latest schedule is: Wake up. Go outside to potty. Do exercises. Eat breakfast. Go potty and then it's back to bed for a snuggle with Michael until he gets up. She does have it rough.

Mojo prepares for the treadmill

Michael and I took Mojo to Back on Track this morning for her recheck with Dr. Shaw. Turns out things are going pretty well. She stands more normally on her rear legs and her exercises that we are doing appear to be working. Dr. Shaw's evaluation showed that she has more movement in her hips and more flexion in her toes than she had 2 weeks ago.  She even did a couple of really nice sits in the office - squared off instead of sitting on her left hip and sticking out her right leg (like she still does sometimes!). We learned some new exercises to help build up her gluteal muscles and her core strength - there are these cute "sit pretty" exercises that she started doing on her own anyway so those should be pretty easy to do and I think she's going to like them. We also have some new hind leg stretches that involve picking her up and putting her tippy toes on the ground for her to stretch and then square off her legs properly. She's 23 lbs now so I think Michael will be in charge of those! We'll continue with her various other exercises but Dr. Shaw says we can stop the one she really hates which are the right leg rotations - she's thrilled and so are we!

Getting into the treadmill

We also reviewed her x rays and her left hip is seated well and her right appears to be as well. This means that the JPS pelvic surgery we were considering in the next 2 weeks won't need to be done - whew! The poor thing has already had 2 surgeries in her short 4 month lifespan (her amputation and her spay surgery) that thinking about one more so soon was a little stressful. The bad news on her x rays is that her right hip is smaller than her left and it appears that the right growth plate in the proximal femur (ball joint) is damaged. We aren't sure exactly what that will mean for her but we'll continue to monitor her progress and recheck x rays in another 6 weeks. If we have to she'll have orthopedic surgery to remove the femoral head on her right side but in the mean time we are working on  building up her thigh muscles to prepare her if she's needs the surgery.

Waiting for the water

She also had another exciting underwater treadmill experience. She doesn't seem to enjoy it much and she cheats at every chance she can. For awhile she would put her front leg off the treadmill and saunter with her back legs or she'd turn around and ride the treadmill backwards - so much easier that way! She crashed out pretty good for the ride home from all of her exercise.

So the plan is to continue her exercises, slow her growth, keep her lean and recheck in 3 weeks. We will keep you posted!

P.S. Mojo and DeeDee appear to be getting along better and DeeDee is actually PLAYING with Mojo sometimes! And will even lie down next to her!

Water in, ready to start the treadmill

P.P.S. Mojo had many real play dates last week. On Monday she went and played with Champ Conrad at his house and had a ball. He is such a good boy and really got her to come out and play chase. Then, of course, they did some rough housing and he knocked her down at every turn - it was on the grass and she didn't mind. They also had a nice rest on the grass in the sun. On Saturday she had a fun time in the yard at the clinic playing with Raisin, a 5 month old Boston that is tough as nails from living with her big brother Takai the Pit Bull. The two of them were so cute together and Raisin kept rolling Mojo and standing on top of her. They are sure to be best friends and we'll look forward to more play dates in the future! (Michael will have to get some pictures!)

We are in a flurry of excitement over our Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday and you would think in the midst of starting our new practice and preparing for this fun party that adding one more huge, life changing task to the list would be a bad idea. Well, it was the best idea ever! And so... Michael and I adopted a "special needs" puppy this week. DeeDee has a new little sister.

She likes to crawl under this table, then lay there and look cute.

On Monday I went with Ronnie, the Dog Foster Coordinator from Animal Rescue and Care Fund, for a physical therapy evaluation of our special needs puppy. I had originally met the puppy when Ronnie brought the sweet girl to a Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon clinic that I was volunteering at. She had just had her right front leg amputated and had an abnormal gait on her hind legs. That left her with 1 good leg! She had her front leg amputated after she was found running down 82nd Ave with a horrible injury to her leg and missing toes. I examined her and invited Ronnie to bring her in for x rays for Friends and Family Day. Michael met the puppy that day, fell in love and promptly noted that this was a really bad time to get a puppy. So the little girl went home with Ronnie, her foster mom. We kept in touch, receiving regular updates and the last one we got was about her physical therapy appointment coming up and Ronnie's heartfelt worries that everyone was in love with this puppy but no one was willing to take her on and it was looking like it would be very difficult to find this sweet girl a home. I was at the clinic with Michael late on a Sunday night and forwarded him the email. I was working away on my computer when I got an instant message from somewhere inside the clinic asking about going to play pool at the Backstage - our normal Sunday night ritual. The next message offered if I won 3/3 games we could keep the puppy. Game on!

Now I have to tell you that in all of the games of pool we've played since the building of this practice... I usually lose. My wins are 50/50 on legitimate wins vs. Michael scratching on the 8 ball! I do have some very wonderful wins under my belt and I am always close on Michael's heels but fact is he's better than me.  So we played our first game and I won. Yay! The second game was so close, luckily Michael took his last shot on the 8 ball and scratched. Yippee another win - I'd take it anyway I could. Wow 2 in a row - a record. Then came the 3rd game and Michael won fair and square. I think he was a little disappointed to have won. After a second beer he proposed that we find out what she's going to need and evaluate whether we could keep her. 

That brings me back to Monday's visit. Boy, she's a mess. She has bilateral bowed femurs that we need to try to align properly for her continued growth and proper knee alignment (correcting this may reveal hip dysplasia which will require further action). She has bilateral femoral nerve weakness, an arched back from walking so funny on her hind legs and abdominal muscle weakness - again from walking so funny. The visit with Dr. Shaw at Back on Track was really great. Dr. Shaw is incredibly skilled and put the puppy through a series of exercises and the little girl was so resilient. At first she would hesitate a little - especially when the assistive device was placed on her hind legs or when she was in the underwater treadmill - but then she'd look like, "ok, what do you want me to do now?". It was a little heartbreaking to watch what this puppy is going to have to do but her lively personality and sweet nature makes her the perfect candidate. I knew Ronnie would be overwhelmed with these exercises at home and her 5 other dogs to attend to as well so we made plans, if Michael gave the go ahead, we'd get her on Tuesday.

Mojo all drugged up for her x-rays	She swears the paper towel was already ripped up on the floor like this when she got there. I'm pretty sure she's lying, but I don't have any proof yet.

I met Michael out at Belmont Station for a beer and went over the plans. He was really concerned but being her best prospect said yes and she's been with us since Tuesday. We're working through the normal puppy things - potty training and learning what's ok to chew on but she's smart and picking it up fast. We brainstormed names on Tuesday and on Wednesday her name was Mojo. (She has had a slew of names - Marsha from the shelter, Blanche from North Porltand Animal Hospital, and Lacey from Animal Care and Rescue Fund). DeeDee does not like being the new play toy but Mojo is pretty respectful and DeeDee is even starting to play ever so slightly. She also finds refuge on the couch where Mojo can't reach her. 

Are we crazy to take on this special case? Probably but when she snuggles up at night and rests her head on your pillow it's like nothing else matters and everything is just perfect.

Come meet Mojo at the Open House - I bet she'll capture your heart too!