For the Love of the Pups

Brandy came into our lives nearly 6 years ago and she has been - and still is - an amazing pup.

We'd moved to Calgary earlier that year and having found work in the city, we felt guilty leaving Wilson at home on his own. We wanted a friend for him to keep him company during the day, but having been to a few shelters in the area, they refused to let us adopt a rescue dog unless we had Wilson castrated. We had no intentions of having him castrated - nor did we have any intentions of ever breeding him - there are enough homeless pups in the world without us contributing to the problem, and whilst we understood their reasoning, we also felt that they too were contributing to overcrowding in shelters simply because they refused to let perfectly capable existing, responsible dog owners from adopting. Wilson had absolutely nothing to do with the shelters, he never wandered and he never showed any interest in humping anything other than his big toy dog, but we accepted their decision and decided to look elsewhere.

We scoured various other sources and even considered having a pedigree Golden Retriever from a reputable breeder on the outskirts of Calgary, but then we came across an advertisement for a young 6 month old puppy that was looking for a new home.

We arranged to meet with the family that were being forced to re-home Brandy and took Wilson along to make sure they got along. It was love at first sight for both us and Wilson, and so a week later, we headed home with a beautiful lady pup that was soon to become a huge part of our lives. Brandy's previous owners were devastated at letting her go, but we promised to stay in touch via the powers of Facebook, and nearly 6 years later, we've kept that promise and they know exactly what kind of life Brandy has been having since she came to live with the Salt-Smith household.

Brandy is a wonderful girl and she's a very intelligent dog. You can see her working things out, and she's very sneaky and extremely playful in a crafty kind of way. She won't bring a ball to you, but she will mischievously steal an item of clothing or a shoe or something, and will casually walk past and pause with it in her mouth knowing full well you'll end up chasing her to get it back. She really is a very funny girl. She's also very stubborn. She's well trained and obedient, but when she decides to be rebellious, she really is rebellious and she can outwit the best of trainers.

When she was younger, I used to take Brandy and Wilson running with me and she has easily done a 15km or 9 mile run with me without any difficulty. When I used to run them together, Wilson would be too fast for her, so Brandy used to grab Wilson's leash to pull him back. I would howl with laughter and of course, Brandy would get her way as we would all end up slowing down. She was a slim, fit girl, and she loved to run around the dog parks and hike up mountains with me.

Mountain hikes back in the day :-)

Running fun with Brandy and Wilson as puppies

Three years ago, we made the move to Phoenix. The dog parks were much smaller, the heat meant that we couldn't go hiking as much as we wanted to, and even walks during the working week were shorter because the pavement was too hot to walk on. Within a year, Brandy started to put on weight and whilst we reduced her food as much as we could without starving the poor girl, she ended up with her Brandy jelly belly.

I felt awful for both Wilson and Brandy. They'd both had so much exercise and fun when living in Canada, but since moving to Arizona, that had been taken away through no fault of their own. We signed them up for agility classes and dock diving which kept them active for a couple of months during the winter months, but otherwise it was far too hot to do much else. We couldn't even take them swimming as oddly enough, all the rivers in the desert are dried up.

We don't know what made us adopt Tillie.  For some reason, I had done a search for whippet mixes in the Phoenix area, and Tillie came up in the search. Once again it was love at first sight, and so Tillie - who was previously called Sonia - also joined the Salt-Smith clan.

Brandy has been a superb big sister to Tillie, and from the get-go, they wrestled and played and have been having the time of their lives. In having Tillie, Brandy was becoming more active and she started to slowly lose some of the weight. But then we noticed that Brandy started limping and we thought that perhaps they'd been playing a little too rough. We rested her for a couple of weeks and the limp went away, but she became even more laid back and even more lazy.

Moving back to Canada in April gave Brandy a new lease of life again. She loved the cooler weather, the dog parks gave her a huge sense of freedom again, and she was having so much fun running around with Tillie and Wilson.

On arrival back in Canada we stopped off at the dog park in Lethbridge and spent a good hour there letting the dogs play in the snow. There were some icy patches and all 3 dogs were slipping and sliding on the snow and ice but showed no signs of any problems. Unfortunately when we arrived in Leduc, we noticed that Brandy's limp was back, only this time it seemed much worse and even with rest, it wasn't getting any better.

Fun in Lethbridge and likely where the damage was done

We found a vet pretty much straight away and within a couple of days of taking possession of the new house, we'd made an appointment and Brandy had been for xrays. We were told that she had joint problems and early signs of arthritis - it didn't look like a soft tissue injury. We were given a course of anti-inflams and put Brandy on a joint health diet, but after a few weeks, things weren't getting any better but neither were they getting any worse. I started to restrict her walks again - 10 minutes at breakfast and dinner, and then the dog park with Tillie and Wilson later in the day - but even that wasn't helping.

It was whilst at the dog park that a lady noticed Brandy's limp and she suggested I try a chiropractor that specialises in animals. I called Dr Jen Webster and managed to get an appointment the following day, but as soon as she saw Brandy and had a feel at her leg and range of movement, she knew that it wasn't a joint problem but most likely the ligament in her knee, otherwise known as the CCL.

The CCL has the same function as the ACL in humans, that is to support the knee joint. In dogs, the rupture of the CCL is the most common injury particularly in large dogs and those that are overweight, and it generally results in surgery. 

There are two types of surgery for dogs - the first is where they attach a band to the bones in the knee to mimic the CCL - this usually works for small dogs or those that are under 40 lbs. However, for larger dogs the surgery is more in serious.

The TPLO procedure is very expensive but it is proven to be 90% successful. It involves cutting the bone in the knee and repositioning it so that it stabilises the dog's knee without the need for the CCL. They then insert a stainless steel plate and 4 screws to hold it in place. The surgery means just one day at the vets but the rehab and recovery can take 2 to 3 months.

Having been referred to an orthopedic vet, they confirmed that it was indeed the CCL that was causing the problem for Brandy. It was likely that she had ruptured it back in April and since then, her knee joint would have been quite painful and the bones rub together without the support. This really upset me, knowing how much pain Brandy was in, and yet she had never given any indication of pain other than the limp.

There was no question about it - despite the cost, we agreed to surgery and Brandy was back at the vets less than a week later undergoing surgery.

It's now been almost a week since she had that surgery and she is doing really well. The first couple of days back home were really difficult. She stumbled out of the car and her poorly leg got caught between the front and back seats and I couldn't lift her out of the car properly without hurting her. She was also a little disorientated due to the anesthetic and she didn't pee or poo for nearly 48 hours. Weighing in at 106 lbs or 48 kg, she's a heavy girl, and having to carry her up and down the steps to allow her to go the toilet has been tough. I'm not going to lie - I cried a lot.

Tillie looking after big sister Brandy

She's also on 4 types of pills to help her recover, and with the addition of massage, icing and physio, it's taking up a lot of time making sure she's comfortable and recovering, but not overdoing things.

The problem is that Brandy is stubborn - did I mention this?! I secured her in the living room and she was happily relaxing in her corner, but then one day when I got back from walking Tillie and Wilson, she had jumped over the barricade and was sitting by the front door waiting for us. I then moved her to the mud room which seemed far more secure, but she still managed to head but the child gate and knock it out of the way. The other morning I came down stairs and she had climbed onto the sofa and I've been worried that she had done some damage by climbing. I'm limiting her to 2 x 5 minute leashed walks per day but when she goes out, she is leading the way with a waggy tail and a wet, black nose. It was expected that she would start to put weight on her leg after a few days, but she is actually walking on it already, albeit with a limp and she does still hold it from time to time. I've never heard Brandy howl until this week, but it wasn't through pain, it was through frustration that she wasn't able to come out with me and the other two - it broke my heart.

The good news is that as things stand, Brandy is recovering remarkably well and next weekend, she will be having her stitches out. My only concern is that things are moving too quickly. It's really difficult knowing how much to do to aid recovery, but how much is too much, and how much is too little, both of which could be detrimental to her success. I've been very lucky to have a couple of friends who have made contact with me whose dogs have also had the same surgery. They have shared their experiences with me and offered guidance and advice based on what they went through and I'm truly grateful to them for this. 

Of course, I also have Wilson and Tillie to look after and at the moment, Wilson is also having some issues. A couple of weeks ago, he started to bleed from his willy which of course had me thinking the worst. Having been to the vets with him, it was discovered that he had a cut on his privates that had got a little infected, so he too has been on antibiotics. His problem cleared up but then he went swimming and ended up bleeding again, so it was back to a different tablet to solve the problem. Again it cleared, and I've kept him away from the water to ensure it clears up, but once again he's been spotting blood this week and I really don't know what to do. He's happy in himself, but I don't want him getting an infection that could spread and get worse. He's also developed a limp on his front leg and so he's been on limited exercise for a couple of days to rest it. Wilson is very high energy and everything he does is done at high velocity - it's hard to keep up! I did wonder if maybe he was play acting as he's seen Brandy having a lot of attention, but I do think he's either twisted his ankle or has something in his paw - we really aren't having much luck right now.

Fortunately, Tillie is ok. She had lots of allergy problems when we lived in Phoenix and was on medication to deal with swollen, crusty eyes and a huge red sore on her inner thigh. Since moving to Canada, those allergies are cleared and I'm so thankful for that.

I'm hoping that in the next couple of days, Wilson will be ok, and once Brandy has had her stitches removed and a checkup on progress at the vets, everything will be heading in the right direction.

For now though, I'm taking things at day at a time, and trying to give as much time as possible to the care that all of our dogs need. I do find it frustrating that if it were children, work would be more flexible in allowing the time to care for them, but because they are dogs things are different. Luckily I do work from home so I can keep watch over them, but having to make up hours due to spending time administering medication and doing physio does make things difficult, especially with Andy being away so much and me being on my own.

But I'm always an optimist, I'm always trying to see the positive in things. Yes, I have down days when I'm at my wits end, but I know that things can only get better and that's what I focus on.

Thank you to those friends that have offered me help and support this past few days, and for all those that have sent well wishes to Brandy. It is greatly appreciated and of course I will keep you all informed as to how things progress.