Sunday, July 08, 2007

When a 3-legged dogs swims, is in it a straight line?

Our mystery has finally been answered. Lady swims in a straight line (So there, E!) We saw it with our own eyes yesterday when Lady swam in the Lake:





Ruby was under the impression that she could walk on the lily pads - see how well that worked out for her:


These pups were tired after a day of fun at grandma's lake house!! So tired, in fact, that Lady almost slept in the car on the way home.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

The continuing adventures of Ruby Phatz

Ruby is now in a groove - losing a half pound per week. She's now at 33.5 pounds - with about 13.5 to go. I know we'll eventually get there. What's great is how active she is. Yesterday, Freddie took her running with Lady on the Yellow Trail at Richter. It's not a really difficult one, but it is up hill and through the woods. He said she kept up with them the whole way - which is difficult because Lady is one fast tripod!!

Last weekend, I took her to see a canine physical therapist. Her name is Gale Henderson and she is amazing. Her business, Paws and Paddle Canine Conditioning, is in a great setting up in New Milford, CT. She has a room set up to do evaluations and treatment for the dogs - it has all sorts of things for the dogs to walk up, down and over, and she even has an underwater treadmill. You can sort of see the room in the picture here. Gale said that Ruby is very weak in her back legs - especially her hamstrings. Her luxating patellas are also a concern, so it's important to keep up with the weight loss, stretch out her hip flexors, and build the strength in her back legs. I have a set of exercises to do with Ruby, including putting a spring-loaded rod across the doorway and having Ruby jump over it.