The Story of BB the Great Dane

The four-pack is back! BB came home yesterday evening. He got his pain meds, settled on the ex-pen enclosed twin mattress for an hour, then had his first supper at home in a long time. He’s been eating out, you see. Food critic of sorts, (who hasn’t ever written a bad report by the way).

We got the expected whining from the Brother’s Grin, having to see each other through the barrier for awhile. Settling the logistics of managing the two boys will take a couple of days, of course: who goes out when and such.

BB does have a problem, and it’s a big one—he won’t use the leg without the supportive bandages. If he isn’t putting weight and walking on that leg when he goes for his 3 week check up, he will likely have made an amputee of himself. He was sent home with directions for his physical therapy, but the will to walk on it is up to him.

The pool isn’t even started yet, which means walking and manually manipulating the leg are what we can provide right away. I remember how BB took off behind his brother, all four feet on the ground, last Monday.

But he had his bandage then. He felt supported by it, even as clumsy and awkward as it was. Maybe walking his brother ahead of him so he feels the urge to catch up will override the learned behavior of three legging it.

We are under the gun to get him walking, and fast. It would be heartbreaking if the sweet pup went through all of the pain and loneliness of the past weeks, only to lose the leg because he wouldn’t use it, not because he couldn’t.

Having only a couple hours with him before my bedtime didn’t give me much opportunity to observe him, but the next post will have a lot more detail of how BB spends his days, how his pt is done, etc. We’ll finally have some new Beeber stories! I’ve been trying to prepare Mom for how much more play time and attention he’s going to require than he used to.

She’s in for a shock, finding out I wasn’t kidding!