Hopalong Cassidy

For a few months now, my husband and I have noticed our dog, Scout, limping around. Usually, her limp happens after she's been running or jumping around. And then, usually the next day, she's back to normal. In fact, sometimes she has limped around so pathetically, and then within half and hour we catch her racing across the yard chasing a squirrel. So we weren't too worried. In fact, we often called her a "faker". And she gained the new nickname: Hopalong Cassidy.

But last week after our walk, she was REALLY limping around. She clearly couldn't put any weight on one of her back legs. Fermin asked me how she did it. And I hated to say it then (and now) but her injury seemed to happen when she squatted down to poop. After she did her business, she could barely walk. It was horrible. I was walking both her and Zoe, and we all felt pretty helpless. If Zoe and I could've picked her up and carried her home, we would've. But the best we could do was just slow down, and cheer her along. By the time we got home, I think Scouts whole body must have been aching. And Zoe and I were aching for her.

We all thought she'd make a full recovery, as she had countless times before, in a day or two. But this time, her hobbling around lingered...

So it ends up, Scout's cranial cruciate ligament tore. It's more of a degenerative problem in dogs than it is an injury. (Not caused from squatting to poop after all.) Tomorrow morning she'll go in for surgery to get it all fixed up. Then for SIX WEEKS, she's suppose to stay completely off if it- except,ironically, to get up and go to the bathroom. That's right, I said SIX WEEKS. But eventually, she'll be back in action. I won't be able to call her Hopalong Cassidy anymore, and for that, I will be grateful.

I know this recovery time of inactivity his going to be hard on her. And Zoe. And me! I'm already trying to imagine how I'm going to stop her from jumping around when I get her bowl out at dinnertime. And how are Zoe and I going to sneak out for our daily walks without Scout feeling left out?

The vet used the term "lame" when referring to the current state of Scout's leg. Scout's a Husky. She was born to run and pull sleds- or at least chase squirrels! SHE is anything but lame. She looks and acts about 1/2 her age. This is just a small setback that she will recover from.