Keeping injured pup engaged

[3Mmom]

Hello! I am new to the boards and so glad I found them! I adopted Molly when she was 14 weeks old. The shelter thought she was a lab/bc mix, but after looking at the pictures here and reading the boards, I think she might be a smooth coat. She's six months now, 30 pounds, sharp as a tack and wonderfully loving and loyal. She's almost perfect, except for the broken knee. She fractured it when we weren't home (my husband's grandmother was ill and we had to leave her in the backyard for the day). She's had surgery, and now she is stuck in the house for four to six weeks. She can't run, jump, go up/down stairs or get too active. Any suggestions for toys or games to keep her busy and engaged?

 

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! She's my first bc. Thanks!

 

One unrelated question - does Picasa work for uploading pics to messages? I keep getting an error.

[Samantha J]

Hello and welcome,

 

Poor Molly, that sounds pretty painful for her. I am no expert, Holly is my first BC too but we had to be a little careful with her after her spay op. That was hard, she thought she was ok and wanted to chase balls as soon as she got home. We did more mind games with her really, teaching her new tricks and working on the sits, stays, downs and that. I don't know how mobile Molly is so it's hard for me to think of anything she can do. Kongs are quite good though and maybe feeding her (if she has kibble) in a training ball, so she has to do something to get her food out. Thinking dog = tired dog

 

Sorry can't be more help and i don't know what Picasa is, i use photobucket for mine.

[Jack & Co.]

Use the Search feature and try words like "mental" and "games" for ideas. In the past, folks have suggested Kongs and other similar toys to keep a recuperating dog busy. Good luck!

[ErinKate]

Poor Molly! Hopes for a speedy recovery!

I was given Max because he was struck by a car and had broken a hip. No longer fit to work in the tight cattle pens. He had to have the ball removed from his femur. (never get the initials right for the sx, so I wont even try) Well at the time he was 18 months old. He couldn't understand me being his new owner, the pain he was in, and why he had to stay in a crate so much. We of course did LOTS of quiet bonding, brushing and such. We also fed raw, so frozen treats where great. We also did a lot of putting treats in boxes and let him figure out how to get them out. I couldn't do much obedience because of his physical limitations, but we worked on him picking stuff up and handing it to me. That is when he perfected his holding skills. lol He really bonded with me in that time. The broken knee has got to be tough! I can't think of too many games that don't require her to really move. I am sure you will get TONS of suggestions. Good luck!

[3Mmom]

Thanks for the suggestions. She has 4 pins in her knee, and she actually gets around quite well by holding it up a little. She's a real trooper! She has a kong, and since she can't run, she's been very interested in training. The hard part has been trying to keep her down. I have a five year old and a three year old, and she really wants to play chase with them. I am just amazed at how smart she is and how fast she picks things up! I'm imagining all of the trouble she could get into over the next five weeks from being kept inside all of the time!

[Samantha J]

yep it will be a fun few weeks for you. lol

[Alaska]

Check out the recommendations on this site:

 

What to do for 6 weeks after surgery

[sweet_ceana]

You can play "go find it" with her toys. Hiding them and having her search by name. We sometimes turn out the lights and hide ourselves, have ceana find us, hold onto her collar and say take me "name a room." She loves it, and if there was an emergency it could come in handy.