It is good to have friends

AP here:
We ran into Tonka's human friend Marie the other morning and she had not seen him for about two months and was very happy to see him up and walking. Hopefully soon his stamina will be back up to where we can go further and "see" our other human friends that walk in the mornings.
His recovery has been amazing and I credit the great care he received and continues to receive from his doctors and therapists. His therapists ROCK!
I also have to give credit to his wonderful friends both human and canine that have helped us at the park getting in and out of the truck and around the field. He is such a social guy and being able to go to the park and hangout with his friends has really helped him mentally. He also tends to lift his feet higher when he at the park which I would guess is part adrenaline and part uneven terrain.
Here are some pictures of Tonka and his buddies.



A Pack of Friends



I can fit



Master of Agility





Duke to the rescue

 

Some of Duke's humans helping the Tonk Man

Pssst - Hey Henry let me tell you a secret



Jazz gives the best hugs



Hydro-Therapy

Yesterday I went to VOSM and met Janay and Krystal. They helped me into a bathing suit (harness) and stuck me in a big glass box.

Harness

Off We Go

Into the Box

This Floor is Funny

 Then they added water - which was totally not cool but not as freaky as that swimming pool I was in before. I was mad that they tricked me into water so I snubbed them when they tried to make it up to me with treats.

Hey I'm Trapped

Hello - A Little Help Please

Must Find Handle - Water Rising

Then to make it even worse the floor started moving and I had to walk to keep from crashing into the back of the box. They made me walk for 2 whole minutes before they let me stop and rest and they did that 2 more times. AP says it is supposed to help my muscles get strong again. I cheated a little and put my bad foot out on the side of the floor that wasn't moving a few times but I got caught by Janay and she moved me back to the middle.At the end they turned on the jets and it made a little Jacuzzi/Whirlpool and Janay gave me a massage. I liked that part!

Help Me

Walking in the Water

Rest Time

Ahhh!  I Like the Massage Part

Why Yes - I will have a Treat Now

 It felt weird when the water started going away but I was glad it was leaving and decided that perhaps I would have a treat or two.

When it was all over they dried me off with some towels and gave me ear rubs so I guess it wasn't all that bad.

Towel Time

Hanging out with friends Helen and Raja

Guest Blogging Today at Travel Dog Books

Progress Part 2

It was so good to see the Tonka Man going Blippity Blop at the park over the weekend and he was so very happy. Last week was a 2 therapy visit week and it really does make a difference. This week we will have to be a little more strict about off leash time. Tonight his feet are scuffing a bit so only a small walk tomorrow morning and he has an appointment to try the underwater treadmill in the afternoon so that will be all we do for the day.

Progress

I have been walking around afraid to be happy at the progress Tonka has made in the past few months. I keep saying I don't want to jinx it - as if I have some ultimate control over what the future holds. Today we were at the park and Tonka was walking/trotting across the field towards the sound of his kids and I realized just how happy I was to see him enjoying his time with his kids and his friends. I don't have any power over what will happen tomorrow but I do have the power to be happy with him right now. It has been a long 5 months and the progress from not being able to lift his foot or stand for even a few minutes to where we are today is remarkable.
I put together a small sample of him at the park fro the past few days - see if he doesn't make you smile.



and this is what he looks like when we return home from the park...

For Tonka"s Angels

Thank you again to all of Tonka's AGPR Angels

Another Look

 This month I took Tonka to see Dr. Cannap at VOSM. He has seen Tonka once before for his shoulder and I wanted to make sure that his goofy walk was not setting us up for something bad down the road. The good news is his ankle, knees, hips and core are solid (except for the slight hip dysplasia in the one hip). He told me to keep him active anyway I can. He has some muscle atrophy and some slight deficit in the good hind leg so we are going to try the underwater treadmill with him sometime soon. That is if Tonka doesn’t absolutely freak out at the idea of being in water that is not the ocean. I really wanted to get a gait analysis done on their really cool computerized track so we could benchmark and monitor Tonks progress over time. Unfortunately the computer could not understand Tonka’s blind stagger along with his shuffling feet and it didn't work.  He asked me to talk to the neurologist on staff Dr. Gallagher and have him read the MRI and see if he had any ideas. He came back with the same things that Dr. Harris and Dr. McDonnell have already reviewed with us which leaves us no definitive diagnosis. He also concurred with the others that to rule out other possibilities we should MRI his neck and head which we will do at some point but for now he is making great progress.

Twice as Much Fun

This week we went to therapy twice and my new girlfriends Diana and Chris at CVSS moved my leg all around and pushed me here and there. AP wanted to see if 2x would make a difference and boy did it. We went on Tuesday and then again on Friday and they worked their magic. On Saturday morning I was all curled up with AP when I got the urge to belly up so I did. I turned my front legs up to the sky and then my back legs and they went up!! I kept them up while AP caught on to what I had accomplished (cause I really wanted a belly rub). She jumped up and didn't know if she should grab for a camera or rub my belly - she settled on the belly. I have not been able to belly up for 4 months now and boy did it feel good.