[Dailydrool] Watson

[Katie Strobel]

HI everyone,
I meant to write earlier but this week has been absolutely crazy. I
started my summer internship this week and had to do a week of
training in denver which is an hour away from my house - so hectic was
the name of the game. Watson is doing well after the ACL surgery. He
is still on crate rest but I am a softy so we have an x-pen and a
cushion that fills the entire x-pen. We have been leaving Watson in
there because with that cone on his head and the owie on his leg,
there just wasn't enough room in the crate. I felt cruel leaving him
in the crate where he couldn't even get comfortable to sleep so we've
disobeyed orders and have allowed him to hang in the x-pen. He does
fine in there, he sleeps but its just more comfortable. He feels great
and wants to run and play all the time. The hardest part of this whole
thing is keeping him in there and on a leash when we're walking. He is
bored and he hates not being right next to me so the crying rips my
heart out and the fact that he can't do anything with that darn cone
on is awful. We have the two week appointment with the specialist on
Tuesday so hopefully they free him of that cone so that he can at
least chew on a bone and have some toys to play with while we're gone.

The one thing I am glad about is that he is trained to potty when we
say "go potty". That is the most valuable thing from his puppy-hood
and so worth the months we spent going outside with him during the
freezing cold winter when he was a puppy. When it's 7:30 in the
morning and Watson needs to go out before I race to work in the
morning it's great to be able to go outside tell him to potty and have
him comply so that we're not wandering around the yard for 15 minutes
while he decides where it would be best to pee. That is the one thing
that saved me this week.

Thank goodness that next week we will be able to get home during the
day to let him out. I feel the worst about making the poor thing hold
it for 8 hours every day because we both were an hour away from the
house and couldn't make it home mid-day to let him out. Now that the
training is over, I will be able to sneak home during the day to let
him go outside so that he won't have to hold it for so long.

I think that when we go back on Tuesday I am going to ask the vet for
sedatives because it's only going to get worse as Watson starts to
fell better and his knee feels more stable. He is really ready to run
and jump and it's still supposed to be 6 weeks before we let him -
that's going to be impossible without some help. Walks on the leash
are great but he still jumps and lunges on the leash. He also escaped
from me once and ran laps around the yard - the vet would kill me if
she learned about that! He lunged when I wasn't holding on tight
enough and then thought we were playing "chase". I would get close to
him and he would bolt and run back across the yard - all of the
screaming and yelling and cursing didn't stop him at all - he thought
it was great. Whoever thinks basset hounds are slow or stupid really
has never encountered the breed - Watson may be able to beat a
greyhound in a race! One week after surgery he's already faster than
he ever was before! I hope he didn't tear his new prosthetic ligament
during that event - I guess we'll find out though....

So, anyway that's the update - it's been a long week and I am glad
it's over. Hopefully he continues to heal and get better. I doubt he
will ever behave - if I were caged all day I would also turn into a
disobedient crazy animal whose only goal is to escape capture.

Thanks for the drool and support - and sorry it's taken so long to
update - I really hope that things slow down around here....

Katie and Watson (currently in the x-pen snoozing peacefully - one
would never think he could be so ornery)