Day Fifty-One

A lot of updates!!! Last visit to the physical therapist Bacci did 30 minutes on the underwater treadmill! We got permission to start some recalls, sprints, and short focused heeling. I go back today for another treadmill session and we might see if we can get him to stand on the peanut ball! (Bought one last time we went.) Yesterday was the first time we did some recalls. I had him run out to a touch pad, sit, and then recall to a tug. He's not as amped up for the tug compared to the bite pillow, so I think it work. I worked him for about 35 minutes with walking, a little trotting, lots of stretching, some heeling, and then the recalls. I let him bite the tug a few times during the heeling. It was the FIRST time we did any tugging in about 2 months!! He hadn't even seen a tug! At first he was ho-hum... like he normally is without tugs. Well, after about 2 short heeling sessions with a tug reward, he started to get really excited. It was pretty warm outside.. around 80+ degrees.. so I kept the sessions short. He's SOO out of shape and I was worried about the heat bothering him. Our walks are increasing. We are doing more trotting on the leash. Hope we can continue with the recalls and we'll see what's next. Physical therapist thinks he'll have enough core body strength to return to some protection work in about 2 weeks. She wants to do a run through to see how he "holds up." I'm sooo nervous he'll start limping again, but I guess all I can do now is just slowly build him up and pray we are doing it right. The biggest thing will be staying atop his stretching and strengthening exercises. I think the peanut ball will really help. Will update after our session.