Malachi is doing great!  I am absolutely amazed at how well he is recovering and he does not even seem to miss the leg.  He is getting around better then I ever imagined and has no trouble negotiating the four steps off the deck into the yard.  I think those three weeks he was only using one leg prior to surgery really helped him since he had already adjusted his balance for the most part.  I was only able to keep him contained in the laundry room for about a day before he slipped thru the gate and decided he should be back in the living room on his favorite chair.  I still contain him at night when I am not there to supervise, but he is amongst the other dogs during the day and aside from a few sniffs of the wound the first time they mingled they have not bothered him at all.

I am still giving him his tramadol and rimadyl pills, but I began backing down the dosage of tramadol after the first night.  He is not showing any signs of discomfort at all and most of the bruising around the wound has already gone away.  The staples are scheduled to come out on the 9th, and the incisiion looks to be healing nicely.  He is still resting and sleeping quite a bit, (as he needs to be) but he is well on his way back to his old self and I couldn't be happier with his progress.  I check back in a couple days with another update.

- Josh

P.S. The poop watch is over... we were out in the yard Friday afternoon
enjoying some sun on our first full day at home when I saw him "pop a
squat" and yes I did a little dance afterwards.