That's so interesting and very reassuring. We're trying to stop making a fuss when he gets up or does something so it all just becomes normal. After all, we never showered him with praise when he walked down three steps on four legs! Although I do think there's a fine line because we do want to help build his confidence.

This morning I refused to take his food to him. I was sitting outside and after about 10 minutes he came out and did his morning toilet and then came back in and lay in the kitchen. At that point I put his bowl in front of him and turned away pretending not to be interested and within a few seconds he was eating. So we met half way.

We've also noticed that Luther doesn't respond so well to attention when he's embarking on something. If you give him too much, he'll give up and lie down so if he's ignored he seems happier to just get on with it in his own time.

Because he's been rested for so long (about 3 months) he had gotten used to not being walked when we took Roxy out so we're now trying to get him used to learning that he can go out too, just for a few steps as opposed to an hour. This morning Roxy and I were about to head out to our weekly training class and Luther got visibly excited and got up so when I took Roxy out in the car, hubby let Luther out as well and he hopped down the drive and had a nice sniff around the front path. Some neighbours came out and got chatting so he had attention too. I think that was so important for him and we're going to encourage that every evening.

Tomorrow I'm taking him for a blood test and I'm planning on driving down to the park after and just letting him lie in the boot of the car with the door open smelling the different smells and enjoying a change of scenary.

Hey!

I'm sorry I've been absent, time is just flying by.

My wonderful boy is doing brilliantly and he seemed to turn a corner almost immediately from having his staples out 2 weeks ago.  The very next morning, he lifted his head when I went downstairs and was just much brighter.  We still had problems with his lack of desire to get up and eat, but the weekend following the stiches removal we went on holiday for a week and left Luther, Roxy, our two cats and house in the very capable hands of our pet sitter who knows them all well and is an ex-vet nurse.  She sorted him right out and within 2 days he was eating back next to Roxy!!  I think he just needed to have the habit broken and it worked and he's fully back to normal with getting up when he hears breakfast or dinner time.

He's much more active around the house than he was, getting up to greet people (unless he's so close to the front door he knows he doesn't have to!) and the nicest part is seeing how excited he gets at walk time.  We try our best to take both dogs out together and he loves it.  Our biggest challenge now is going to be improving his fitness and stamina because he still needs to lose weight.  He's lost some, but it's around his back end and it's the front where it needs to drop off.  But, he has his first chemo tomorrow so in two weeks, after the risk of infection has gone, we're going to start weekly hydrotherapy sessions.  On our walks, he'll go 10 paces, lie down for a minute or so and then go another 10 paces, so it's progress, albeit slow!

It's easy to get him into the car as he pops his front leg up and we lift him in, which is how we used to do it before the amp, but up to now, hubby has carried him out of the car, which isn't something I can do as he weighs 8 stone!  We were looking into steps, but last night we decided to give the ramp a try, being very aware that he may not be confident enough to go down it.  Well, it's amazing how much confidence he gets with little pieces of chicken dropped down the ramp!  I supported him with his harness so he wouldn't fall forward and he did it!!

When we took him for the stitch removal, the first thing our vet asked was "is he happy" and if I'm honest, we couldn't answer.  He seemed to be taking things SO slowly and we were struggling with his lack of enthusiasm for anything, but if I'm asked the same question now, I'd say he's definitely happier than he was prior to the amp.  By that I mean that I don't think he's as happy a he was before all of these problems started and he was healthy and pain free on 4 legs, but he's on the right track.  I'm just hoping that as his fitness increases and his ability to walk for longer without stopping increases, so will his happiness and zest for life.

We had a little set back earlier this week when he came down with diarrhea.  This is something that Luther is prone to, but the poor boy had a couple of accidents at night and I went down in the middle of the night on Monday to find that he was struggling to get up because he was slipping on his accident.  That broke my heart.    I cleaned him up first then the floor and left the back door open so at least he could get outside if he needed to.  The next day I bought some puppy pads to put down and he actually didn't need them.  I dropped his feed back to plain chicken and rice and added some medication, which seemed to have the opposite effect as he didn't go at all for two days, but he went last night and although it wasn't a perfect stool, it was much better than previously so hopefully he's on the mend.  I need to starve him tonight until tomorrow in case they give him a mild sedative during chemo so that won't do him any harm at all.

So there you have it.  I'll try and drop back in over the weekend with an update on his chemo, things just seem to be so busy at the moment, but thank you for asking after him anyway!

So a bit of an update 6 days post chemo.  Unfortunately, Luther has had a rough couple of days, which we were prepared for, but hoped wouldn't happen.  Tuesday morning he didn't get up for breakfast and didn't eat anything until later in the day when he had a small piece of boiled chicken.  He seemed normal enough in himself and has remained so, but we know that he's such a stoic dog, he MUST be feeling worse than he's letting on.

He didn't eat breakfast yesterday either and was sick so we didn't try and encourage him at all (following the information leaflet that we came home with) and he was also suffering from diarrhea.  He had a little dinner (chicken and rice) and we went for a short stroll, but the diarrhea continued and at 1am this morning I went down to him as he'd been sick again.

This morning he did get up and had a small bowl of chicken and rice, but still the diarrhea.  I'm not sure if he has been sick since I fed him as I've come to work, but I've asked hubby to check the garden.

I'm not too worried about him because as I said, we were prepared for this, but it has made us decide that we won't be putting him through another chemo session.  We'd made a pact that if he had no problems, we would, but if he suffered at all, we would leave him alone.  Not only would he have the chemo, he'd have to have a blood test within the 5 days before to check his white blood cell count, which would be more needles and we've decided that the time has come to stop poking and prodding him.

I'm going to book him in for his first hydrotherapy session for two weeks time, but he'll enjoy that and the vet is calling me today so I'll see if there's anything we can pick up for him to help with the sickness and diarrhea.

My poor boy.  He's being so brave and his usual wonderful self, I just can't do this any more to him.