Dog Days of Summer

Everything is right in my world again.  We are back at camp as a family every other weekend. I can swim with my dog.  So far (knock on wood), the dog hasn't had any skin flare-ups.  Granted, we have had a wet and somewhat mild summer, but I finally feel like I am part of the season.

Last week I went into the river for the first time.  It was scary at first because the leg I had surgery on is very weak.  The joint still doesn't move as well as it could because it's too soon for all the swelling to be gone and there is still healing going on.  But once I am in the water, it feels good.  I think the temperatures are hovering around the 70 degree Fahrenheit mark.  Since we've gotten so much rain and had a lot of cooler days, the water hasn't warmed up as much as it usually does by this time.

I think the cooler water has helped puppy's skin as not as much pollen and algae is in it.  We have also been religiously rinsing her after each swim, giving her a good combing and keeping her on flea preventive.  We have her on an RX (Apoquel) that is quite pricey and I was at first hesitant about the side effects, but it works great.  Since she is doing well, we have her down to half a pill per day.  She never needs the NSAIDs we used to rely on.

It was also nice to finally have her trimmed once she was healed enough.  As for her leg, it is as if it was never injured.  We no longer do long tosses in the field -- which may also be helping her skin because she's not rolling around in as much cut grass, and mostly stick to walking and swimming.  Her weight is great -- she is so slim I am envious.  Every time she gets up or trots after something, we look for a limp or some sort of favoring of her leg, but there is nothing.  I wish I'd healed up as fast!

The main thing is that I am in my happy place because we can both swim and her skin is doing well.  I don't want to jinx it, but this will probably be her healthiest summer in a couple of years.  Best of all, she's forgotten her 14 weeks of boredom and is her usual plucky self.   Who could ask for more?