I broke my puppy.
Not really but it happened on my watch. We spend all day together so if she foot plants her right front foot directly into a gopher hole in a full sprint like nothing but net from the 3-point line and comes up limping, it'll be on my watch. Poor thing.
She was bringing the ball back. I watched it happen. Had I not seen it, I'd probably assume she's going through awkward puppy gait growing pains. But I saw it.
Took her to the doctor to rule out anything serious—nothing serious. She's got a bad sprain. I explained how we can't do walks anymore or wrestle or play fetch or play anything, really. Told her no running or digging or jumping on and off the bed or up and down the steps outside and how for the next couple weeks I have to lift her up and down stuff like that and no more morning car rides, either. No pressure on that foot for two to thr..
Wait‼️
WHAT ?!
She doesn't understand. I tried telling her how a couple weeks is nothing compared to the 14'ish years she'll be alive but nothing I said made a difference. Convincing a 5n1/2 month old German Shepherd to sit still for anything longer than a couple minutes is impossible like convincing you to sit still to this Temptations song.
Ibuprofen twice a day for pain and swelling—Carprofen they call it for pets. Can't be outside by herself. And when we do go outside, mainly for pee's and poop's, she can't be off leash even for that. No being a puppy again before April.
I'll take her to the pet store a couple times a week for socializing and mental stimulation otherwise I'll probably get too involved with projects around the house or waste away on the internet. That was a joke. Socializing's for her, not me.
First dog I've known who doesn't destroy her toys. Quite the opposite. Each of her toys are still in mint condition. No missing eyes or noses or anything. Water bottles, however, not so much. Destroys water bottles.
And then I found these strategy games, they're real cool and can keep her occupied for as long as 30 minutes sometimes. That's all I meant to do when I started this—tell you about these games. I can hardly stand her in case you haven't noticed.
That one's her favorite. You put little foods inside the slots and then slide the plastic covers over it. The center blue pieces spin in a circle. More foods are under those as she spins them. As they open, the oval shaped ones reveal more slots—more food. She loves it.
The Serpenƚ
Put foods inside those little pockets and roll it back up—not her favorite game. There's Velcro's sewn in that stick to their self to keep it rolled up. She'll chew, paw and claw her way through that one before you refill your coffee. One more.
Noƚ An Apple
It's a really thick rubber strawberry. So thick, Sweed could run it over in his new tractor and the worst that'll happen is he might get a flat. She likes that one, too. Put little foods inside it and she bites and claws, slides and paws it all over the place until it's empty. It can keep her busy for around 5 minutes.
Ever try keeping an intuitive, extremely high-energy puppy who's super defiant because she's in super defiant puppy stage off her feet and entertained 24/7 when the absolute last thing in the whole entire world she wants to do is relax? This is my first time. ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇ ɪꜱ ʀᴇᴀʟ. One down, two to go. I don't know if you can tell but that first week was rough.