Rufus the Goofus, my mixed media puppy

At long last, an update on our giant puppy-hound... He's a mixed media pup because he's got ink (tattoos in his ears) and steel (holding his leg together), as well as flesh and bone. Very appropriate since I'm a mixed media artist!

Took Rufus in to see Dr. Salloom yesterday at Mountain View Veterinary Hospital, and she was very impressed with how well he's using his leg. She had me walk him around so she could see how he moves - she said she couldn't even tell which leg he'd broken (based on how he was using it).

As you can see from the pics, he's healed up nicely, but there is substantial muscle atrophy, so we need to build his muscles back up. I have been taking him for short walks every morning, up and down some small hills near our home, and he seems to be doing very well. A few days ago, I began taking Ivy out with us, and Rufus acts more like a healthy non-injured hound when she's along for the walk - he even does the greyhound trot with her.

One thing that we are working on is Rufus' leash manners - he was OK before he broke his leg, but during his convalescence, I let him wander, on-leash, and just followed him, for two reasons. 1. I wanted him to take things at his speed and not over-exert him, and 2. I felt for his mental health, he really needed to be able to go sniff things, and stand around and listen to the neighborhood, since the rest of his life pretty much sucked. This worked fine while he was in a cast, but now that he's feeling so much better, and we're going on walks, he's decided that he wants to be the boss all the time...so this 82 pound hound does his best to drag Mama where he wants to go. Mama's getting a great upper body workout, but it's getting old, faster than a greyhound can find bacon.

This first pic shows Rufus' cast, and gives you an idea of how big it was, and how it fit on his leg. It's in two pieces because Dr. Salloom bisected it at one of his first bandage changes, which allowed her to cut it down to fit Rufus' leg as the swelling in his leg diminished.

In the second picture, you can see indentations along the edges of the cast where they had to cut pieces of cast away, in order to better manage those pesky bandage sores. I took pics of the cast, and then plopped it, without ceremony, in the garbage can.

Rufus still has a lot of recovery ahead of him, but I'm hoping the worst is behind us. We wouldn't have made it this far without all the love and support we've received from so many people. Thank you all, so very VERY much!