CKThunderstruck
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Nov 2015
Location: Western North Carolina
Posts: 84 |
UPDATE
I forgot all about this post in the middle of everything, or I would've updated this way sooner!
I am so so so proud of this dog. Three months ago he couldn't walk for longer than 10 minutes at a time and he had to rest every few yards, and he even struggled to swim which is something he'd always loved and been good at. Now with (a little more than) three months of keeping at it he's back to at least 70% of what he used to be and improving all the time. No more front jello-legs, no more shaking back end, no more stopping for breaks. He can pull a 1 hour hunt without stopping and doesn't give out after the hour is up, jumps all over the place from the porch to the tailgate to the bench. I remember having to carry him back from our walks and now they're 5 times as long and just a warm up - he's gone from laying in my lap unable to control his legs to sitting on my lap with his paws on my shoulders wanting to know when we're going to go do something. I know I caught criticism for letting him push as hard as he did but he wasn't ready to give up and I wasn't about to stop him. He knew his limits and all I had to give was an occasional reminder, and now he's able to do the things he loves. His competition hunt and show career is over regardless, but he can still do the fun stuff. We've had him in the woods quite a bit - While he could go longer than an hour we still limit him to that. And I still use him for shows to support our local clubs though I did take him to Autumn Oaks and he loved it. It was the first trip he'd gotten to take since it all went down and he was the happiest dog the whole weekend. I only showed him in Pairs and we didn't hunt him but you could tell that he felt like it was all finally back to the way it was. Minus how unamused he was with my photo shananagains 
I've heard everyone's experiences with CP on here, on Facebook, at hunts/shows, even people calling me to share their dealings with it and have to say that I appreciate it more than y'all could know! The scariest part about everything was not knowing what was happening, to just sit there with a general idea but complete lack of knowledge while my dog was nothing more than a floor mat. I remember one of the first days, Janet called to check on him and as soon as she said "How is our boy?" I just started crying before I could even say anything. So for people to share their stories and give advice helped get rid of that hopeless feeling I had, and while I realistically knew how bad the outcome could be, it helped me feel like it could end happily and that I wasn't alone in experiencing what I was.
I'm so proud of him and the strength he mustered and sheer willpower he had to fight through this. I firmly believe that he saved himself, I was just there to look after him a little.
I don't have a more recent photo of him stacked but this was his recovery one month ago, and he's only coming back more and more as time passes!
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Effrem & Haley Creasman
Thunderstruck American Leopard Hounds
Sylva, NC
creasmankennels.weebly.com
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05-31-2016 08:34 PM
