Rehab and rides

Buster is looking a lot less like Frankendog these days but we're now well into the time-consuming rehab stage of fixing up that knee (click for a recap). He's finished with his crate rest but is still on limited walks so he hasn't been able to come over to my apartment since the operation as it's about 5 minutes too far! Dogdad started a new season at his second job this week and needed more help with the rehab schedule so we put the radio flyer to use for the first time. Over the weekend I spent some time getting Buster used to wheeling around the apartment in it. He wasn't wildly keen on the idea but was happy to tolerate it as long as the treats kept coming (hence no free hands to take a photo!).

Bilbo of course, given that there was food on the line, had to show him how it's done:

I'm not entirely sure whether that helps with training him to PULL the cart, but at the very least we can assume that it's not going to make him nervous.

Anyway, Dogdad put Buster in the cart last night and although the transport solution wasn't entirely successful, they managed to make it over here. 

After his twice-daily rehab, he has to have his leg iced for 15 minutes so, once all chores and rehab were completed for tonight, the three of us piled onto the bed for some Pride & Prejudice and frozen peas. After shifting away from the cold a couple of times, Buster eventually decided he might as well just give in and fall asleep.

I think Billy was just pushing his luck to see if he could get any of the veggies in that makeshift ice-pack!

Ironically enough, the only food Billy is truly well-behaved around is his own, which I think is simply a testament to the fact that his routine at meal times has been set in stone since day one. Consistency is always the key to training.

There's yummy raw chicken in that bowl - hm, no accounting for taste I suppose - so he can't quite bring himself to abandon his post. Instead, he's doing his very best contortionist impression so he can keep his eye on me for the signal to eat while I mess around with that silly picture machine...