Cali had surgery last Thursday and stayed at the vet until Friday. According to the vet, the surgery went very well but she has a long road to recovery ahead of her. She has external pins holding her tendon to the bone and has to stay confined for 4-8 weeks to allow her tendon to heal. If you know this breed at all, you know that keeping a high energy dog confined for even an hour is difficult to do. The vet also said that it’s possible that this same injury could happen again. We asked what could have caused this injury to be so severe and they suggested that due to previous illnesses and medication intake, the tissues in her body may have been weakened. She may always have this issue therefore she would need to be very careful in order to prevent future injuries. As of Monday, she was back at the vet with some swelling and possibly an infection.

This news was hard for us to hear especially since we had hopes of Cali being able to come camping and boating with us. Even Winston stumbled a few times getting in/out of the RV, so I can imagine that Cali would need help. It also means that I would not be able to take her on rides in the truck by myself since she will have to be lifted in/out. Any type of strenuous exercise would need to be supervised and limited. Again, this is hard for a high energy dog, which could eventually lead to behavioral problems. Perhaps the previous owners knew more than they let on and this is why they let her go. We knew she had some issues but thought they were manageable and that we would give it a shot. We had no idea it would come to this and cost us so much money.

After a lot of thought we have decided that it would be in Cali’s best interest to find a home where someone can be with her throughout her recovery to ensure she doesn’t reinjure herself. In addition, it would be best if she found a less active family. In addition, we just can’t afford to support her ongoing health issues. We have spoken to the breeder and are working on the next steps to help her find a forever home. We aren’t sure when Cali will be leaving us but we will miss her when she’s gone. Everyday it gets harder and harder to look into her eyes and know that she will be leaving us.

In order to help offset the expense of Cali’s vet bills the breeder has offered us one of the puppies from the next litter due the 1^st week in April. We have accepted her very generous offer and look forward to bringing home a healthy bundle of joy in late May or early June.

That’s all for now, we’ll keep you posted on additional udates.

Below is Cali out in the yard on her potty break: