The puppy went back to the surgeon today for a follow-up after her elbow dysplasia operation, and he was really pleased with her. He couldn't believe how well she'd come on after just 5 weeks, the muscles in her left shoulder were completely wasted away before the op, and now it looks normal. He also pulled and twisted her elbow in every direction and she didn't bat an eyelid (compared to screaming the place down last time!). So he said although we still need to be careful with her, we can start building her up to her hour-long walks in the morning again, and she's allowed three whole off-lead walks every week for the next month, and then after that she can be off lead all the time! This has been my face since 1pm -->
To celebrate her new found freedom we drove straight home, picked up our other dog and took them to the beach. She was so excited to be running about again, she even went for her first ever swim, and she met a lovely little 4 month old lab who took a real shine to her. I think we were there about 40 minutes in all, and she came back soaking wet and exhausted, but there was no hint of a limp whatsoever. She's now fast asleep on the sofa next to me, snoring and covering everything in salt!
I'm so happy for her, it's been a nightmare keeping her contained all this time when she just wants to run and play. We're going to keep her crated during the day for a while longer yet, as we don't trust her to rest when we're out. But by this time next month, she'll be completely back to normal. In fact, she'll better than normal - considering normal for her was limping after five minutes and crying in pain No more of that though!