How do I entertain a puppy who is supposed to be resting?

[tabulahrasa]

Monster puppy is all limpy, he's on painkillers and to rest in the hope that it's an injury and not something more longterm...

He's got every type of chew I could find, he's getting his food from a variety of kong toys, I bought a wooden treat puzzle thing and we've been doing lots of leave practise (which he does already know) and we've started on look at me - because they don't involve putting any strain on his back end.

He's practically vibrating with unspent energy...I turned my back on him for ten seconds last night and he got through what I thought was a secure fence and couldn't get back (have you ever tried getting 20kg of wriggly puppy over a fence, in the dark, without putting any stress on his back legs, without waking your neighbours up? - it's less fun than it sounds.) He's trying to play fetch with himself because no-one else will and just being the saddest puppy in the world.

Any ideas of anything else I can do with him, or safe ways to knock him out? Either would be welcome at this point, lol

Could you take him for a drive . My dog sits on the front seat in his car harness and it seems to mentally exhaust him , almost as good as a walk ,and he loves it.

The car also makes him sad, to be fair he is exceptionally good at looking sad, lol...though he does lie still in the car so it might be an idea for later on just to keep him from trying to charge round the house.

He's not bad enough to be on crate rest, just supposed to be not exercising, but he doesn't seem to feel the need to rest.

What about if you let him stick his head out of the window? Give him a bath and blow dry his hair ,that will kill an hour.

The window being open freaks him out, lol, he goes in the car fairly often and he's calm enough in it now, but he's still very suspicious of it, windscreen wipers for instance are clearly the work of the devil.

I gave him a bath on Friday, just to kill some time, lol.

I'm thinking I might go for a drive to somewhere we can sit for a while after lunch - its got to be better than watching him go stir crazy.

Well my final suggestion is to go back to the vet tomorrow and ask for some diazepam, and then either you or the dog can take it ,you choose!

Lol, I've to get in touch tomorrow anyway and as he's still limpy I'll no doubt be going back to see them :(

I have got some cat sized tramadol somewhere, I wonder how many I'd need to take to knock me out?

How is he today ? Ae you both sedated yet !

Lol, no, but he will be tomorrow - he's getting x-rays done, it's looking like it might be his hips. :(

Oh dear ,what sort of dog is he?

He's a Rottweiler, his parents have good hip scores, I have over walked him slightly, but only by 5 or 10 minutes not massive hikes and I've not had him chasing things on concrete or running up and down stairs or anything stupid like that...

He's lively enough (high as a kite at the moment) and isn't obviously in pain, just that his back legs definitely are shuffly - so hopefully it's a bit of something and nothing.

Hope it's nothing too serious , are they xraying his spine as well ?

Yep, hips, spine and referral to a specialist if they can't find anything.

He's just been put in his crate to calm down as he was running from the kitchen to the living, via jumping on to the couch and bouncing on to DS's head, rofl - that's why I'm hoping it's not too serious, if that's him with something sore, I'm not sure I want him fit

Clicker training clicker training and clicker training

If his back legs need to be kept still

work on teaching high five, paw
touch with his nose,
target with his nose
target with his paw - then teach to push open a bin to put away his toys, push shut doors etc
cross his front legs
is roll over ok?
Teach a flat - lying on his side
Teach him to bark
Teach him to hold an item (you can do hundreds of tricks then) fetch named items

He will be knackered and you will get peace. Do 10 mins session at a time and he will zonk out after each session.

Do not give him any meals but just feed his daily allowance through the training.

Hope he gets better soon - bless him

YY to clicker training Flatdog learned paw, high paw, and touch whilst he was recuperating and we started on identifying and fetching a named toy from a group and he taught himself how to get into the bin cupboard
Good luck with the X-rays

I've not been doing clicker training...no reason other than that I'd need about 6 to make sure I could always find one, lol, but I'll think about it if he needs to rest long term. He eats way too much to use it all on training, but I keep some back and mix it with higher value stuff - that would be the same anyway.

I felt really bad leaving him at the vets, I know all they're doing is making him sleepy and taking some photos...but he looked soooo sad. :(

Well, his x-rays look fine and they can't find anything sore either - so I an walk him a bit and see how he goes, he might just walk funny, lol

YY to clicker training.

Fifteen mins of clicker training = knackered and snoozing dog.

With the added advantage of NOT having to endure the hyped up adrenalin-fuelled "zoomies" you often get after a walk.

I've got about 5 dotted around the house. They're cheap enough to have a few of :)