We’ve had a lot of followers over the past few months, and this blog has been a great way for friends and ARF supporters to follow Riley’s progress. Riley continues to improve and his antics continue to amuse us.

We’ve decided to continue blogging about our all foster dogs, not just Riley. In preparation for that, we’re moving to:

ourARFdogs.wordpress.com

Update your bookmarks and follow us there! (We know it’s been a while since there’s been a Riley update. Stay tuned on the new blog – we’ll have one up in the next few days!)

Riley revealed! No more bandages!

The wound has now healed over completely – no more oozing, bleeding, or scabbing.  There’s a lot of fur growing in, but there is still a big pink scar in the middle. Only time will tell how that will heal.  He also doesn’t have much fur on his toes, and we’re not sure if that will grow back. The pads of his paw are really tender, mostly from being bandaged for several weeks, but also from being injured. The toes and nails also look quite mangled, but that’s probably from being squished in a bandage for a while. Every day we see improvements. He’s putting a lot of weight on the paw now, but we can tell it bothers him because by the end of the day he’s limping on three legs. Still, as always, he’s not letting it get in the way of his enjoyment of life!

Riley's paw - January 9

We’ve been putting a little bootie on his paw when he’s outside, and when he starts licking it too much. It’s been a couple of days now, and he’s started to ignore the paw a lot more, which is great.

Our next vet visit is in a couple of weeks, when he’ll be x-rayed again. We’ll know more about how he’s healing up and his long-term prognosis then. Photos of his paw healing can be found here (squeamish alert: the first few pictures are pretty gruesome).

This dog had boundless energy before, and with the bandages off, it seems like he feels like a new dog.  He’s constantly getting into trouble.  We’d forgotten what it was like to have such a puppy around.  Here’s the Riley damage tally as it stands right now:

1. Broom
2. Dustpan and small broom
3. Deck stair
4. Stuffed elephant
5. Quilt
6. Socks (at least 10)
7. Numerous bandages
8. Roll of duct tape
9. 2 dinner plates
10. Television cable
11. Living room floor (attempt without much success)
12. Stuffed monkey
13. Piano leg (no damage, we caught it in time)
14. Ribbons off gifts
15. One cedar bush

Riley is fascinated by the dogs next door.  I think if he could climb the fence to visit, he would. Below is a video I took of him over the holidays. He clearly loves life, and isn’t going to let something like a mangled paw get in his way!

Riley makes himself at home with Murphy

It’s been a while since we’ve had a Riley update. The holidays have been busy for us, and Riley has been enjoying every minute of it! So far, there haven’t been any disasters with the tree, and we managed to dog-proof all presents. Riley has definitely made himself at home, sharing all beds and toys with the other dogs.

Riley was back at the vet last week. We’ve been changing his bandage every three days, and are so impressed with its progress. The vet was as well! He continues to heal well. He’s such a patient guy – even when we’re changing his bandage, he does so well! Riley was x-rayed again this vet visit, and they said his fracture is now healing.

Our patient little patient

This is great news, and we’re allowed to walk him for 10 minutes a day. Unfortunately, 10 minutes doesn’t amount to much for a puppy, and he’s still got loads of energy. We’ve got two weeks off, so Riley is getting a lot more attention during the day, and we’re able to wear him out a lot more.

We’ve got quite the routine going, with keeping Riley occupied for periods of time. He’s got plenty of kongs to choose from, bones to chew, and toys to play with. He’s also learning a lot. He’s quite good at sit and down now, and does some hand targeting. Unfortunately, he’s got so much energy, it’s hard to focus him enough to work with. We think a bit more exercise would help (or maybe a herd of sheep). We’re hoping he heals quickly so we can get him running more soon.

Squeamish alert: we’ve included a photo of Riley’s progress below

Riley’s Progress

Riley's paw - November 18

Riley's paw - December 17

We would like to thank everyone for their continued support and help. Some of you have been generous and donated to ARF to help pay Riley’s medical bills. As continued foster parents of ARF dogs, we can assure you that all those donations are much needed and well used. A big thank you to those of you who have sent messages to us expressing your concern – it’s been wonderful to have so many people following Riley’s story.

We know that many people have expressed an interest in adopting Riley. He will need medical care for a while, and isn’t yet available for adoption. There are plenty of other dogs in need of a caring home immediately, and we encourage you to consider one of those special animals. All of ARF’s dogs available for adoption can be viewed online here. ARF can only take in as many dogs as there are foster homes, and with the cold weather upon us there are many that need homes.

The vet has now said that Riley is now out of the woods, and it’s very unlikely that we’ll have to amputate. This is fantastic news, now only time will tell how much Riley will be able to use his leg. He still favours it a lot, especially right after the bandage has been changed or he’s had a lot of activity.

And finally, since Riley gets all the attention on this blog, we decided to put up a photo of his foster siblings. Murphy (the wonder puppy) our nine year-old labrador. And Symba, our own four year-old ARF rescue dog.

Riley continues to improve. At his last vet visit, they said that we could start changing his bandages every three days instead of bringing him back. We’re learning how to do that on Monday, so will provide an update then. He’s even stopped chewing his bandage as much. He still chews at it a bit, but with less enthusiasm and damage – we’re working on giving him lots of other things to focus on.

A big thanks to Val for braving the crazy Calgary weather and taking Riley to his vet appointment on Friday. Riley’s definitely got another fan! Unlike our other dogs, Riley is loving the snow. It’s really hard to get him inside once we let him out. To keep his bandage dry while he’s outside, we’ve resorted to a plastic bag, sock, and some duct tape. Not exactly elegant, but effective!

Sunday was an exciting day for ARF.  It was the annual ARF fundraiser, “Pet Photos with Santa” at Dogma. We brought Riley with us for the afternoon, and he had plenty of visits from everyone.  His paw is still really raw, so we kept him in a pen there, but it didn’t stop him from interacting with dogs and people alike.  (Drae, thanks so much for watching our little guy for us that afternoon!) This dog is going to make a great pet for someone – he’s bright, eager to please, and so happy to cuddle with anyone (even Santa.)

Our two dogs love Riley, but only when he doesn’t have his Elizabethan collar (a.k.a. the lampshade) on.  When he does, they’re terrified of him.  He’s half their size, and they clearly own the house, but he’s still very scary.  We figure they think he’s a bit like one of those frilled lizards that we thought were insanely funny when we were younger.

Well, maybe he doesn’t look quite as scary as that.  Imagine it with a fluffy coat and an odd bandage on the leg.  I guess that’s what the dogs see. Anyways, Riley is our little frilled lizard with an endless supply of cuddles.

He’s our frilled lizard who has figured out how to completely bend his lampshade so that he can chew his bandage off.  Last night, he managed to chew a large part of it off.  A quick trip to the drug store for first aid supplies was required to rebandage him. He didn’t do any damage to his foot, and we had a vet appointment scheduled for today. Riley spent the day at the vet and managed to chew the bandages off twice while there.  He came home sporting an extra-large lampshade instead of the large one he went in with. We even tried putting bitters on the bandage – he just licks it off. Here’s hoping the extra-large lampshade proves to be Riley-resistant!

The good news is that Riley’s injuries continue to heal.  The vet says his foot is drying out now.  His abscess on his side is also healing.  We’ve still got a few weeks of vet visits every few days, but once we’re through the worst with his paw, we can focus again on healing his fracture. Staying off his leg is important to get him well.  He’s a tough guy to keep still and we’re always looking for ways to occupy him.

Riley’s first follow up visit with the vet was this morning.  He’s such a brave little guy. When we woke up this morning, we found that his wound was seeping quite badly through the bandage (it smelled even worse than yesterday. Ick.) I sacrificed a gym sock that we put over top of the bandage.  We’ve never dealt with an injury this bad, so we were a bit worried about what the vet would say. (ok, I was super-worried!)

Fortunately, the vet’s news was positive. She changed the dressing and added quite a bit more padding this time to help with the seepage.  She said we can expect this to continue for a few weeks.  Most of the skin and tissue is gone on the top of his foot, and the injury continues onto the pad of his foot.  It is healing up slowly, and the antibiotics seem to be working.  The vet has also been using sugar on the wound to help heal it. This is an alternative treatment, and it seems to be working for Riley.

The vet was able to remove the drain from his side, which should help with his comfort.  We were finding that when we took off his cone, he would immediately try to take out the drain or chew on his bandage.  Now, at least we only have to stop him from going after one of his injuries!

Riley doesn’t have his splint on right now, either.  He was starting to get a few sores under it, and the surgeon who looked at Riley said that it was more important to heal the leg wound.  For now, we’ll focus on that.  Then, we’ll fix the break.

Riley’s looking at a couple months of continued treatment of his leg, just to get the tissue to heal.  He’ll always have quite a scar to tell his story. We continue to be amazed with this dog’s spirit and warmth.  He pranced (well, if you can prance with a limp) right into the vet’s office without fear. All he was really interested in doing was visiting with the little boy in the waiting room. Although he definitely favours the paw, he doesn’t want it to stop him – he’d play with the other dogs and run through the house if we’d let him.  For now, it’s lots of quiet time in his crate and pen to help him heal.

The poor guy with his “lampshade” – he’s continually banging into walls and doorways.  He doesn’t let it get the way of his enthusiasm for cuddles or treats, but it’s got to be aggravating. We bought him a new padded nylon one which is meant to be more comfortable, but our little smartie figured out that if he walks into enough walls with it on he can push it far enough down his neck to be able to chew his bandage.  We’ve been letting him wear it, but only supervised. [Edit: we should point out that he subsequently defeated the plastic one too, so it's not necessarily a design fault in the padded one]

When we’re out of the house, Riley stays in a large crate as all our ARF dogs do.  Being that it was Riley’s first day at our house and he’s got such a bad injury, I couldn’t bear to leave him alone all day.  Riley spent the afternoon at the office with me, winning over my co-workers.  He’s so full of love and happiness, even though he’s got to be in pain. There’s still a lot of puppy left in Riley, and his attention span isn’t that long.  A fair amount of the afternoon was spent trying to get him settled down in a comfortable spot, and when that wasn’t happening he was rooting through bins, begging for snacks, and looking for toys.

We’re very surprised with how mobile Riley is.  Caring for a dog in a cast is a new experience for us, and we were expecting that we’d be carrying him everywhere.  Riley’s able to manage pretty well on his own.  He can even do stairs, and I’ve caught him paws-up on the kitchen counter.  He either limps along or keeps the cast in the air and hops.  The wobbly “lampshade” on his head tends to exaggerate the movement, making the effort look worse than it probably is.

Tomorrow’s our first visit to the vet with Riley.  His bandage is starting to get a bit smelly, so it’s probably a good thing.  We’ve also got lots of questions for the vet about Riley’s care and his progress.

Riley arrived at our home today after spending a few days at the vet. Despite his injuries, he’s the happiest little guy. And you can’t help but fall in love with those sweet brown eyes.

We’ve decided to call him Riley since it’s Gaelic for ‘courage’.  The ‘life of Riley’ means an easy and pleasant life, which will be his from now on.

When he arrived, we took him for a walk with Symba, his new foster sister.  He’s already won over the hearts of our neighbours and our dogs. He then met Murphy, his foster brother, back at our house. He definitely doesn’t let the cast get in the way of playing with his new friends, and seems to have settled into the house quite well.

Squeamish warning – skip this paragraph if needed! A bit about his condition – Riley’s front right paw is badly damaged.  We think it may have been caught in a trap.  The wound is open all the way up his foreleg and the bones and tendons exposed.  His leg is also fractured.  Riley currently has a drain in his side to heal an abscess. We’re hoping all heals well.  The “lampshade” is on his head to stop him from pulling out the drain and chewing at his bandages.

Riley has to go to the vet every three days to get his leg checked and bandages changed.  He’s on antibiotics and painkillers right now as well.  Our first visit to the vet is Saturday – stay tuned!