I took her back to the vet today for a recheck. He upped her to 30 minutes of leash walk. Her hock has tightened up, but he said her knee is still a little movable. He believes that the hock caused the knee. The whole thing is so frustrating. He said that her recovery was better then what he expected, and he considers it 75% better, but still no running for at least a month. I'm stuck in this Canine sports Class. and we can't do anything. Except rally, teeter totter(on leash), the tunnel and Chihuahua sized jumps. I'm watching everyones dogs progress and I want to cry, because I know that even when she heals up, I'm not going to want to do this stuff for fear of re injury.

I can understand the way you feel. I would be afraid, too, that the injury would reoccur. That's torture for a whippet to not be able to run for a whole month; hard on you, too.

Did your vet say there is any kind of rehab that you can do with her besides leash walking, like water therapy? I have heard that it works wonders.

Yes it is very frustrating. I feel like I'm still kind of in the blaming phase. I am upset with the daycare, but I know that it's not their fault. It's just kind hard to picture, because she never yelped, or put up a foot. It just kind of started on one side of the yard, when we came home from daycare. I've heard about water therapy too. Unfortunately, we don't really have a place to do this around here and even if we did, I'm sure it would be far from affordable. I feel extra bad about it, because before we got Gris - Gris, I returned a Jack Russel to a rescue after a week, because he had ligament problems and I felt like I just wouldn't be able to use him for sports. I feel realy bad about it now. Part of the reason that we got Gris - Gris was the Whippet's reputation for soundness. When we were at the Detroit Kennel Club Show, there was a Whippet a few months older than her with a huge scar on her knee. When I asked about it, the owner told me that she had ruptured her ACL at five months. She did well in the shows, scar and all, and was also lure coarsing. I'm trying to be patient with the wait and see method, but part of me wonders if surgery would not be the best option for prevention of further problems. As of so far, my trainer and my vet think she'll tighten up with age, (very encouraging), but I am fearing that she'll get an artretic knee like my Chihuahua. I appreciate anything that anyone with any experience like this has to offer about this.

Zorro couldn't run (he couldn't walk too far either) for about 3 months -- for torn ligaments and tendons attached to his #$% TOE ! It was torture at the time, and he lost almost all of his muscle tone in that leg, but, believe it or not, it went by super fast and he gained back his muscle tone really quickly once I could finally walk him! I look back and can't believe it's already been a year!

To keep him mentally occupied during that time, we practiced and practiced different commands. Needless to say, he's now a pro at "Stay!"

Good luck...it will go by fast! I bet it's even more tough on him...

Yeah it's been hella rough on all of us. I find it particularly heart wrenching, because I see her sibblings and the litter born the Fall after her and I'm watching everyone doing all this stuff with their dogs. It's chilly hear again, so I don't feel so bad when Tootsie and I leave her for a few hour walk, but I really do miss letting her fetch in the yard. I got a magazine with a picture of a woman jogging with her dog and just lost it. It's great that I have you guys to chat with. Gris - Gris seems to be keeping her muscle tone so far. The vet put her on a muscle support med and it seems good so far. I'm just so frustrated, because I have spent the whole time that I've owned my Chihuahua dealling with her knee. She's great in the summer and bad in the winter. Both the vet and I feel that surgery would just make it worse at this point. The very idea of dealling with the possibility of two messed up knees just freaks me out. Luckily, I have a heavy class load and I am training to run a couple of half marathons in the early fall. I'll be to busy to really freak out about it.