Duty Calls

For my birthday this year my mom offered to get us a dog backpack for Leif. You may remember just how much he LOVED the neck-warmer she made him at Christmas, so this gave us hope that he may respond well to the backpack, too.

Well, let's just say that he turns into a completely different dog with his new pack! When we first put it on him he refused to walk or move unless he was heeling. As time has gone on, he is moving more on walks and is willing to walk ahead, though still never too far away.

It amazes me just how patient he is while we put it on his back. We like to interject what he may be thinking when we put the backpack on him: "No, I cannot fetch a ball, I am on duty" or "Stick close to me guys and we'll get where we need to go."

We've started weighting the pack a bit and right now it has one can of chicken broth on either side. Eventually we'd like him to be able to carry his own water and food on longer backpacking trips. For now we'll get him used to it by carrying cans of food or water for us.

Having a pack on definitely tires him out, so that's another plus! Double the exercise in one outing. If you have an energetic dog whom you can never truly wear out, the pack just might be the trick you're looking for :)

Thank you for the early birthday present, Mom & Dad!!! If you're interested, it's the Ruff Wear Approach Dog Pack.

We just returned from a very slow meander on the 2 mile loop-trail across the road. It felt so good to be back on the trail and in the woods!

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Health update: Monday my INR was at a 2.0, so it's just barely in the range. On Tuesday I went to the neurologist to discuss a horrible headache I'd had on Sunday. He said that it is normal to have a stress or a tension headache in the location where I was in pain and that he would be concerned if I had any numbness, loss of vision, loss of muscle control on one side, or shooting pain up my neck. So, it was good to find out just what I should be concerned about.

We also discussed the full recovery and he said that one in five people, if they got MRIs done, would find that they have a much smaller vertebral artery on one side, while the other side would be much bigger. He says that I can expect a full recovery in that I may not have flow through that artery, but I will be able to run, rock climb, and do everything I used it do. Woohoo!

When I asked about what kinds of exercise I can do, he said that it should still be minimal for the next three months. I asked about biking, hiking, kayaking & canoeing and he said something that made me laugh. He said, "You Americans, you're always go, go, go. Go and be like a Latino and relax in the hammock this summer!" Haha! Okay, okay.... I'll relax in a hammock ;)