October 14, Doing everything he did before.

Top photo:  At home, every Sunday, my routine is to take the dogs to Dean and Deluca, a cafe in DC that welcomes  dogs.  Despite my being exhausted from the trip home and not getting to bed until 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning, I was up at 6:30 and took Leben in his CATV and Erde to D&D as usual.  Here they are at D&D.  I am going through the experience of learning how to manage Leben.  What I learned that trip was to not leave him in his CATV like this, but to take him out.  The problem is that it is extremely difficult to get a large paralyzed dog in and out of this thing, so I bought a lower, four-wheel CATV, which I will use when I have to take him in and out somewhere.  This one in the photo I will use when I take him for long walks.

Bottom photo:  In May of this year, I started to take Leben for swim therapy once a week for his front leg issues.  After his operation in July, I took him three times a week to build up his strength for the trip. He could use both rear legs fairly well then.  He enjoys swimming, it is good therapy for him, and it is exercise for him.  After we went to D&D, I loaded Leben and Erde in the Defender and drove out to the Middleburg Animal Swim Center (100-mile round trip) to let him know that life is gong to be just as it was before. (His sister just runs around the deg of the pool trying to reach the balls thrown for Leben before he gets them. Her batting average is poor, about 100, but she never fails to give up trying. If she fails, she waits by the exit ramp for Leben to appear and then grabs the balls from his mouth.  He batting average there is 1000.)  The photo is of Leben with TWO tennis balls in his mouth. On land or sea, he must have as many balls or things in his mouth as he can. His record is three tennis balls.  I watched carefully how he used his rear legs now.  His left leg is almost entirely listless and his right one not much better. But he  still tries to use them.  Putting him in and out of the water is quite a chore now, as is showering him after his swim.  But I will do what it takes to get this guy back on his feet, with or without a wheelchair.  We will go out to the swim center three days a week now.  With Sonntag, after his paralysis, with the hope of getting him on his feet, I took him out there six days a week until he was put into a wheelchair, and then at least once day a week, including two days before he was put down 3 and a half years later.