Low activity play ideas for hurt pup

[OsaBarbosa]

Hi all,

I already have a thread about this but since I am posing a different question, I though a new thread was needed. Osa sprang her right rear knee playing at doggy daycare and is now on a NSAID and has to have low activity for the next two weeks. Does anyone have any suggestions on things to do to keep her occupied so she doesn't want to run, etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

So far we have been doing the Kong and putting treats in an empty water bottle. She is currently doing one of her favorite things, chewing on a stick.

[Sanas_K]

I had the same problem after my parents toy fox terrier had knee surgery...do you know how active those dogs are?! He was devastated when he couldn't run around for weeks. What you're doing is good though, bones and sticks and such give them something to chew on, and that can keep some dogs busy for hours! Depending on how limited your dogs movements are, maybe you could teach him a few new low activity tricks? Or hide a treat under cups and teach him to find it...or put his fav toy under the laundry basket and let him get it out...make little puzzles for him to solve to get a treat?

[milos_mommy]

I don't know if it's possible, you'd have to ask your vet, but swimming doesn't put stress on joints too much, and is great exercise.

[OsaBarbosa]

We are going to try to take her swimming this weekend. She has never swam before so we are a little hesitant. My parents have a huge pond but the shoreline drops about 6 feet so there would be no slowly getting in. My inlaws have a non-clorinated pool so we might just work with her there.

We are trying to take her on slow long walks. She loves the walks but gets a little annoyed at the end for going so slow.

She is also throwing "puppy fits" where she gets all wound up because she just wants to run. We can get her to calm down but it takes a little bit to get her because you runs around like mad. Its hard to try to do all the right things and then she goes on a "craze". We are trying our best.

[Charliesmommy]

Don't forget that mental stimulation is just as tiring for a dog as physical exercise, so this may be a good time to work on "sit", "down", etc.

[RawhideChews]

I would also advise to occupy her with training some low activity commands and teaching her new tricks. Also interactive toys such as rawhide balls for example would keep her mind stimulated for hours.
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Dingo rawhide goof balls, Dingo Ringo, Dingo Big Chew

[OsaBarbosa]

Thanks for all your help. Well, it has been 13 days so tomorrow is the last day on leash walking only. It really hasn't been as bad as I thought but I wouldn't want to do it again. We are going to up the speed of our walks and start doing short stints off the leash to play. Hopefully in a week she will be back to full speed.

[Kayota]

When my mom's BF shattered my min pin's elbow, the vet made her stay crated for the majority of the time she was healing. o_o

[Jessiep]

I was searching the forums for this kind of info and wondering if anyone had any other ideas? My dog tore his ACL and is on 2 weeks of strict rest. He loves the "hide the toys" games and chewie things but I am not sure this will be enough to fend off the crazies.