Samson’s Knee

Last weekend, Samson was doing something and he hurt his leg. He was limping, and you could clearly see it was bothering him. We hoped it was just something minor, and by Monday, Lindsey called the vet to see what they thought. They recommended giving him baby aspirin, to see if there was any change. By Thursday, he was still limping, and the vet asked us to bring him. 

I took him up to Ebensburg, and the vet took one look and said he needed an x-ray. He came back in, and informed me that Samson had a torn ACL. The reason: obesity. Samson needs to lose ten pounds, or this will happen again. Lindsey took Samson back up on Friday, and they did the surgery to repair it. The surgery went well, he came home a few hours later.

But, recovery is going to be difficult. You cannot explain to a dog that they cannot jump up on the bed or couch. You cannot explain to a dog that they have to eat fewer treats. Samson does not understand what happened to him. He tries to move around, but he has his cone on, and he cannot put weight on his leg, he just seems so lost and sad. 

The hardest part is going to be bedtime. He always jumps up on the bed (or we have to lift him up since he is a fatty), and cuddles with us for a bit. He usually hops down and sleeps on the floor. The first night, he kept barking, and crying because he could not get into the bed. Lindsey eventually slept on the floor with him. 

Hopefully he has a speedy recovery. The vet urged us to force him to lose about ten pounds. It will be tough since Samson loves to take food from the kids (although I think Logan likes to leave half his food on the edge of his plate, so Samson eats it, then he can be like “oh, guess my dinner is done!”). Also, he loves to bark until Lindsey gives him a treat (he has her trained well). But, all of that must come to an end (also, when he eats all of his food, Lindsey and Payton have to stop filling his bowl back up).