Introduction

Ok, so it's been 4 weeks since our little Penny went down with a ruptured disk and had surgery to remove it, it's taken me this long to have enough space to write it down and share my experiences.  The reason for this blog is to share with others what it is like on a day to day basis to look after a dog post IVD surgery.  There is a lot of information on-line and many support groups of which I will get into in a bit, but no one can really tell you about the emotional toll it takes from you, and how to manage it (or not). 

I'll give you a bit of a background and then I'll fill you in on how we are progressing.

Lady Penelope (Penny to her friends) is a 6 yr old female, smooth, tan mini dachshund.  The day we brought her home was probably the happiest day of my life, I loved her immediately. She is the 1st dog we ever owned. My husband Kane wanted a home cinema, and I wanted a puppy and so a bargain was reached.  Penny changed our lives.  She went everywhere with us.  Her 1st outing was on the ZigZag railway when she was about 4 months old- we went on a picnic with some friends and their dogs, and Penny spent the day trying to keep up with them.  

She has *no idea* she is a small dog, and we never held her back or protected her too much from anything.  I took to her the usual puppy pre-school and then our local dog training club where she thrived- she loved the socialisation and learning new tricks.  Being extremely food motivated, she was quite easy to train.  Penny made friends wherever we went- every child, teenager and adult young or old always had to come and pat the sausage dog, and tell us about the dachshunds they knew and loved in their lives.    We took her to festivals, walked in parades, dressed her up, took her to off lead parks, our local lake - where she loved to swim, and chase her ball.  I think Penny is the only dachshund who actually played ball- she loved it!  

Last November we also got our little Gidget GoLightly.  Gidget came to us from friends who had a litter of dachshunds, and as Lady Penelope was getting "middle aged" I thought the time was right to get her a puppy.  Gidget fit right in!  They bonded immediately, and Gidget just loves Penny and follows her around, well, like a puppy! 

So, you get the picture that Penny is a pretty well rounded, fun loving, obliging, active (and a bit spoiled) doggie.  She came to work with me for 4 years about 3 times a week, and of course she was in charge of the place.  When we talk about separation anxiety- it was me getting anxious to leave her at home.... she was as perfectly content to stay home and sit in the sun, as she was to come to work with me.