Life with Riddle… Super Dog!

Our dog is Riddle! He’s a rescue who was found as a stray in Ohio. Badly broken body… must have been left to die after being hit by a car. He was found months later and all of his bones had healed wrong. He had a dislocated hip, two broken legs, and a welt on his head that looked like someone tried (with a baseball bat) to put him out of his misery. His surgeon said he must have lived on his belly for months unable to move. When he was found he was caked in urine and feces. In spite of all this, he is the sweetest most lovable boy you could ever meet. He has a zest for life like no other I’ve ever seen.

He first had an FHO surgery to help the left hip/leg. When the leg did not “come back” after surgery, we opted for amputation. He started to do much better from then on. A year later we looked into a total hip replacement for him since his right hip has severe dysplasia. Unfortunately, at that time, we found out that he also had a torn ACL in his right rear leg… so we needed to fix that first. Of course we did and he had the TPLO procedure since it would be more stable on an amputee than the traditional method of repair. He bounced back after a couple of weeks and was back to his old spunky self. Sadly, we were dealing with too much … or Riddle was. He also has end-stage arthritis (from previous trauma) in both of his elbows. We could never let him suffer in pain, so we recently had stem cell therapy treatments done on his elbows and his hip. After only 4 days we saw a visible improvement in the inflamation of his elbows… they had greatly reduced in size and he seemed quite mobile. It’s been a month almost now, and we have seen a little more improvement in the elbows and mobility since. The hip is still bad though. He falls frequently and loses his balance quite a bit. I forgot to mention that his left front leg is deformed (from the previous trauma also) and he walks tilted… as he walks on his carpus rather than the paw pads of his left foot.

I know it sounds as if this boy is just a horrible mess, but if you could meet him you would know why we do all we can for his health and happiness. He just loves life so much. Always wiggling, always kissing, always so excited to see anyone or anything. He loves all creatures, including our other 2 dogs, cat and even our alpacas (we have a small alpaca farm). There is no sweeter dog on the planet than Riddle. We are on a mission to give him a few more good years if that is possible. His surgeon (a very fair and honest man) did not believe it was Riddle’s time and that putting him to sleep should not be an option… not at this time anyway.

Now we are looking for something to help with his slipping on the floors and when he gets running. Yes, this boy actually runs!   We did put runners throughout our home, but when he gets “off track” he slips and falls.  :o(  I’ve been researching many rubber-soled dog boots today and like the Ultra Paws boot with double velcro and a couple made by Rough Wear.   We have a Rough Wear harness that we used a lot after his TPLO surgery and they are made well.

All of your comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.   Thank you!

5 thoughts on “Life with Riddle… Super Dog!”

  1. Wow, you guys sound like such great people. That poor pup. It’s so amazing how they make it through things that if we were faced with we would have given up so long ago. What kind of dog is Riddle? Did I miss that somewhere? I know everyone here would love to see pictures…especially after your description of this brave boy.

    I don’t have any experience with any kind of boots, I just wanted to say hello!

    Leslie

    1. Hi Leslie. Thanks so much for your kind comments. Riddle is an English Springer Spaniel. He is simply amazing! This morning he is being filmed by local TV crews here in Rochester NY because of his recent stem cell therapy and his overall trials and tribulations. His surgeon is probably one of his biggest fans! I will try to post more photos. I am new to “blogging” and posted one last night, but it not appear for some reason. My avatar is Riddle… so you can see a little photo of him there.

      I’m sure you are here because of a special pooch too. Would love to hear about him/her!

      Linda & Riddle

  2. what a brave boy!! he is so lucky to be in a loving forever home – but i’m sure you guys say you are the lucky ones to have such a loving boy. don’t have alot of suggestions on the ‘slipping’. gayle has just gotten better at keeping her footing with time. have you tried a product like musher secret or such to give her some ‘tackyness’ to her pads?? thanks for sharing your story and pictures.

    charon & gayle

    1. Thank you Charon and Gayle! Yes, you are absolutely correct that my husband and I truly believe that we are the lucky ones! This little guy (and other special needs dogs that we have loved) have truly changed our lives. Definitely for the better! We hope we have changed their lives in that direction as well.

      I have just learned about musher’s secret and have never tried it. Might have to do so. We are going to order a boot today and give that a try. Part of Riddle’s problem is that due to the torn ACL and the TPLO repair, he does not have full strength in that leg yet and sometimes it gives out on him and he collapses under his weight… sliding as he goes.

      Today Riddle was filmed by the TV crew and they even caught him running down the carpeted hall at the vet hospital! Everyone got a huge kick out of that. His big floppy ears were flapping in the breeze. They were so taken by him. Even the new reporter woman was down on her knees with Riddle and he was trying to kiss her! It was so great. His “spot” will air on Valentine’s day. We are so proud of our little man. I can’t wait to get him some additional help with his mobility though so he can go on even more adventures!

      Linda & Riddle

  3. I am new to “blogging” and posted one last night, but it not appear…

    Hmmm… you have no unpublished draft posts, and nothing in your trash. If after viewing the Help videos you still need assistance, post any questions you may have in the Tech Support forum and we’ll try to help.

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