Duke Dog Goes To The Caribbean: August 2012

Tomorrow marks 6 weeks since I became a Pirate. My mom has done a pretty good job of tracking my progress and my road to plunder and pillage. I met with a rehab vet where my Daddy goes to school and she said that I'm doing great. She gave me some exercises to do to help strengthen my leg...because I only have the one back one now...So anyway my favorite exercise is swimming and Mom takes me a few days a week. I am allowed to walk but only for like 15 - 20 minutes for now. Mom thinks walks make me really tired, boy do I have her fooled! When we walk up hills I take breaks under shady bushes and pretend to rest so she will let me off leash. This is key you see because as soon as I'm off leash, I bolt! Walks don't make me tired, leashing walking makes me tired. I do have to admit it is easier to run than walk. When I walk I kinda hop with my back leg like a kangaroo, which Mom has taken a liking to calling me "her little kangaroo"....
So because I'm a lab I get coined as being a happy go lucky, never slow down, always tail wagging, smiley dog, which I am. I'm a happy dog. I love to smile. Don't try to tell me to slow down, 3 legs or not. I'm a lab and this is what we do. I have a great outlook and just because I have 3 legs doesn't mean my quality of life is any less than what it was when I had 4. Well....Mom doesn't always let me do what I want to do, but with time I think she will warm up to the idea of letting me do more.
Mom says I have far surpassed all of her expectations and done so well hitting all of my benchmarks. Go Me! So the vet also said that by week 8 I will be fully recovered and what my parents see is what I'm gonna be for the rest of my life. I mean I guess I will continue to get stronger and look like a body builder, which is fine by me.
Some of the pictures below track my progress from right after surgery until now. Mom is the worst picture taker and camera operator apparently ever..is what I hear Dad tell her...
Some of you might not find a few of these funny...but they made Mom and Dad happy so that makes me happy.