Canine Luxating Patella - The Surgeon Explains Simon's Surgery

We had a discussion (June 25) with Simon's surgeon about his trick knee (canine luxating patella). His symptoms are getting worse, so we opted for surgery as soon as possible for two reasons:

1. Over time, he will develop arthritis. It's not a concern this moment, but without surgery, he will have problems with an arthritic knee.

2. Dogs with a luxating patella often injure their cruxiate ligaments because of the stress of a dislocating kneecap.

Simon's Symptoms

In case you're wondering - he's showing (or we are better at noticing), these symptoms:

• Occaisonally he will limp because the kneecap has dislocated. The limp lasts as long as it takes for him to pop it back into place.
• When he lies down, he groans as if in pain.
• It takes him a while to get into pooping position (the knees are flexed).
• He falls up stairs (and has since he was a pup).

Frankly, he's had this issue since he was born, but it's getting worse now that he's more mature. His condition is complicated by the fact he's grown from 9 to 29 pounds since we got him in August of 2009. That's a big growth spurt for a Cockapoo originally estimated to be 20 pounds tops at maturity. He's really not the clumsy puppy we thought he was, just a pup with a trick knee.

More Facts About Luxating Patella From The Surgeon
We asked a lot of questions of the surgeon - this is a family member who's having knee surgery and we wanted to be sure we were doing the right thing for Simon.

So here's a few facts about the surgery -

In Simon's case, the kneecap dislocates medially - to the inside of his right knee. It dislocates (moves out of its groove) because the ligament holding the kneecap in place attaches to protrubing bone in his lower leg bone slightly off center. This condition (off center attachment) was probably present at birth.

During the surgery, the protruding bone (and ligament) will be cut and re-attached in the correct position with a pin. Then the ligaments on the side of his knee will be tightened.

Total surgery time - 30 minutes.

Total time under anesthesia - about an hour.

More about Simon's condition (canine luxating patella) in future posts . . .

Molding Your Pup's Behavior By Finding The Solutions To Puppy Training Problems

New puppy owners get so enthralled with canine cuteness they forget about the house messing, mouthing and biting, and the confusion caused by lack of discipline.

When reality and lack of sleep hits them a few days later, many new owners cry for HELP!

OOPS!!

How do I stop puppy biting and mouthing?

Do I need to watch this puppy every second?

Does crate training work?

What's the best way to teach leash training?

Why won't this dog come when I call him?

Solving puppy training problems - puppy housetraining, puppy obedience training, and puppy anti-aggression training - all need to be addressed.

Here's the site to visit to tackle these issues:
http://squidoo.com/solving-puppy-training-problems.

Puppy Training Problems - Obedience And House Training Your Puppy

Anyone with a new puppy knows the common puppy training problems:

Your cute puppy:

• Messes in the house
• Will not come when called
• Pulls on his leash
• Bites everyone and everything
• Wakes up every three hours at night - whining pitifully
  

Need solutions?

Check out a new ebook designed to address these problems plus many more puppy training problems.

It's called
As Long As You Have A Dog, Puppy Training Never Ends!

Sir Simon the Sad's Trick Knee - Medial Patellar Luxation

We've been noticing Simon limping lately, so we took him to the vet. After x-rays - he's got that small dog (30 pounds is small?) condition called trick knee.

Basically, his right knee cap dislocates to the inside of his knee. He does not seem to be in pain, but he does limp stiff-legged until it re-locates to its proper position.

He'll need surgery to correct the condition which could be congenital or due to trauma.

Just another day in the life of Simon the Sad!

Happy Birthday Simmie-Sim

Simon is a year old today, June 4, 2010.

When we picked him up in PA in August of last year, he was a scared little pup.

A year later, he's still scared of lots of things, but remains the same lovable, laid-back, would not hurt a fly (rabbits maybe) pup.

Here's to our handsome year-old Cockapoo - Simon. He's enjoying his birthday bone in this picture.

Capturing The Indestructible GoughNuts Dog Chew Toy With The UltraHD (Flip HD Camcorders)

Alvin destroys dog toys - usually in 5 - 15 minutes.

The only two toys that pass the Alvin test for destruction are:

the KONG Ball Dog Toy and

GoughNut Green .75






KONG RUBBER BALLS

GOUGHNUTS Videos
I shot several videos of Alvin's possessiveness with the GoughNut Green .75 and his GoughNuts Battles with Simon.

Here's Alvin guarding his GoughNuts from Simon who is off-camera.



Same video on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4Tn7O4cXEg

Here's the Cockapoo GoughNuts Battles



Same video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hRudkCXBKg

Please note that these Flip UltaHD videos were taken indoors with low light.