A Sad and Sorry Tail

It certainly has been a sad and sorry tale for Dylan, our rehomed, fourteen-and-a-half-years-old, retired racing greyhound.  He’s the handsome guy wearing the red house collar in my photo and was a casualty of a failed marriage before finding a new home with us nine years ago.

Fortunately, his beautiful tail was undamaged in the bad fall he had a little over six weeks ago when, in his excitement at the prospect of an earlier walk than usual, he missed his footing on some steps and crash-landed, fracturing his ulna.  Luckily, it was a clean break which, bearing in mind his great age, has healed remarkably quickly.

It has been a trying time for him, but he has borne it like the true trouper he used to be as a racer and still is.  The splint and bandaging has had to be changed every three or four days during the past six weeks, but has since been removed.  Today he had a final check-up and great news, he has been given the all-clear!

As is to be expected, he is limping, but is pain free, not afraid to put his full weight on his injured foreleg and eager for the two short walks he‘s permitted each day to build up his wasted muscles due to the fracture.

Dylan is like some people – very accident prone.  The list of his escapes from that fate called death is endless.  The worst was being bitten by a snake followed closely by having his side ripped wide open as he raced past some jagged walling, both of which took light years to heal.

But there you go…  He’s still with us and, hopefully, for a long while to come.

Get that leg stronger quickly, Dylan, so that we can get back, with Gez, your soul mate, to our long daily walks.

But please, my lovely boy, watch out for those snakes!