Hobbes the Stubborn Maniac

Okay.

It's been less than 24 hours since we brought Hobbes home from his major surgery. So here's the deal.

We're supposed to keep him on a leash when he's outside. This morning I walk out with him and Mac decides it would be fun to run up the street and take a walk with some other people who were out. I can't run after him because I am stuck on the other end of the leash of the gimp. That was exciting.

We're supposed to not let him lick. This is very important. They gave us an Elizabethan collar to prevent licking. Hobbes knows how to get this off his head. Thus, I was awake all night listening for the beginnings of licking (as well as husband snoring, cats meowing) so that I could yell at him if there were a problem. (note to self, the parasite kicks a LOT at around 3am)

We're supposed to keep him confined and mellow. This is very important They suggested a crate. I put him in the crate. I take a shower, test run 30 minute confinement. I get out of the shower and Hobbes is sitting on the bathroom floor looking at me with a big old grin (oh yeah, he's not supposed to go up and down the stairs, so he broke that rule as well). I walk up the stairs in my bathrobe and see he has broken the crate (this is not hyperbole, he pulled the walls of the crate down and broke it down - interestingly I hear, and the walls come tumbling down).

I call my vet friends. Matt says some dogs are just not as easy to control. I am thinking, that's the understatement of the century. He says get some sedatives. The vet surgeon calls to see how Hobbes is doing. And then he says the only time this surgery hasn't worked is when a dog went nuts in the crate.

Gulp. This $2000 surgery has turned into lots of money on gates, toys, sedatives, etc etc.

Does anyone want a lame dog???