How to occupy a pup on "bed rest"

[Rica + Margot]

Margot hurt her back leg - possibly a ligament tear. :/ Our vet gave her some pain meds and if she's not getting any better in 10 days we'll probably do X-rays. I've been trying to do some lessons that don't require much leg movement, but could use some ideas of what training we can do while she's getting better. Any games would be good too. She's just six months and not used to just sitting around all day. She's used to resting most of the day with some vigorous fun/training every couple of hours. It might be a long recovery and we don't want her to get too sad. She's been such a happy sweet girl!

[Tracey & Spike]

Oh poor puppy!! Good thought with training. Mental tiredness is even better than physical :)
I'm not sure how much movement she can have. Maybe some of these quick thoughts would work....
Sits, Downs, roll over, leave it, leave it with a treat on her nose (I'm trying this one with spike), shake a paw, high five, roll a ball right to her and teach her to flick it back to you, and play deads.
Not sure how much of those are doable. But some should be.
Also our pet stores seem to have "thinking" toys. I'll post some below for you. I'm sure you can find tons more. I'm actually looking at these myself for spikes down days once the "deed is done"
http://www.renspets.com/cagey-cube-dog-game.html
http://www.renspets.com/tennis-slider-dog-game.html
http://www.renspets.com/treat-triad-dog-game.html

[Rica + Margot]

Thanks, Tracey!

We're working on leave it with a treat on her paws so we'll try to moving on to her nose. And I haven't even thought about play dead, but that one is perfect! Roll over and the ball flicking might require her to put weight/use  that back leg, so we'll hold off of those.

She loves the IQ ball but that one usually has her running around the house and pouncing on the ball (very cute btw!). Her belated Christmas present, Twister by Nina Ottosson is arriving just in time for this down time. We'll probably have to modify it a little. But, I'll check those out if she needs another one!

And I think it's okay to still play find it with her. She really likes going around sniffing for her kibble and it happily wipes her out.

[Susan & Randy's Kate]

Dogs behave different than people. Day after surgery they act as nothing is wrong. I usually give pain meds initially then stop because unless crated they overdo. My husband and I have always commented if they feel pain the same way. Pain meds at night may help her sleep though.

I need thinking toys for Kate. She got up tonight and I think she was trying to reach some oil. Anyway she ate the homework but in this case it was a credit card bill.

[Rica + Margot]

She hasn't had surgery, but she was in a lot of pain - eyes teary and all :(

I don't want her to be on meds for a long time, but for at least a little bit. It does allow her to sleep/relax a bit more.  If it looks like she's doing okay, we may ease up on it. Though, the vet said if she's limping, she's in pain.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I would follow the vet's orders explicitly if you want her to heal properly.  I would keep her mostly in an ex-pen with a soft doggy bed inside. You can let her out to potty on leash and fasten the leash to a couch or table leg when you are relaxing and she can be near you.  You can get inside the ex-pen to give her attention also. I would give her the meds unless you feel she is having a bad reaction to them. I would not have her doing any active tricks like sit, stay, high fives, remember you are trying to keep the weight and movement down.   I have a dog that has torn both CCLs at different times, so I know what I am talking about.

[Rica + Margot]

Thank you Nancy. We set up the ex-pen in the office and she's been sleeping most of the day while I work at home or chewing her toys.  I've been lucky that she just wants to be close, so she's been mostly happy with laying around all day. If you have any other advice on this recovery period or future prevention I'd love it.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I don't think we rehabbed the first leg well enough, so that is something I would do a better job with.  Our Springer was six when he tore the first CCL and eight when he tore the second. His tears were complete so surgery was the only option.    He is an anxious, nervous dog, but is calm when with his people, so as long as we could be with him, things were fine.