Together with Rudder's vets,

Together with Rudder's vets, we have decided it's time to stop his restrictions and just let him live. So over the fourth of July weekend I took him upstate with some friends and rented the perfect house in the middle of nowhere to let him just be a dog and do all of the things he hasn't been able to do since February. And for the first time in a really long time, life with Rudder felt normal. The restrictions were put in place for a good reason and I do think they benefited him, especially while in rehab working to rebuild his strength. But we realised his knee was not going to fix itself. And from the start I had said I was not willing to put him through another surgery. So with a good pain management regimen in place we have slowly built in more and more activity into his life. And he really surprised us. He's definitely out of shape and tires more easily, but he has showed no physical signs of pain or regression. The goal with Rudder's rehab was never to get him back to living a 100% normal life. I knew that wasn't gonna happen for him without surgery. My goal for rudder was to get him to a place where he could live a normal life indoors and a semi normal life outdoors. And based on what we've seen, I do think that goal has been reached and his quality of life is good. Everything we do is in moderation and not nearly at the levels he was doing before. But this weekend showed me he is happy and capable and we made a lot of good memories.