Slow Down!

I think that it might have been a tough morning for B. His running partner, Maggie, might not be going on 5 mile runs with him 5 times a week anymore. She's been going really slow on the stairs at the house for a while now. Early this week, she was refusing to come up them and crying at the bottom. We knew something wasn't quite right. We ended up taking her to the vet this morning to have her hips x-rayed. It looks like she has the very, very beginning of hip dysplasia. It could be 6-8 years before it goes into full-blown hip dysplasia. In the mean time, she gets to take it a bit easier on the running, go swimming more for exercise, and take some meds to help with the pain on bad days. The vet said that we just have to kind of follow her cues. Some days she might be able to go for a 2 mile run, play fetch, go for a swim, and bound up the stairs without thinking twice. Other days, we might need to take her food and water to her on whatever floor she has decided to settle on. We'll just have to take one day at a time.