{"id":1690,"date":"2014-07-01T10:15:07","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T14:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/blog\/?p=1690"},"modified":"2014-07-01T10:15:07","modified_gmt":"2014-07-01T14:15:07","slug":"from-the-director-zero-to-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/http\/from-the-director-zero-to-hero\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Director: Zero to Hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Sunday, May 18th<\/sup>, was Zero's fourth birthday . . . it was also the day his owner surrendered him to the Sighthound Underground. After dealing with thousands of dollars of surgery, weeks of a dog in pain and dragging around a cast nearly as big as he is, Zero's owner knew it was time to ask for help.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Zero<\/a>
Zero during a vet visit, being brave.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So on that lovely spring morning, she brought him to us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From the moment I met Zero, I knew he was a special boy. Not only is he ridiculously handsome, but despite his pain and confusion, he is still a very happy dog. He loves to be petted and will wave a paw at you beseechingly when you stop for a moment. How could one possibly say no to those big brown eyes!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After speaking with Zero's owner, I knew it wouldn't be easy. The financial burden was eclipsed by the emotional needs of a dog on complete activity restriction for at least eight weeks. But after meeting Zero, I knew he was worth it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Every vet visit--and there were many!--just underscored the Hero in Zero. His plaster cast caused pressure sores. We changed it every three days and started experimenting with different types of padding and styles of wrapping.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>
Getting the pressure sores to heal proved challenging.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are just limited ways you can immobilize a dog's entire leg without causing pressure points. The solution ended up being a green foam donut wrapped around his hock (what would be the ankle bone on a human). Now, after a month, the horrible pressure wounds are finally healing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last week, after two months in a hard plaster cast, Zero finally graduated to a softer wrap. He's now allowed to put some weight on his leg but still no stairs or furniture. Zero hasn't touched grass in months. (And my deck--where he's been doing his \"business\"--may never be the same.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Zero is off his strong antibiotics to prevent infections in those awful pressure wounds, although he still presents himself every morning for a piece of cheese. He doesn't know there isn't a pill in there anymore and I'm fairly sure he doesn't care.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Bandaging<\/a>
Bandaging the leg. Again.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The end is now in sight. Three more weeks in the soft bandage and we will take another set of x-rays and figure out where to go from there. Zero may have to deal with a wrap or a splint a little longer or he may get the all clear to start rehab.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once we get the go-ahead, we'll start him on swim therapy<\/a> to strengthen the leg. After that, he'll be available for adoption!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I guarantee that whatever the coming weeks hold for this sweet boy, he will face it with bright eyes and a wagging tail. Zero may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but he's definitely a hero as far as we're concerned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you're interested in donating toward Zero's continuing vet expenses, you can use the \"donate\" button on this page or on our homepage<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday, May 18th, was Zero's fourth birthday . . . it was also the day his owner surrendered him to the Sighthound Underground. After dealing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[63,176,177,178],"class_list":["post-1690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-greyhoundsgalgos","tag-greyhound","tag-racing-greyhound","tag-rehab-after-a-dogs-broken-leg","tag-swim-therapy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p52ryM-rg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/http\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/http\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/http\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/http\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/http\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/http\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/http\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/http\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sighthoundunderground.com\/http\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}