Good news Brodie is back home recuperating after having his second hip replaced

I am delighted to inform everyone that Police puppy Brodie from our B litter has now had his second hip successfully replaced and is well on the road to a full recovery.

For those of you who do not know the story of Brodie if you refer to my February blog you will find all of the information there.

A summary of the story is that Brodie was born with chronic hip dysplacia and after consulting with Orthopaedic specialist Peter Attenborough at St Davids veterinary practise in Exeter he advised us  that the only way that Brodie could lead a normal pain free life was if both his hips were replaced.
His left hip was successfully replaced in February this year the details of which are in our February blog.

Two weeks ago Brodie came back to Exeter to have his second hip replaced. He traveled by train to see Orthopaedic Specialist Peter Attenborough for their consultation and second operation.

His previous operation has healed nicely.

His new operation was a complete success.

He is expected to be fully recovered in 7 to 8 weeks time and he will be our guest of honour at the Devon County show for anyone wishing to meet him.
Peter Attenborough is adamant that with 2 new hips he will be as fit and well as any dog and in his opinion there is no reason why he could not now go on to become a working dog. He certainly has the right temperament.

There have been many experienced dog people who I have spoken with who have queried whether it was right to put him through all this trauma and whether the kindest thing would have been to put him quietly to sleep. Let me reassure those people that within a matter of days after each operation he was pain free and moving around freely. The rehabilitation process was pain free for Brodie he just needed to slowly rebuild the muscle he had lost.

Watching him in pain prior to the operations and seeing him after the operations I can assure you it was the best decision I ever made. I would like to pay a special tribute to Peter Attenborough and all of his staff for their help and support.

Finally I would like to thank everyone for all the kind comments and messages of support in response to my tribute blog about losing my old Police dog Spud. It was a great help to me and my family.

In my tribute you will have seen Spud photographed at the start of his training with my Police dog at that time Brad. Unfortunately that was a difficult time because I retired Brad at 4 years of age because he was just too gentle a soul to be a Police dog often licking the Bad guy.

I re-homed him with my friend and gamekeeper Kim in Derbyshire 10 years ago and have kept in regular contact ever since. After telling Kim the sad news about Spud Kim made my day this week when he sent me this photo of Brad who is still going strong accompanying him on his gamekeeper rounds at the ripe old age of 14 years.

My next blog will be about the C litter visiting the farm on Sunday
See you then Paul