I just had surgery and I own a dog… Some tips for if you need surgery as a dog owner!

First cuddles when I got home from surgery

About 6 weeks ago, I was in the most severe pain I have ever been. I don’t have a will but I was hoping that everyone knew everything was to just go to Karl, my husband – it was that bad. I went to hospital and it was my gallbladder, it needed to come out. It took 4 days for the pain to subside, a week for it to go away, and another 2 weeks on top of that until the surgery.

Before surgery, I really didn’t think much at all about having a dog and having a surgery on my abdomen, I didn’t care, I just wanted to never be in that pain again and I was living every day and every meal in fear of that pain. Luckily – Petal is quite well trained but there are some things I taught her that served us well in surgery recovery and if you have a surgery coming up I thought I would share some things I recommend and found helpful with my dog.

No. Teach your dog to respect the word No!

Petal doesn’t have free range of the couch to begin with, she looks at you to ask first but we have never really told her no when she has asked to come up on the couch or bed. However, we have taught her the world no for taking food or going places she shouldn’t or seeing cats. Having a solid ‘no’ command, post surgery was just the best when she did ask to come up on the bed or on the couch or asked me to play fetch because I did not want her jumping on my abdomen!

Teach your dog only to get up on the couch on bed when you allow it.

My dog is never allowed free access to the couch personally, just so that when I have people over who don’t like dogs, she won’t be all over them, but I have nothing at all against a dog having free access to the bed or couch! However, if you have a couple week before a surgery – I highly recommend teaching your dog they are only allowed up on the couch or bed when you say so. Take away that free access and put a command on it like, “couch.” Personally our command is “up.” And that means she can get up on the couch or bed, or any chair. Up means ‘jump up’ and this goes hand in hand with the teach your dog no but to not have free range. Truly was a blessing, post abdomen surgery, to know that Petal wasn’t going to jump up all over me.

Crate Training!

I am a big fan of crate training puppies to help with toilet training but teaching your dog ‘no’ and not giving them access to the couch can be tough to learn in just a couple of weeks, so I recommend crate training! Think of a crate like a teenager in there bedroom, a teenagers safe space to process everything and go through a hormonal and emotional time! A crate for a dog can be very similar to a teen and their bedroom, it can help create calm and help them switch off. If you get home from surgery and your dog is just being wild then popping them in their crate to calm down and chill out is a great solution, but anytime you need a break because you are just getting in your R&R to heal, the crate is an incredible tool!

Family help

Sometimes training in a small amount of time can be tough, no matter what the training and so the easiest option can simply be asking for help. I got my surgery on a Thursday and on Wednesday night we dropped Petal off to my in-laws. They dropped Petal back home after dinner on Thursday and then I got home from hospital on Friday Morning. This meant that my husband didn’t have to be walking the dog Thursday before dropping me off, or worrying about caring for after a long day of work. He did, however, have to walk her on Friday morning and evening – but he had Friday off to come and pick me up from hospital so it wasn’t the end of the world! If I were to do it again (no chance – no more gallbladder to take out, now!) then I would probably have her stay with family just one extra day. Her being tired when I got home was also just great and made having a dog at home post a surgery, easy! In general though, don’t be afraid to ask for help and let your partner feed the dog for the first couple days. You don’t need to do it all!

Walk the dog!

Every surgery is different but movement helps prevent clots. This doesn’t go for foot/leg surgery when you need to keep you foot up to keep swelling down! Listen to your own doctor but even if they just want you to walk 10 – 15 minutes a day – take the dog around the block or to the mailbox and back! It is good for you – and your dog and as someone e with an abdomen surgery – a walk was easy than picking up and throwing a ball or toys!

There are so many more things that could be helpful to having surgery and owning a dog but these are just the things that we did that I found just to be super helpful and I am grateful we had them in our toolkit and wanted to share in case you end up having a surgery and you have a dog at home, too!