Joints and Jake

SUMMARY: x-rays OK; Jake drives me nuts

My doctor emailed back that "All your X-rays are fine and you can safely start Physical Therapy." So her referral has presumably now gone through and I can call and make an appointment. I'd have liked to have heard more detail on what the x-rays did or didn't show (is there arthritis in the knee or not, for example), so I'll follow up at some point.

Meanwhile--Jake! And his refusal to play outside! It's driving me nuts. I've tried to hound, badger, pester, jolly, excite, jumpstart, kickstart, ANYthing to get him to play out in the yard and he just won't. I don't know why he has become so turned off to playing outside. On the few occasions when I get him to say OK, man, he goes back to being the old Jake who just won't quit, tail wagging, one happy guy.

And before you tell me that "he's an old dog, leave him alone," let me point out that, last night in the living room, I threw the squeaky into the dining room for him--about 20 feet-- 79 times before he wanted to quit. (And he'd have probably gone longer if he was in better shape, but since he's not willing to run outside much, he's losing tone.) I'd just rather not do it so much inside--my shoulder can't handle that many tosses, even though they're lightweight; the odds of my throwing something that many times without either hitting something breakable or ricocheting to do the same thing are not good; he's got more room to maneuver outside and it would be better for his toenails, too, which are getting frighteningly long (used to have to touch them up, now it's a major challenge to try to keep them short enough).

Dang dog.