Odin, Week 2 — One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, and a Visit From the Vet
Silly Shepherds · About a 7-minute read
Week two started with promise.
On day eight, Odin had walked calmly past the Labrador from day one. We were finding a routine. Sitting was coming along. I felt the choke chain was helping me manage him in the moment.
Then Odin jumped down from something and hurt his elbow.
That is how it goes with dogs.
And life in general.
🐾 The Injury — Day Nine
Sunday, August 9.
Odin is limping.
It is not dramatic, but it is noticeable. While playing, he seems to forget about it. As soon as he stops, the limp becomes obvious again.
We try gentle massage, let him cool off in the little pool — something he also chooses to do himself — and take things more slowly on walks.
On day twelve, I call the vet.
The limp has lasted several days. Time to have it checked.
Our vet, who makes house calls and whom we think very highly of, fits us in at 5:30 p.m.
The diagnosis: an elbow sprain.
He prescribes medication for pain and inflammation for twenty-four days. We give Odin the first tablet that evening.
Then the medication adventure begins.
After that first tablet, Odin throws everything up.
Kibble. Mucus. The whole lot.
He looks unsettled and startled.
We clean up without making a fuss, offer some water, and take him outside briefly.
The rest of the night goes well.
Then, on day fourteen, at two in the morning, it happens again.
This time, more mucus than kibble.
We switch from the salmon formula to the lamb-and-rice Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Digestion food available in our market.
Afterward, the nighttime vomiting stops and he keeps his tablets down.
That is what we observed. It does not establish what caused the vomiting or prove that changing food resolved it.
🐾 The Surprise Once He Felt Better
Here is something I had not expected.
Day thirteen.
As Odin starts feeling physically better, his spark comes back.
More energy. More enthusiasm.
And more of the behavior we are still trying to understand.
I give four leash corrections during encounters with three different dogs that day.
That records what happened, rather than recommending it as a training approach.
An Odin who feels better is an Odin ready to take on the world again.
Or at least that is how it feels from my end of the leash.
Progress with a dog can feel like one step forward and two steps back.
I know that.
This week provided a reminder.
🐾 Zara — A Quieter Change
Something else catches my attention.
Zara is changing too.
She seems less alert. Less sharp.
Her attitude is becoming: if it does not happen today, tomorrow will do.
The heat may be part of it. Here in southern Limburg, temperatures are still reaching 86–97°F (30–36°C). She has also been through her heat cycle.
And then there is Odin.
I catch myself wondering whether his habit of testing boundaries is giving her ideas.
That is my interpretation. I cannot know what she is thinking.
On day sixteen, something shifts.
Odin invites her into play at the dog field, and Zara — usually the softie who would rather jump onto my lap than stand her ground — holds her own.
She runs.
She plays.
She clearly enjoys herself.
At about 75°F (24°C), rather than 97°F (36°C), she seems like a different dog.
We notice the difference.
🐾 What We Learned in Week Two
Sitting is becoming more familiar.
Before the leash goes on. Before we enter the dog field. At traffic lights.
He sits.
Not every time. Not everywhere.
But he is beginning to understand the routine.
We have also been trying little jumps over low posts.
Zara already jumps on cue, there and back, with plenty of celebration afterward.
Odin has tried a few with guidance and seemed to enjoy them.
That is enough for now. His elbow injury is another reason to be careful about what we ask of him.
Outside, we are still using a choke chain when his reactions to other dogs become difficult to manage.
My goal remains for him not to need it.
These entries describe the choices I made at the time. A change in behavior during a correction does not tell us, by itself, how a dog feels about the situation.
🐾 Where We Are Now
Two weeks.
An elbow sprain.
Two nights of vomiting.
A strong-willed dog whose energy returned as he started feeling better.
And yet.
He follows me around all day.
When I go to the bathroom, he waits outside the door.
In the evening, he settles beside me on his blanket.
After a correction, he often seeks contact — a stroke, a moment of reassurance.
I cannot know exactly what that means to him.
But I can see that he keeps coming back to me.
I am getting to know a dog who has missed a lot of the basics and is now learning how life works in our home.
And I am learning about him.
Day by day.
More next week.
The story continues.
Follow Odin’s diary on the website, and find more from our life with the dogs on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
🐕 Our Dog. Our Experience.
This is our honest diary of a dog getting a second chance and an owner learning along the way. It records the breakthroughs, the mistakes, and the choices we made. It is a personal account, not a training guide.
Week by week. Step by step.
