Max's midnight workout caught on video

Keep in mind this is just the beginning of Max's new all-night work out plan... he doeosn't do this during the day.. just ALL NIGHT LONG!! I'm not sure what the thought process behind this is...  but he's sleeping during most of the day and seems to be working out at night...

And so it begins with a gentle head lift... lift, relax, lift, relax... lift... relax..

Then we progress to head lift, front arm lift and then we add the back leg in... right now we're just doing the left side.. just wait and see if I'm still awake enough to catch the right side going to...

Max has always been somewhat of a perfectionist.  He has always repeated things over and over again to perfect them... When he first came to live with me as a foster dog, he knew 36 commands cold.. you could whisper them.. or even mouth them and he would do them immediately on the first try.  Last year when he first started to circle and we first found out about the brain tumors, after he startedd the prednisone and the dizyness started to go away, he spent 3 whole days walking back and foroth against a line in the floor until he could do it without wobbling off the line.

I have no reason not to think that he's not practicing what it feels like to move each one of his muscles.  He's still the same dog and that same personality is still in there.    Just hoping that we cacn do this without him kicking me and having to take a shower at 5am tonight!!!

Max attempting to get up out of bed..

And a Bark!

Max enjoying a change of scenery!

Woke up this morning at 4am to a Bark... Max's Bark! Max has not barked in over a year.  He needed to go potty and I guess I didn't wake up with his kicking so he tried the next thing he could.. As soon as I turned on the light and got his pad in position he went.  Let's see if he does it again. Max used to bark NON-STOP!  At one point I finally bought him a bark collar that would spray citronella in his face when he barked... what did he do?  He figured out a way to twist the collar so it would spray anyone standing next to him and he would run through the house barking and spraying everyone he ran by..

Max practicing standing.  Back legs crossing and knuckling and head started to get tired..  but he's getting there - front arms strong (at the moment)

Max & Buster #2 hanging out

Get me off my mom's lap!!! (sorry video is sideways!)

Max is Standing!

Hello everyone!
I am happy to report that Max can now stand up on his own!  (Provided he has something to lean up against!!)  He can hold himself up on all 4's, and is starting to try and make an effort to walk (but that hasn't been working out very well yet)  Can't wait for that Eddie's Wheel's cart to get here!!

Video's to follow as soon as I figure out how to video him and be close enough to catch him if he falls!

Max sits up on his own

Max sits up on his own.. sort of.. he managed to put himself in this position and curl up and take a nap while hanging out on the couch watching the olympcs.. Normally he's laying on the side that's up..

Frankenstein

Max had a busy day today!  He woke me up at 5am with a good hard kick to let me know he had to go potty... apparently right then... so then he took a shower and had a blow dry...  and then he had an appointment at the vet for some electric acupuncture!   We re-measured him for his Eddie's Wheels Cart  and then he came home to nap and work out some more.  Around 4pm he let me know he had to go potty again while he was working at his "desk" so I picked him up and though... maybe we can figure out a way to get him to use the toilet.. without him being able to hold his head up longer it wouldn't work, so I then took him outside and held him up on the grass so he could stand... it started to get hot.. nothing... finally I brought him back in the house and no more than 3 steps in I started to feel a warm stream of liquid running down my leg... At least HE knew he had to go and he knew how to tell me had to go... I just have to give him a little more time.

We also ordered his quad cart from Eddie's Wheels Today!  It should be arriving in about 2.5 weeks! Can't wait!

Max Napping during his electric acupuncture

All hooked up, Frankenstein style (and yes! If you turn the dial too much his arm will move!)

Max getting measured for his Quad Cart from Eddie's Wheels - he's cheating and standing on his tippy toes

Max the Toddler

Sorry I haven't written in a while but Max has been hard at work. He was measured for an Eddie's Wheel's cart but the measurements were apparently all out of proportion so we need to have them done again. Since then he's been doing his exercises with his peanut ball that Dr. Lessinger suggested and right now he's working hard - very hard  - on lifting his head and turning it to the left and then back to the right.. In the process he's also been throwing himself off his desk.. Once he managed to get back up on his desk but I have squshed him in with 2 beanbag chairs - don't need him breaking his neck at this point.. and of course.. Max being Max has figured out how to get up and over the bean bag chairs..   EXCELLENT!

This is good but also what I was worried about - when he can be more mobile and gets up but can fall over because he's not super stable yet... Practice Makes Perfect though - he just needs adult supervision. Yesterday we sat on the front steps and he practices pushing himself up with his right front arm.. and he was doing pretty well!  He even tinkled standing up yesterday with some support! (It was not my plan but maybe he had it all planned out.. We'll have to keep working on that!)

Anyway - still making steady progress!  Max is now getting electric acupuncture 2-3 times a week and I think the increase  has really made a big difference in his progress. The electricity makes his muscles flex and relax and kind of jump starts them... now if we could just get him to start eating on his own!  He'll eat liquid if it's syringe fed, and he did lick a peanutbutter molasses cookie until it was soggy and then Buttercup ate it, but if food is put in front of him he's not going for it, but he is sniffing it. 

He can hear everything, and he's still grunting and huffing when he gets frustrated, and every so often we get a whimper. I know he's really frustrated but he's trying so hard and hopefully that will all pay off soon! Max doing the Butt Dance..