It\u2019s Aristotle here and I\u2019m feeling a little down. Some of you will realise that I have elbow dysplasia in both my front legs. Our Mistress doesn\u2019t know if it was because I was so tiny when I was born and then had such a growth spurt later, or whether it was injury related from when Mum wanted to make sure that if I was staying I knew who was boss, so she slam-dunked me across the patio outside. Every time I got up she slapped me down again, at least until our Mistress was able to get between us and scoop me up out of the way, but the damage was done one way or another. It\u2019s really unusual in our breed but there you go. Anyway, it\u2019s been well controlled so far. I had physiotherapy when I was little and then that\u2019s when I started swimming to build the muscles. I was only allowed quite short walks on grass for a very long time, but by using my wobble ball and doing all my exercises my legs were strong enough that for the last year or so I\u2019ve been able to go for a half hour walk every day, even on rougher ground without and ill effect. Anyway, I\u2019m having problems again and I\u2019ve had to go back to grass walking and more rest. I hope Alfie doesn\u2019t mind going swimming less often as I really need to go to build the muscles up again. When I was very small they talked about operating on me, but it would be a very big operation and not necessarily successful so we decided management was better. It\u2019s just leaving me feeling a bit down about things really. I\u2019ve enjoyed thinking of myself as more normal, despite the crooked way I learned to walk to compensate. Our Mistress says if I work hard again she\u2019s sure we\u2019ll get things back to normal. I do hope she\u2019s right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can find short stories to read at www.alfiedog.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alfie\u2019s Diary \u2013 the Book as well as our other books are available HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"