...in fact, she thinks she's perfectly fine! hahaha
We took Emma off the sedatives and she's back to her old goofy self. She doesn't seem to be in any pain but she is still pretty pathetic, mostly because we are constantly telling her "STAY", "DOWN", and "PILLOW" because we want her to stay off her foot as much as possible. I think she thinks she's always in trouble, she has this look on her face that says "I'm sorry Mom! Whatever I did I'm sorry!" Poor girl!
Here are some updated pictures. We got her an inflatable collar that fits better but I think it still may be too big (I'm sure she could get it off if she really wanted to). We've only put it on her once to test it out and she seems to not mind it at all, fell asleep on it for a long time! With us around she doens't seem to be interested in her cast at all, never licks it or chews it or anything, so there's really no need for a collar at home. When we send her to Doggy Daycare tomorrow though we'll probably tell them to keep it on her just in case, since they may not be watching her as closely as we watch her at home.

Also in these pictures you can see her brand new green cast!! Yes, we had to go back to the emergency vet place for the 3rd time in 5 days (I'm not bitter, really) for another rebandage. The last splint kept slowly moving up to the point where Emma's foot was hitting the ground with every step, and it was causing her pain (the whole point of the splint it's longer htan her leg and absorbs the shock with each step, so Emma's foot never has any pressure on it). Needless to say we are not extremely happy with the Emergency Vet and we are having Emma switched over to our regular vet for any further care. If everything goes well this week the regular vet will see her on Saturday for a rebandage, then once a week after that until he feels she's healed enough to take the bandages off (maybe 4-5 more weeks?)

One bit of sad/happy news from the vet came after examined Emma's foot while replacing the bandages. Apparently all of Emma's toes are working except one. I am so glad that most of them are flexing fine (I guess meanign the tendons are working/healed?) but sad that one of her toes may never be able to flex again. Obviously I would have preferred ALL of her toes to completely heal but I guess this is pretty good too. And who knows, there's still time maybe in the following weeks more tendons will heal and that toe will start working too!

In the meantime we'll be sending Emma to Doggy Daycare during the day while we're at work! I'm starting to think this might be what having a baby is like.....we've been watching over Emma very carefully, taking turns to leave the house so one of us can alwasy be with her. We have to monitor her potty breaks carefully, give her medicine, force her to eat and drink, take her to the doctor, and now yesterday we took her to check out a daycare place! We can't go do the regular evening things we'd like to do (shopping, dinner, movie, bar, etc.) and we've had to cancel plans to go snowshoeing in the mountains just to stay home with our baby!
Anyways the daycare place is called Divine Canine and they even have a
blog where they post pictures everyday--I can't wait to check it out tomorrow and see if Emma makes the cut! This place seemed really nice--they will keep her in a small indoor "run" (4ft x6ft) that is just big enough for her dog pillow, a bowl of food, and a couple toys. It doesn't have a top, just goes to the ceiling, so they made a special point of telling us that they'll watch her carefully and if she starts jumping they will switch her to a crate so she won't hurt herself. They will take her for potty breaks on a leash only, and in an area with no other dogs so she doesn't get distracted or try to play. It's really a sad existence for Emma but that's what she needs now to heal! I feel bad for her because she'll probably hear and see the other dogs all playing together in the large outdoor communal area but she won't be able to play with them :-(
Right now I"m at home because I have MLK day off (yay for being a government employee!! hahah) and Emma is sleeping downstairs in the papasan chair. Usually she moves between that chair in the front living room, to her dog pillow downstairs, to the bed upstairs. Occassionally I'll put her on a couch :-) We don't let her climb stairs by herself or jump up into chairs so I have to carry her a lot (it's my workout!). She thinks she's completely fine though, and when I'm not looking sometimes she'll climb the stairs to follow me somewhere--bad dog!
Keep your fingers crossed that this splint continues to work well and that Emma's tendons heal up well! Maybe we'll get our energetic, running, hiking puppy back by late spring/early summer? I can't wait to go hiking again, and neither can she!