Vinnie has been continuing with his physical therapies over the past month, including water and laser therapies. Once again, we want to thank the wonderful RAGOM volunteers who donated so Vinnie could get these therapies to help him heal and build up muscle.

A few weeks ago, I came home from work and Vinnie was not putting any weight on his bad leg and my vet felt some looseness in his knee. He is currently in MN being seen by the orthopedic surgeon to see if he possibly has a bone infection, a knee injury, or if it was a soft tissue injury. We will know more after his vet appointment on Friday and will report back as soon as we have some answers.

We are hoping to attend the meet-and-greet in Coon Rapids on Saturday on the way back home in IA, as long as Vinnie is cleared to come back to his foster home after the surgeon sees him on Friday.

We also want to thank Vinnie's fans for the special holiday icon!

Vinnie is doing great! He is SLOWLY starting to use his leg more, especially at a very slow walk. We have continued his laser therapy and had a consult this week about water therapy. He will start that next week and then will go twice per week. We are continuing to do massages, stretching, and range of motion exercises with him too. We have also started short, slow daily walks. He loves it! He pulls on a leash, so we are using a Gentle Leader and teaching him to walk nicely. Right now we are going about 6-8 blocks total, depending on how he's doing that day.

Vinnie also has graduated from being crated during the day (on days I don't take him to work) to being baby-gated in my bedroom with Finn. He can go a full work day without any problems. He's usually pretty happy to curl up on his favorite bed in my room! He has started to show more interest in toys and would love to play fetch if I would let him! Instead, he settles for me rolling tennis balls at him while he's laying down and he grabs them as they roll up to him.

Vinnie has completed all of his vaccinations and has had a negative heartworm test and fecal. He was neutered prior to coming into RAGOM, so we don't have to worry about having that procedure done! He is currently at 73 pounds, which is a pretty good weight for him. As he gets more active, he'll lose a bit of fat and build more muscle, so it's likely he'll stay in this weight range. Otherwise, we are just working on healing his leg and getting him to build up some more muscle. We will recheck his X-rays at 12 weeks postsurgery (around 2/23) to see what the ortho surgeon thinks, and then hopefully he will be ready for adoption!

As always, we would like to thank everyone who has been so supportive of Vinnie!

As you can see, Vinnie loves his therapy laser treatments! He gets to go to work with me every day (I work at a vet clinic) and gets his laser therapy while we are there. He loves the car ride and getting to see all of my coworkers! He has never met anyone that he hasn't loved at first sight. Vinnie wants to send a huge thank you to the amazing RAGOM volunteer that paid for his laser therapy! We are so thankful for your generosity! As soon as his incision is healed, we will be starting underwater treadmill therapy to help him to gain muscle mass in his broken leg. This therapy was also paid for by several RAGOM volunteers. We cannot express how much it means to us (and Vinnie!) that money was able to be raised for him to get these extra therapies to help him use his leg more!

Vinnie has made himself at home here with our family! He loves our kitties and curling up with his foster brother, Finn. As much as we love him, we know he will settle in quickly with his forever family, too! Vinnie has a family coming to meet him this next weekend! We have been talking with them and sending pictures, and I know that they are very excited to meet him! He will not be able to be adopted until he's medically cleared, but keep your fingers crossed that it is a good match for our wonderful boy!

Vinnie had recheck X-rays taken on 1/16 and they have been sent to his surgeon to see what her thoughts are on the amount of healing in his leg. He is starting to use his leg a little more, but not as much as we would want to see, considering he's 7 weeks out from the initial repair surgery. We will report back once we hear back from the surgeon. It is likely that we will want to give him more time before we decide where to go from here, as it was a pretty severe fracture.

Please continue to keep Vinnie in your thoughts! He has been through a lot and is still such a happy, loving boy!

Mr. Vinnie has some great news to share! The wonderful Dr. R performed surgery on him last Friday, and was able to save his leg! As initially expected, his sciatic nerve was embedded in scar tissue and had become caught up on one of the pins that was put in to stabilize his broken leg. Dr. R removed the pin and freed up the nerve from the scar tissue. The good news is that the nerve was intact and only had minor discoloration, so we are very hopeful that he will not have further complications with nerve damage down the road.

A wonderful volunteer, Nikki, offered to help bring Vinnie part of the way home so FM (foster mom) didn't have to drive so far in the snow to get him. Thanks, Nikki! Vinnie rewarded her with lots of kisses during the drive. Immediately when FM saw Vinnie, she saw how much the surgery had helped! He was wanting to put weight on his leg and he even lifted it a bit to pee. It was obvious that he was feeling much more comfortable! Vinnie was excited to see that foster brother, Finn, came along and they snuggled up in the car for the whole ride home to IA.

Vinnie is feeling much better and we are having to restrict his activity for 5 more weeks. Most of the time, he is happy to hang out in the puppy pen, though he does give us those sad puppy dog eyes a lot! The repair is a bit weaker now that one of the pins was removed, but Dr. R is confident that there is enough healing and stability from the plate and screws that his bone will heal just fine. We will recheck his X-rays at the end of January to make sure that everything is healed properly, and then he will hopefully be able to run and play after that!

Once again we would like to thank everyone who has been involved in helping Vinnie to get the care that he needs! We also want to thank those who have donated towards his medical care! Vinnie is lucky to have so many people who love him!

As you can see, Vinnie is enjoying life as a spoiled guest in our home! He gets along fabulously with Finn and our two cats. Even my female cat that rarely tolerates the dogs has come up to him and rubbed up against him! Vinnie has quickly learned about the finer things in life, like comfy dog beds, yummy dog treats, curling up in front of the space heater, and begging me to give him a boost up on the couch so he can snuggle with me. He loves attention and he is just the sweetest boy! Now that he's feeling better, he's been very easy to take care of and doesn't give us too much trouble with his physical therapy. He is a little over 3 weeks out from surgery and his incision is healed nicely. He still isn't using his leg very much, so we will be discussing that further with the vet who did his surgery to see what her thoughts are. We would expect him to be trying to put some weight on it within 14 days of surgery, and he is not attempting to do that yet. The good news is that we have his pain managed now. His personality is really starting to shine now that he's feeling better! He is quick to give kisses and ask for attention by flashing those big puppy dog eyes of his! I can say that they absolutely work on me every time!

We would like to wish all of our friends and RAGOM family a Happy Holiday season! We are honored to have helped so many deserving dogs this year. Vinnie has some presents under the tree that I know he will be excited to open on Christmas morning!

Hello, Vinnie fans! Vinnie has been settling in to his new foster home in Iowa. Unfortunately, he's had a tough week, but we have been doing whatever we can to make him more comfortable. I think we finally have his pain managed, as long as he gets his pain meds every 6-7 hours. This will get better as his leg heals and other bruises/bumps/swelling go away from being hit. The bruising is still pretty severe around his hock area and on his abdomen, but it seems to get better every day. Vinnie allows me to put an ice pack on his leg twice daily and enjoys some extra attention from me while we do his PT. We are starting to see more tail wags and he is always willing to give kisses! Vinnie will continue to improve every week and we are committed to doing whatever it takes to get him healed and ready for his forever family!

You may notice that Vinnie now has a box at the top of his page with some things that he would need in his forever home. At this point, due to his history of running off and chasing cars, we are looking for a forever home with a physical fence. Vinnie has gotten along great with my resident dog, Finn, and tolerates our very playful foster, Carver 14-400. He has warned Carver to back up a few times, but that is likely due to the fact that his body is bruised and painful. Carver reads his signals very well and they have remained good buddies! Vinnie has not shown any interest in our two cats, even when they come up to sniff him. These things may change as he gets more comfortable and further in his recovery, but we will update them as needed!

Vinnie and his foster family want to send out a THANK YOU to Katherine Davis, his new sponsor! Words cannot express how incredibly grateful we are! Vinnie is such a special boy, and we are glad that you see that, too!

We also want to say THANK YOU to Andy 07-496, Tegan 08-060, and Brooklyn 13-214 for the holiday icons!