Caring for an injured dog or puppy can be challenging. I have written this article to offer my personal experiences, tips, and advice to anyone that has to care for man's best (injured) friend.

I was directing a late-night funeral service when I got the frantic call from my husband. Luckily, I live directly across the street from the funeral home and was able to run over there quickly. My husband was terribly concerned and worried when he said, "Honey, get over here quick! I think Trocar broke her leg! We gotta take her to the vet!"

Holy cow, that got me moving! I hurriedly excused myself from the funeral and ran across the street as fast as my black suit would allow. I asked what happened as I opened the front door, and this is what I saw....

My husband didn't know how she broke her leg in the backyard, but he heard her yelping, rushed to her, discovered her leg, took her in the house, called the vet, and called me. We were in shock, but I knew we had to stay calm and figure out a game-plan to fix our jack russell puppy.

The on-call vet wouldn't be in town for 30 minutes, so I grabbed the camera and took some photos. We carefully wrapped our puppy in a blanket and took her to the car. With every jolt or bump in the road, her leg would flop and she'd yelp; a sound horrible enough to break your heart :(

Once we met the vet, she carefully examined Trocar's leg before giving her an anaesthetic and taking some xrays. The xrays just showed the neon version of what we already saw and knew to be true. Both of her little leg bones were broken.

With Trocar properly sedated, we left her in the veterinarian's care and worried the whole night. The vet tried to reset her leg the best she could and bandage it up. The next time we saw her, she had some bandages on and her leg was a lot straighter than the last time we saw it!

A closer look at the xrays after setting her bones, the vet discovered that bones wouldn't set correctly, and they needed to perform surgery on our little dog. So, under the knife she went, and Trocar got herself an external skeletal fixation device! Sound intimidating? It is.

The animal doctors had to insert pins into Trocar's little bones, position the bones, and fixate the pins with long metal rods that run down the length on the outside of her leg. At first, it looks like some sort of metal brace. Upon closer inspection, you can see that the metal penetrates her skin and goes through her leg.

When she was finally able to come home after a few days of recovery, Trocar had to take pain killers and anibiotics. We didn't want her to develop an infection in the suture site, so we followed the doctor's orders.

Have you ever seen the vet bill for something like that!!!? Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. I can't believe I paid it, but that little dog means so much to me and my husband. After all, she is part of the family.

We would sneak her medicine inside pieces of cheese and hot-dogs, and she loved it. One time, she spit out her pill, ate the cheese, sniffed the pill, and crunched on it before swallowing it! I didn't expect that.

We had to leave Trocar in her little dog crate or tied up to a table leg to keep her immobile while she learned how to navigate with her cast. When we were there to watch her, we'd let her loose around the house and she'd bang her cone-type collar on everything. She needs the collar so that she doesn't chew her cast off.

Caring for a handicapped puppy has it's challenges, but our little girl is worth it. I don't know what we'd do without her. Even though she's a jack russell, she has calmed down since the accident and spends most of her time lying by the heater duct in the wall. Since she's so young, she should heal up just fine, and I can't wait till she does and we can play again!

While taking her to the vet, we kept our injured little dog quite. She was in shock like us and wasn't sure what to do. She mostly just lied there, as you saw in the first photos. We just stroked her fur and rubbed her ears to keep her calm.

Once she came home from the vet, we changed the way we usually do things. Tone of voice is a big deal. If you talk to your dog in an excited tone, then they'll get excited. So, just try to talk calmer while your puppy is healing.

We really utilized the dog crate at first. Trocar stayed in her crate all night and while we were at work. Since I work directly across the street, I could come over and check on her. The dog should be checked periodically and let outside in her normal routine.

After graduating from the crate, we tied Trocar's leash to a table leg in the livingroom by her favorite spot...the heater :) With her dog bed and food & water, she is content spending the day here, especially with the radio on while we're at work. By keeping her on the leash, we ensure that she won't be jumping around and hurting herself while we're gone.

Just because your dog is injured, doesn't mean she has to stop learning. Although we can't do the daring tricks right now, we can still teach Trocar things like sit, down, stay, speak, and talk (howl). Since she's still a puppy, that works well for us. Obviously, she won't be able to jump, spin, shake, or anything else risky.

Like I said earlier, if taken orally, you can sneak your dog's medicine in chunks of cheese or hot-dogs. Trocar especially loved the hot-dogs. There are many other treats you can use. Just give your dog what she likes :) Some people don't believe in treats. Try hiding the medicine in some of that wet canned dog food. If the medicine is administered in a different way (other than orally), follow your vet's instructions.

To keep Trocar from chewing her cast off, she has to wear one of those cone-like collars. Nothing makes a puppy look more pathetic than one of those. I don't know how she did it, but Trocar got ahold of the very end of her collar and was able to chew on it :) Oh well, it keeps her from chewing on her cast. She has also learned how to shake or push it off of her head. Good thing those are adjustable and you can make them tighter.

Utilize your dog's down time and use it as an opportunity for a lot of cuddling and bonding. It'll strengthen your relationship and promote your dog's healing process.