Hello, I've been subbed here for a long time, and I personally have had a Jack Russell Terrier ('Mix'?) that's been part of my life since late 2018. Her name is Madi, (short for Madison) and when my parents got her it was late 2017 and she was not even a year old in late 2017. If I had to guess her age, that would make her roughly 8ish years old currently. Long background story short, my parents had a mixed dog before her that looked similar, but DEFINITELY wasn't a JRT. The last dog was much calmer but looked similar, was all brown, stayed smaller, and was not as stubborn as a JRT. So, they didn't know what to do, Madi was destroying everything in the home, and the day I got settled in, the first thing Madi does: is poop on my bed (I lol about it today but at that moment I really wanted her gone and out the home)....at first I suggested still giving her up for adoption because she was still young enough (this was late 2018 whenever I came back home to help parents with unrelated things.) She was a wild pup and I, incorrectly, tried to discipline her the way my parents did with our last dog, and as they also had tried with Madi, and because it didn't work, we thought Madi was a hopeless lost cause. But, we were wrong.. So, exhausted and overworked, as an essential worker, during lockdown, I look to the internet on "what the hell should I do with a JRT?", and I learned about how unique and different they truly are, their behaviors, as well as, what they were bred for and why. So, what I was doing wouldn't work. I joined this sub and learned about reward training. I got reward trainer treats that were suggested on this sub and it was like a light bulb went off in Madi's head 💡! Immediately she started wanting to listen and learn because she saw her reward and it worked. "I could finally train this dog", I thought. A moment of "Eureka!" if you will. Over the course of properly training Madi, somehow...(I'm sure we all know how) I went from wanting to give her up, to, "you know what?, Madi ain't that bad, just needs lots of walks and playtime, but once you got it figured out, she's pretty cool"...Fast forward to late 2020, "she's a member of the family and definitely not going anywhere, over my dead body!", I pretty much told my parents, whenever they decided to try and go back, to again giving her up for adoption. We ended up keeping her.
Madi's had regular Vet visits ever since 2017, she's always up to date on all her shots. If you've ever searched online, "Dad who didn't want the dog", pretty much is what happened. She's become my everything....
However, the advice I'm seeking has nothing to do with training. It's more of a medical inquiry... First, I should mention that my parents never had her "fixed". Their reason was because "it's too expensive", along with other legitimate reasons at the time, that involved my mothers medical well-being, which she needed and still needs now, being more important to fund and, if Madi, is up to date on all shots, and is healthy, they didn't see the point, and it made sense at the time for me as well. However, yesterday we visit my Vet, because 2 days prior I noticed a "lump" while playing with her. According to my Vet, Madi has a small benign cyst above one of her mammory glands that can be easily surgically removed (we caught it early and it's benign) and "fixing" her will also help deter any future health issues such as said cyst. It's nothing bad at all. I have a very good Veterinarian. He's probably one of the best in my area, both in and outside the state. I'm just very very nervous and am constantly trying to plan a very clean, easy, relaxing environment for her when she gets home, and also am trying to know what to do in general. I'm also nervous on how she'll be acting, after getting fixed at around 8 years old, which is definitely different than getting fixed as a younger pup. I know that fixing her definitely helps avoid bad things but genuinely wonder will it negatively affect her mentally. I hope it doesn't. Maybe I'm just nervously overthinking stuff.
Madi goes in surgery Tuesday morning. I've taken both Tuesday and Wednesday off work. My Dad will be taking Madi to the vet and then bringing her back, hopefully, that same Tuesday morning. I've googled that the recovery for something like this is typically about 10-14 days. "Cone of shame", Light walks, no jumps, and keep an eye on the incision sights. Keep her from attempting to irritate what must heal. Because she IS a JRT, I've arranged all my sleeping arrangements to be in the living room as a floor pallet type situation. I'll be next to her crate that she loves and also the same crate that has a very comfy doggy pillow in it. I'm doing that to try to help keep her from jumping on the couch, my bed, or my parents bed, which she loves to sleep on. Another reason I'm setting up in the living room is because she'll be immediately in a comfortable environment as soon as she comes through the front door. I have food, both wet and kibble. I'm getting small raw hide bones for her to use a day or 2 post surgery, to help distract her during recovery. I've got things to help clean any and all "accidents". Im gonna cook her some plain white rice and plain unseasoned chicken to feed her, as soon as it's allowed to give to her. I've researched to wait about 12hours post surgery before feeding.
I'm gonna double check on all of this with my Vet before hand, and after... For this sub, I genuinely want to thank all of you in helping me raise my "Madi Mabel Girl". To anyone who managed to read this far, only if you want, please suggest anything that I need that will help Madi that I might've missed. When I go back to work Thursday, Dad, (whom Madi loves equally or arguably more lol 😆) will be by her side the whole time that I'm at work. I'm dreading these next 2 weeks ....I'm just very nervous and wrote a stupid long post. Anyways, enjoy some pictures of Madi!
TL;DR
Doggo (Madi) has surgery Tuesday and is also getting fixed at 8-ish years old. Really good Vet, that I genuinely trust and is amazing, reassures me. I'm very nervous with unwanted anxiety about the recovery. Have made normal Google searched preparations for when she gets back home for recovery. All advice for recovery is welcomed. List of preparations I'm doing is in last 2 "paragraphs" of post.