It is one year ago, Sasha was hit by a car and broke her pelvis.

For many days we were not even sure if she would make it, as there were no way of knowing what internal damage she had. She definately had her guardian angel with her when the car hit her as the power needed to break a pelvis of a dog size of a Leo is pretty big and the vet was amazed when she had no other injuries than the obvious(in the xray).

The next few days(even weeks) after the accident went in a blur. I was made reduntant few days after the accident, which I have to say did not worry me at all, I had better things to be worried about! Every cloud does have a silver lining and being made reduntant meant I could stay at home as long as needed. In the end I stayed home for 3 months as this was how long the first part of the bone to heal takes and Sasha had to be crated for. I have to say it was a long 3 months...

For first 4 weeks Sasha had to be carried (from her waist) outside to do her business. This was a two person job, me steering the front, Chris carrying the back end as Sasha could not put weight to the broken side...

The stress of everything caused my immune system to weaken and I got really ill myself. Having temperatures in the 40 c... Even medicine would not bring my temperature down, I have not been that ill for years! So for few weeks going was very hard as Sasha would obviously have to be taken out but me hardly able to walk, it was not easy! I have to say there were nights I cried quietly through the whole outing, partly because of the high temperature, partly because it was all I could do!

There was a point (because of being so worried of me going out being so ill) Chris said maybe we should take Sasha back to the vets as I am in no state to look after her and he can not do it by himself... I said NO WAY as I was not going to risk somebody else handling Sasha and losing control(which happened once, Sasha tried to bolt and they thought she had pulled the plate in her pelvis apart)I understand how difficult it must be to control a large dog especially if you are not used to handling large dogs and the dog does not know you, is stressed and in huge pain. However if she re-broke the mended pelvis by panicking and pulling it all apart - There was no guarentee they could put it back together! There was absolutely no way I was putting that on somebody else, if it was going to happen, it would happen with us.

After Sasha got home, she never panicked and took to being supported very well. We did have some issues when it came to pooping... As it was painful for her and she could not "take the position" while being held up from her waist, but she had to be supported as her pelvis could not support her weight so it all was very tricky for first few weeks. There were few low points I was not sure if we were doing the right thing by putting her through it all. When it all happened, I had a very lenghty conversation with our vet and he assured us, if Sasha heals ok(e.g. the plate helds and the bone heals), she should be able to live good normal life. I also searched the net for stories of other dogs and it seemed, after the difficult few weeks -made VERY difficult because of Sasha's size, she could not be just picked up and carried- it would get better! AND IT DID

Now a year on, if you do not know Sasha broke her pelvis, you would never know. She has done 10km bike runs with me, passed level A in water rescue and qualified for Crufts 2010! Her coat that was shaved, is still not 100% back, it is slightly different colour but again - If you do not know to look for it, you will not notice. Something we thought would have to be totally forgotten was the dream of puppies. We have been proven wrong, 3 different vets have looked at her final xrays and all have cleared her to be totally fine to go ahead and be a mother!