Oxa’s Story

We brought Oxa from the Czech Republic as we were returning from winter holidays in the Karkonosze mountains. I could choose between two female puppies from a litter of five. Oxa had a tail and was much lighter, a bit bigger, and definitely much bolder than her sister. When suddenly their canine auntie reprimanded the puppies, Oxa was the only one that didn’t run away and that helped us make up our minds.



From the very start Oxa was a keen worker and a fast learner. I was often tempted to do sequences that were too difficult for her and to expect too much from her. She took it bravely and didn’t lose her enthusiasm despite being forced to work too hard.

She began to take part in entry level agility competitions, won her first prizes and was disqualified a few times as well. It all looked very promising.

And then Oxa had an accident. She ran into a very busy dual carriageway and was hit by a car. She had a broken leg and was generally badly bruised. I took her to a vet right away. Fortunately, an ultrasound scan showed that there were no internal injuries. The femoral bone in the injured leg was completely broken in the middle and Oxa was to be operated on the following day.

The operation went well. The vet set the broken leg carefully, he even put the broken fragments were they belonged. He put a nail into the marrow cavity and dressed the entire leg up to the groin. After two weeks something began to go wrong. Oxa grew sad, wouldn’t eat, and the nail could be felt under the skin next to the hip joint. I took her to the vet immediately. He told me to wrap the leg and wait two weeks. I held on for a week but couldn’t stand it any longer because you could actually see the nail under the skin. When the dressing was removed, it turned out that the leg was broken again. The vet decided to operate immediately.

The second operation consisted in removing the bone fragments and putting two nails instead of just one into the marrow cavity. Dressing was put on the leg up to two-thirds of the thigh and we were to wait another two weeks. Oxa was still said, ate only when hand fed and only because I asked her to. After a week I began to feel the nail under the skin. I took the dog to the vet. An x-ray showed that one of the nails had slipped out and its end was at an angle to the bone at the point of fracture. I was terrified, but the vet told me to wrap the leg and wait two weeks.

I didn’t wait. I immediately called another vet, Mr Janusz Bieżyński. He listened to me, examined the x-rays I emailed to him and told me that the nails should be removed right away. As I didn’t trust anybody else anymore, I took Oxa to Wrocław. Mr Bieżyński removed the nails, unlocked the knee joint, prescribed an antibiotic and said that Oxa should walk a lot and swim after the wound healed. It turned out that a bone infection had set in and a false joint had begun to form. The dressing applied in Bydgoszcz had worked as a pendulum and, instead of protecting the leg, had made things worse. Recently Mr Bieżyński confirmed what I had suspected at that time: had I waited a few days longer, Oxa’s paw would have had to be amputated.

After two weeks of taking the antibiotic Oxa cheered up, started to eat normally, and another week later she was swimming and rolling happily in the grass.

Finally Oxa’s condition improved to the point that she could undergo a final surgery, the fourth one including the removal of the nails. The operation lasted very long, more than two hours. Mr Bieżyński had to cut off the ends of the bone at the point of fracture as there was necrosis there, “clean” the marrow cavity and insert a piece of antibiotic sponge that would gradually release the antibiotic and become absorbed afterwards, position the limb to achieve the best possible axis, drill four holes and fix a stabilizing plate over the skin so that it wouldn’t be necessary to operate on the dog again to remove it. It turned out that the first two operations had been performed in a very brutal manner with large cuts which left large scars and caused blood flow disruptions. The leg was 5-6 cm shorter and was only to enable Oxa to use it as a support.

Long weeks followed during which we waited for the fractured bone to unite, treated the pressure sores, travelled to Wrocław for dressing changes (the dressing now covered both the leg and the pelvis). The way the technician modelled the dressing and the amount of care and effort she put into it deserve the highest praise.

Finally we heard the good news. An x-ray showed bone union. We went back home without the metal plate and rehabilitation began: electromagnetic stimulation, infrared heat (we were lucky to borrow the equipment), massages, passive movements, redressment (the fact that I’m a physiotherapist by education helped), and finally cold compresses and easy walks.

Then the time of small miracles came: ‘I think she stood on the leg! I’m sure she did! She is walking on it! She’s trotting!! She scratched herself behind the ear!!!‘

Oxa again began to take part in agility shows. And she sometimes even wins against healthy dogs! She owes it to Mr Janusz Bieżyński, the wonderful vet from Wrocław, but also to her own great Pyrenean passion for life. That’s what Pyrenean sheepdogs are like. They have a passion for life!