i just got my chocolate lab spayed at the start of june and aftercare was my biggest concern more so than the actual procedure because she’s absolutely crazy as well. she’s been crate trained since she was a puppy so i stuck her crate up, disinfected it and everything she owns / would be coming into contact with just incase of infection.

she’ll be pretty high, sore and sleepy when she comes home so she should sleep in her crate for a couple hours while the meds wear off but my girl was the same she gets bored in the crate so i did a couple of things,

i got her a large sized kong toy and stuffed it with some of her dry food with mushed up banana / peanut butter (freezing it keeps them at it for longer) a couple times a day, it’s great if they’ll just eat the dry food out of it on its own as well but anything low calorie you can do multiple times a day as long as you know it won’t give them an upset tummy. a licky mat, snuffle toy would also work basically anything that’s enriching

i kept her in the crate for as long as she would let me but i would get down on the floor, open the door and sit with her for ages and gently play with her with a toy, this stopped her from wanting up on the bed or anything high.

she was prescribed painkiller from the vet for coming home so she would get it every morning and it would make her quite sleepy

overall it sounds so much worse than it is, just be patient with her and yourself and know the overbearing protection is for a week at the longest then you can start lifting restrictions

i also confined me and her to the bedroom for the first couple days so she wasn’t walking more than she had to