The Joy Of Pets.

[SirFozzie]

My brother has two dogs, and the good natured one is up in Maine serving as a bridge dog for my Aunt (who lost their dog late last fall, rather then jump in with a new dog right away, they brought her up to be a bridge dog for a few months, so not to compare a puppy to the dog they had owned for so long).

That leaves Duke. Duke the Monster Dog. He was picked up as a stray when he was very young., but he had picked up some bad habits because of his stray-nature (we got him when he was about a year old). He is a very nervous dog around new folks, and his main nervous/bored habit is licking his leg. Which can be problematic when he's licked the fur off it, and opened it up. While I'm home a lot of the time, you really have to keep an eye on him 24/7. We've tried sprays, and all that, and my brother got a "Comfy Cone" for him (like the plastic cone, but with more of a cardboard type bendable nature, and it goes on with velcro straps around the neck.

Unfortunately, my brother left for an overseas trip today, and that led to me and the 50 pound "monster" dog by ourselves, which led to this interaction:

Duke the Monster Dog: (lick the paw)
Me: Don't do that
Duke: Ok.
Me: ...
Duke: (lick the paw)
Me: Don't do that.
Duke: I wasn't doing anything.
Me: (pretends to look away)
Duke (goes to lick the paw)
Me: Right, where's the "Comfy Cone".
Duke: "OH SHIT!"

( a couple minutes later, I've enticed Duke into my brother's bedroom with a cookie to keep him from running around the house (with my injuries, I can't keep up with him)

Duke: "Don't want the cone!"
Me: "Hold still.."
Duke: "Don't want the cone!"
Me: Almost got it..
Duke: DO NOT WANT
(Duke gives an almighty WRIGGLE, SHAKE, Cone falls off, he sneaks out of grabbing range)..
Me: Oh FFS....

(15 minutes of attempts later)
Me: STOP WRIGGLING!
Duke: STOP TRYING TO PUT THE CONE ON ME!
Me: There we go!
Duke: Argh! Um Human, can you adjust this slightly? Because I wriggled so much, part of the strap is on my fur and I keep scratching it...
Me: Well, that's a reasonable request, let's just..
Duke: FREEEDOMMMMM!!! (wriggles his head out of it as I try to adjust it and it pops off, I'm holding a closed Comfy Cone without a dog in it. and we go back to stage 2)

Thankfully, we managed to come to an accommodation: Namely: I'm the human, he's the dog, and if I say he's going to wear the damn cone to stop licking the leg raw, he's going to wear the cone :P

[stevew]

[muns]

Fozzie

My dog has this licking tick as well, but just because he licks everything all the time.

The vet gives us a cream, and he doesn't lick the wounded area, it helps it heal faster. He takes a pill to keep him from licking. They both work. I cant remember what the names are but something to keep in mind for your brother when he returns if you don't want to keep the cone on him all the time.

[SirFozzie]

see if you can remember the name, and I'll have Jody (my brother) bring it up wtih the vet.. we're hoping that when it heals a bit we can wrap it or put leggings on him to keep him away with it, we tried it once before but he literally fought us to try to keep them off after we tried it once and it led to the saddest dog face ever:

Shared album - David Yellope - Google Photos

[SirFozzie]

Oh, and to follow up, today's adventure: I had to go to the doctor's office, and Jody was overseas, now, normally that's not an issue, because he has his box, where he can go lie down and he is happy and all that.. but we have a problem. He can't get into his cage with the cone on. And if we tried to put him in the box without his cage, he'd lick the leg and undo all the good work of the last few days of healing.. so Jody suggested I clear everything out of the bathroom, put his bed in there, and put him in there and go to my doctor's appointment (40 minutes away).

So I did, and got home approximately 2.5 hours in total. He had scrounged up the bath mats and bed into a little nest, and to say he was happy to see me would be.. an understatement. Quite a bit of an understatement.

Step one would be to run around me jumping in joy. This would be problematic enough, because A) As stated, above, he is 50+ pounds and not quite fully cognizant that his head is surrounded by a giant cone, so the bendy plastic kept on hitting me right at knee level, followed by jumping dog attacks at chest levels.. I managed to sit down on the bed, and yeah, jumping dog attack, cone first, right to the face. I just laid there going "Ok God, you win. Take me now", while he tried to express how happy he was to have me home by licking me and jumping all over me (repeatedly smacking me with that @&($)&$)@ cone).

dogs. Can't live with em, can't live without em

[NobodyHere]