Dog in a Cast

 My dog broke her leg and I am here to share with you the products and activities that are making our lives easier as we navigate eight weeks of crate rest. It's going to be a long eight weeks.

This is Moon. Moon knows how to herd sheep. Moon knows to run a big circle around the sheep so she can get behind them and fetch them to me nicely. Moon sometimes decides to freestyle it and run through the middle of them. In a total freak accident, Moon found herself under a particularly large sheep, and got her tiny little leg stepped on. Both bones were snapped, fortunately it was a clean break and the vet said it went back together very easily so she should be back up and running again eventually. In the meantime, she is on total, absolute crate rest. I carry her out to te yard for a brief potty break every few hours, and then it's right back into the crate. 

In this picture, Moon is modeling the Ruffwear Flagline harness. It has a rear belly strap and a lighter, lower profile than the Webmaster harness. The handle on the back is well placed for using this harness as a mobility air, and really helped me keep a grip on a wiggly border collie as I carried her outside. Until she ate it. RIP Flagline harness.

Since she is going to be in that splint until spring, I wanted to keep it clean and also jazz it up a bit. I bought a pack of child's kneesocks that fit perfectly. They are colorful, fun, easy to put on, and washable. Why have a boring cast when you can have a unicorn cast? I also got this durable cast cover by MediPaw from Chewy, but it's a lot more difficult to get on and off and Moon doesn't seem to like it. At least she puts up a fight every time I try to put it on.

Keeping a cast or splint dry is essential, but how? Grocery bag? Bread bag? Plastic wrap? I found this unicorn print waterproof cast cover on Amazon and it is incredibly useful. Easy off, easy on, durable enough to handle some hobbling around on the grass, and reusable. Also totally waterproof, which is very helpful since I left the desert and relocated to somewhere that actually has rain. Real rain. And me dancing around in it with glee while the natives shake their heads. It's been three years and the novelty of water falling from the sky has yet to wear off.

Moon is also modeling my Zumi Dual Lead in this picture. The length is perfect for short potty breaks with limited movement. It also matches her new pink harness. The keyword for finding harnesses with a rear strap and a handle is "escape proof". It has fewer adjustment points and is lower quality and has less resale value than the Flagline harness she ate, but the price was right. One big functional different I anticipate is that he straps will loosen over time and need to be adjusted on a regular basis. To avoid further gear-eating incidents, she also now sporting a neck donut which prevents her from chewing on her splint or harness without taking up all of the space in her crate.

To keep Moonbaby busy, she has lots of fun things to gnaw on. We are also having a go at learning how scentwork works, which is its own future blog post. I'm not doing very well with it and I have a lot of feelings about the sport. We have plenty of time to delve into it though.