Day 9 I should be experiencing lots of new things, my first trip to the Isle of Wight, first time sleeping under canvas, first trip on a boat, instead I’m at home groan !

I should be at Nodes point on the Isle of Wight experiencing my first camping holiday, Nodes point on the Isle of Wight reflecting on my first trip on a boat, the Isle of Wight Red Funnel Ferry instead I’m still at home trying to recover from this glass cut, could I be more fed up !

I should be at Nodes Point on The Isle of Wight experiencing holidays like Hooch my brother I never met had

To makes matters worse two men arrived and started banging like I’ve never heard in my home before, being noise phobic after the local pub had a big firework night, I shot of my futon like a rocket, zoomed into the shrubs removing my bandage as I went.

Noisy men turn up make real racket, but leave comfy flooring

After they had gone though I did notice at last my hints that I did not approve of the bare floor boards look of the past week, had at last been actioned.

My paw

day 9 healing of glass wound injury, masquerading as day 8, you just cannot get the staff

well it doesn’t look to bad, but from some angles its obvious that there is still a flappy bit, hopefully its healing from the inside out, but my owner was fretting about whether I could catch this tear it back and set myself back to-day one of healing, please No !, the vet said 10 – 14 days, and I have allocated 9, I’m always optimistic.

We did more relaxation protocol today, and Mummy added legs to my Nina Ottosson Dog Casino game to discourage me from using my injured paw to open the drawers, I love these games, they are about the only thing that helps when loud noises make me really scared, I actually can’t bring myself to come out of hiding for even pieces of chicken, but as soon as I see my favourite Nona Ottosson games, I remember all the fun at finding the food, and forget all about being scared. Bizzare eh

We also did a new game, my owner had treats in her hand, and Mummy made a very watered down version of the banging noise, as I heard the sound, my owners hand opened and there was the treat, it was weird I hate bangs but this one wasn’t very loud, and I was almost waiting for it, as every time it did hey presto another treat.

Also had to give my owners lots of cuddles as she was really upset about a nasty person that deliberately ran over a dog and killed it. How could anyone doing something like that, see a dog walking with it owner in the countryside on a leash, and then deliberately drive a stolen motorcycle into the dog and kill it. My human said they must have an off switch for their conscience, I wonder if something really bad happened to them to make that happen, its very sad that some people can intentionally set out to cause pain to an innocent creature. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-19358647

Day 8 more Relaxation Protocol and some cup stacking for the Online Clicker challenge

Last night I had a bandage free night, I had my Buster Collar on and slept cuddled into my owner, the theory being that some air to the tissue would be a positive thing, as you can see, it seems to have worked, Maybe I’ll be able to go for a walk soon. My owner even wonders if I could already even though the vet said 10 – 14 days, we are considering a light lead walk.

Day 8

So I woke my owner up at 6am with a nice slobbery face wash, she loves nothing better I can tell from her squeals of delight. Once I considered her clean, we set to work on my bandage, now after the click and treat per roll of the bandage I am so chilled about all this, and we even utilized my LEAVE IT trick. Firstly food is placed at my nose, I then stare at it while a percentage of the necessary is done to my paw and get a treat as my reward, we then repeat this game until my first aid needs are taken care of. I had a nice little massage as well, and a little lie in cuddle.

Next I examined the new bathroom carpet that Mummy fitted yesterday, could really lose Fluke in there now, as he totally blends into the gold carpet, on the way down I surveyed my owners paint touching up of yesterday as well, all seems to be in order. Apparently the outside toilet is due for a revamp today, why it’s called an outside toilet I don’t know, as it does have its own little room in the garden.

We did more Protocol For Relaxation again today, and again my little bro joined us, we also did some Online Clicker Challenge in the form of cup stacking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zt6l1VclHc my paw is much better and I can move around much more, light at the end of the tunnel for sure, whiskers crossed I’ll be back out hiking soon, my human and I are both missing the great outdoors.

Day 7, wound back on track after misdemenur, and the unthinkable happened

Today on examination of my wound, great news the filling was back as you can see, so my misdemenur was forgiven, my owners failure at waterproofing mummy and I are still livid about.

Day 7 Extreme close up of Wound

Day 7 my little mishap yesterday doesn’t seem to have done to much damage

Today we did loads of work on the Karen Overall Protocol for Relaxation http://championofmyheart.com/relaxation-protocol-mp3-files/ from the Champion of my heart MP3 files. My owner returned to the mat where I was lying in the garden, from a trip into the house to fetch her blackberry headphones as a neighbours party was making the speakers worse than useless, to find a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever beside me on the mat, she went in again to fetch more treats. We both did extremely well chilling out on our mat even though there were dogs barking and children screaming, cheering and singing coming from other gardens.

In my opinion the relaxation protocol is a fabulous thing to teach your dog http://championofmyheart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Protocol-for-Relaxation-by-Karen-Overall1.doc

Day 6 Does the punishment fit the crime, Positive punishment training

Oh dear, I grabbed the chance at not having my Buster Collar on and took of my bandage and had a good lick of my wound.

Boy was my human a ghastly shade of white, paw inspected though, and thank goodness my wound was not opened, it looked like a really thin L shaped paper cut, where as before this episode it had some filling. My owner wondered if I had removed some of the granulation tissue though (granulation tissue functions as rudimentary tissue, and begins to appear in the wound already during the inflammatory phase, two to five days post wounding, and continues growing until the wound bed is covered). I was bandaged up again and put back in my Queen Elizabeth Fancy dress outfit (AKA Head Collar).

So another really boring day without walks today or so I thought, my brother came back from the park and gave me all the local dog gossip, Mummy was ranting as not only had she found more broken glass, but also a large Vodka bottle with a fourth of its contents still inside and a half full beer can, so worrying with so many toddlers using the park. In order to calm down and rest after her busy walk of park cleaning, Mummy and Fluke decided to join me on my futon in the garden, it was so relaxing we all fell asleep, it was so lovely until the unthinkable happened.

Firstly it rained, and then it absolutely poured but we all slept through that, water built up in my owners waterproofing system and every now and then there was a Splash, as the load got to much and it emptied itself. All was well until a build up and a freak gust of wind struck in unison, in went the sheet, dragging itself despite its weights inwards as the water build up let loose, all over Mummy and I, somehow Fluke managed to be lying in a protected dry spot, guess it wouldn’t dare to soak a Toller. Well Mummy went from giving delightful little sleeping sounds to yelling out an almighty scream, my owner was told in no uncertain terms about how her waterproofing system was not fit for purpose.

Now if the waterproofing had failed when I was laid on the futon myself earlier tearing of my bandage and having a sneaky lick of my paw, I would have accused my owner of veering from the Progressive Reinforcement Training Manifesto, and using Positive punishment (the adding of an aversive stimulus to decrease a certain behavior or response) training but as the incidents were so apart, I guess they must have been unrelated, or were they ?

Day 6 – recovering from Glass Injury, both paws trussed up like a Xmas turkey and I sound and look like I am auditioning for Stomp everytime I need to go to the toilet

Well it is nice to have a break from the Buster collar, but this means I must have both my paws trussed up like a Christmas Turkey!

Dermititis right paw cut on left trussed up like a Xmas Turkey

Why ? well my right paw is suffering from Dermatitis, after I was allowed to go without my Buster Collar to soon and I licked around the wound to my stopper pad as it was itchy and gave myself Dermatitis, this is proving really difficult to get rid off, and I am on antibiotics for it. I must have this washed daily with the heavily diluted Chlorhex then it has to be dabbed perfectly dry with an absorbent kitchen paper towel (after you wash a wound it is really important to dry it) next comes the stingy gel called Fuciderm, my owner drops a handful of treats on the bed and then applies this while I eat them. This is so itchy that even when I was enjoying walks it would drive me so mad I would stop and lick at it. My Mum Clover a Tri Border Collie, also suffers with lots of allergies, so this is probably an inherited sensitivity, or it could be that my Mum was under a lot of stress when I was in her belly, as she was living rough as a stray, and gave birth to me and my siblings in a barn she had clawed her way in to. Anyway so that’s why today I am sporting a sock on my right paw, with some vet wrap over the top, so I can’t lick and agitate my Dermatitis through the sock.

My left paw is looking much better, but to her the wound looks like its healing really well, my owners not a vet but my unfortunate almost magnetic attraction to any carelessly abandoned broken glass, has certainly offered her plenty of practical experience in wound care. Her talent in Gazebo waterproofing though is somewhat in question, as after a night of downpours we woke to find my futon mattress all soggy, I am totally unimpressed.

L shaped wound looks to be healing really well

My garden is also really wet, and so before I was allowed to go out to toilet, I was further humiliated by having a Asda carrier bag secured to one paw and a Morrisons one to the other, first i stood there, how was I possibly going to walk in these mismatched contraptions. Eventually I was lured outside with treats, as I moved I sounded like part of the group Stomp, rustle, crinkle, pop, oh joy this is going to be another fun and exciting day, not !

Auditioning For Stomp

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L shaped wound looks to be healing really well

Dermititis right paw cut on left trussed up like a Xmas Turkey

Auditioning For Stomp

Day 5 recovery from glass discarded as litter injury

The vets have said I need the little bits of cotton wool fragments that are in my wound to be teased out gently with a damp ear bud, my humans were worried about how I would cope with this, but I was really good and patient.

The L shaped wound on my lateral pad that I got from a piece of a smashed bottle that was chucked into a lake in a country park

My wound is looking much better, especially after the cotton wool was removed

after the cotton wool fragments were teased out

maybe I might be able to go for a lead walk on soft grass sooner than expected, I hope so cause I am pretty bored.

Apparently tomorrow will will be starting Dr. Karen Overall’s Protocol for Relaxation again.

We first did this when we adopted my brother who was a bit nervous, and I did it for fun as well, it basically means you get treats for staying on a mat while your human does little mini acting plays for you, well its the least they could do, as I certainly need some entertainment.

Day Four – recovery from glass chucked into a lake injury

Feeling a bit better today, and some of my human friends from my old agility club came to visit, and advise on bandaging, it involved lots and lots of treats, and my own human is clicker training both my brother and I to have our uninjured paws bandaged as well, so there is lots of food yeh !!!

Two of my human friends came over today, and advised on how to bandage, the end result still looks pretty scrappy

Still in the Buster Collar, but as soon as it’s taken off and cant help myself but try and relieve my itchy paw, so I guess it’s for the best, some of my doggy friends owners left them without a buster collar and they did so much damage to their wounds they ended up without walks for months.

Thinking of all the sausages I could have bought with all this money spent on healing this wound

More shopping on things for wounds, what a waste, I could have spent the money on Tuna steak, sardines or sausages, Now I know why my owner clears up all the glass she spots while we are out walking, one day we were in the forest and there was a vodka bottle smashed into about 10 really jagged pieces, there were kids running around on the grass, loads of us dogs, and also the deer and the ponies.

Day Three – my recoverey from discarded glass injury

My Second full day without walks, as I was obviously happily playing and running about before a carelessly discarded bit of glass got me at the lakes.

Some of the first dressing is stuck in the wound but it is healing nicely I think

Well they watched the you tube video on how to apply a dogs bandage, but their attempts were a mess, 5 failed attempts, they finally achieved it but to tight, so I had to twitch my foot like mad to tell them, granted I was awfully helpful, and fidgeted quite a lot. And now I was down to one owner pulling her hair out and a too tight bandage, so I decided to lie on our double bed, dangle my poorly foot over, and be tollerant, seven bungled attempts later, I finally was wearing a well applied conconction of dressing pad, bandage and pink vet wrap with horses dancing on it.

The L- Shaped wound is looking better, but alas little bits of the first dressing have stuck in the wound, as the instructions were not to wash it, and attempts to cut it seemed likely to displace the flap, all was left well alone.

I decided that as I had not had my regular outings to the forest or the lakes, I would soak up as much of the outside as I could. And so I hobbled in between the various beds that had been put out for me. My human waterproofed the gaps in the gazebo, so even when it rained my futon matress stayed dry, I stayed out even when it got dark and we layed together practising Tellington Touch, while I pondered how much trouble it really is for people to put their glass in the bin.

It’s pouring with rain, and getting dark, but I’m staying on my futon under the gazebo in my garden. Since stepping on that bit of glass in the lake, my only trip out has been to the vets, apart from that I’ve been hobbling around the garden, wearing this stupid cone, to stop me trying to pull of the bandages and licking at the wound.

Day three – The Daily Moment of Truth

It will soon be time to take my bandage off and check my wound, my human is pensive.

If it’s still in place and looking clean and okay, it can just be rebandaged. If it has come apart or the pad looks infected, then I might have to goto the vets and even stay there and have an injection to make me sleep while they stitch my paw.

I have never stayed at the vets before, and as I’m quite shy, I don’t think I’d like it much. I do like people, I especially like it when they give me food, and I find the little things my own human taught me, like roll over, or waving my paw, can grab the attention of most humans and get them to give you a treat. It’s being touched I don’t like, I only like people I know to touch me, and if anyone else trys, I back away from them, my human tells them I’m shy and then they leave me alone.
You just can’t be to careful with humans you see, when I was a puppy lots of our little neighbours came in and played with me and cuddled me, and it was great fun. So when I saw a little human in a pet shop I wagged my tail, happy to see him, suddenly he drew back the light saber he was carrying and before I knew it I felt a blow across my back, I yelped and huddled behind the knees of my own human.

A few incidents like this have taught me that some humans are nice and some can be unpredictable and suddenly cause you pain, and so I have found it best to take a little time to get to know people, and make sure they can be trusted before I put myself at risk.

I really can’t understand why some humans do these things, I would never just go up to someone and bite them, I haven’t even attempted to bite anyone that has hurt me, so why someone should want to hurt me I don’t know, its all very perplexing, and scary.

It’s hard to be on the computer with an injured paw so I am testing out blogging via email on my Blackberry

It’s hard to be on the computer with an injured paw so I am testing out blogging via email on my Blackberry