Time Heals
Zoe still doesn’t like her Gentle Leader, and her new thing is to rub her face along the ground in the grass when we take her for walks. This was cute the first day, but not as much the second day when she rubbed so hard that a couple places on her jowls were raw. We washed her face thoroughly and applied Bacitracin, but she keeps trying to paw at her face, reopening the wounds.
To give her jowls more time to heal, we used a harness instead of the Gentle Leader for a couple days, and she did pretty well with that, although it’s a little harder to steer her where we want her to go. The harness rubs against her chest, so that creates its own set of problems. I might try to attach moleskin or some other adhesive to keep it from rubbing.
Zoe shares Abby’s trait of standing exactly where I want to be. If I need to open a cabinet in the kitchen, she’s in front of it. If I want to walk into the other room, she walks slowly in front of me. Those Boxers, always at the center of everything.
Friday would have been Abby’s eleventh birthday. It was the kind of day she would have loved, perfect for a walk in the woods. We gave Zoe enough hugs and attention for two dogs. It’s still difficult, but having Zoe around definitely makes things easier.
May 25, 2008 at 1:46 am
riley hated the gentle leader, too. it wore all the skin off his nose.
the harness works much better, though you’re right; it’s harder to lead him. but you know, he was starting to hate walks. and a dog has to like his walks.
a nod to abby on her birthday. we don’t forget; we honor them always. and the new dogs are part of that.
boscoe will be 13 soon. we went up north last week and it was the first time we’d seen him starting to act his age. very scary.
June 2, 2008 at 2:09 am
I saw your Riley posts and my heart goes out to you. Sounds like he’s still able to go quite a way (at least on flat land, and if it’s the direction he wants to go). But it’s so heart-wrenching to watch them stumble.
June 19, 2008 at 12:22 am
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation
Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Nighty.