The Costly Cone of Shame
Cone of Shame – noun 1. a: A malleable piece of plastic tied around a dog’s neck in order to prevent the licking or biting of stitched or irritated areas. 1. b: A cone like piece of plastic that creates the most hilariously pathetic looking dogs known to man. 1.c: The most efficient way to round-off indoor wall corners ranging in 1-3 feet in height.
If you’ve been following my blog lately, you already know about my two-year-old lab, Beau, and her untimely Anterior Cruciate Ligament tear. This has forced me to experiment with bird flushing deer, purchase an unholy amount of cow knuckles, and perform my best American Gladiator impression while trying to pin-down and subdue an active bird dog who seems just as content on three legs as she does four.
As anyone in my situation would do, I asked for help in making the decision of whether or not to pony-up a ridiculous amount of cash for her surgery, or to let things heal naturally and simply see what happens. Many of you voiced your opinions and it became quite clear the divide between the two options is more heated than the great “flusher vs. pointer” debate.
After weighing the choices and doing enough research to keep up with even the best veterinary orthopedic surgeons, I came to a conclusion: My student-loan-paying, rent-disbursing, car-payment-owing mind (coupled with the optimism that she was young enough to perhaps heal on her own) opted against footing a bill for surgery. Into the crate she went.
A few weeks passed and other than being a bit sore in the mornings, she was walking relatively normally. She still wasn’t allowed to run or jump, but I was pleased with the progress. That is, I was pleased with the progress until one especially icy and expletive filled morning.
We were heading out the door for her usual morning scratch-and-sniff session when she took a hop off the front step. What was usually a pretty uneventful moment in our early morning routine quickly turned into a classic Bambi-on-ice situation. Both of her back legs did the splits on the sidewalk and we were back to square one.
Staring at the once again three-legged wonder-mutt, it appeared the decision had been made for me: A lighter wallet, a drugged up pooch, and the ever-entertaining cone of shame.
Bird Dogs… Can’t afford to live with them, can’t afford to live without them.
Not willing to risk the same mistake twice, the handicapped-dog ramp was an accessory born out of necessity. Luckily the neighbors don’t seem to mind – yet.
Beau’s cone and pink cast truly compliment her freshly razored rump.
The Over/Under blog is written by Andrew Vavra, Pheasants Forever’s Marketing Specialist.
3 Responses to “The Costly Cone of Shame”
|Leave a Reply
PF Bloggers
PF Press Releases- QF Press Releases
I am sorry to hear about your (Beau’s) misfortune. I had a similar decision to make 2 years ago after a day out training with my 2 bird dogs. My male Brittany had an absest jaw due to a spinter he got retrieving. I broke down and made the decision and called the vet. It was a Sunday too, so it was an out of office call. That made it even more pricey. When all said an done, I’d do it a million times. The memories afield last forever, dog repair cost eventually go away.
I went through the same process about 8 years ago. My 2 year old chocolate Lab did a retrieve of off a bank about 2 foot above the water. She loved hard charging retrieves especially where she could jump up and out 15′ or more. The water here was normally 4′ or so and she had never had a problem. This time she hit the water as always but also hit the bottom with her hind legs. She jammed them pretty hard and was barely able to get back on shore. The vet said she had small stress fractures in her right hip and possible tissue tears. He suggested surgery, but if she didn’t get surgery she could heal up normally. I was thinking he wanted a new Porsche. I didn’t do the surgery and she did get better to a point. She never jumped again like she had before. At age 10 she can barely walk after 10 minutes of upland bird hunting and she can not hunt ducks at all anymore. She gets aspirin twice a day and is helped up to all fours several times a day. The vet believes this is the result of not doing the surgery.
If it happens again, I’ll help the vet choose the color of his new Porsche.
If you had to choose what hunting would you do upland, or waterfowl?