Nov 5, 2019 3 min read

Our super sick dog is hanging on, and maybe improving a little bit. Along with our veterinarian, we’ve decided to continue his medication and current treatment for a second week. In addition to trying to kill any bacteria remaining in his chest and leg, we are desperately trying to prevent a secondary infection from taking hold.

This is challenging for several reasons.

First, his main wound is on his foot. That means that every time he puts his foot down, the possibility exists that bacteria could enter his system. Second, we live on a working farm. That means that there are a plethora of additional bacteria available for him to put his foot down into. Finally, it has been wetter than usual of late, making it nearly impossible to keep him out of the mud and keep his wound dry.

To combat these issues, we have formulated a two-fold plan. The dog stays inside far more than any of us would like, and when he goes outdoors, he wears a dog boot on his wounded foot.

Both of these add additional challenges to the situation.

I have written before about this dog, which is an eight-year-old Rottweiler. In actuality, he is an eight-year-old Rottweiler who has never been housebroken. As long as he has been with us, he has been an outdoor dog who sleeps in the barn, the garage, or the yard as he feels want to do on any given day. Often, he chooses the front seat of the side-by-side, so that my husband can’t leave to do chores without him in the mornings.

For the more than six years he has been with us, he has never been chained up, and therefore, he has never had need to be particularly aware or discerning of where he toileted. We have had some challenges in attempting to teach him not to go in the house at this age. My husband is not very excited to be stepping over the baby gates that I have brought out of storage, but they are the most effective things I have found at keeping the dogs where I want them to be.

And the boots.

They are rubber-soled, cloth boots that fold open enough to get a large dog paw inside before closing and fastening around the ankle with Velcro. They are so cute.

My dog hates them.

He lifts that paw super high and places it strangely on the ground with each step. If he’s left unattended, he attempts to chew it off. He managed to take one off behind the garage the other day and came back to the house as proud as a peacock that he was again barefoot.

It has been a challenging several weeks, but we’re determined to do everything we can do to ensure his complete recovery. And if I’m being totally honest, we’re glad he’s being a bit of a pain in the butt this week.

It sure beats the melancholy and listlessness he displayed last week.