DIlbert and the dew claws

Dilbert (the nick name that we used seems to be sticking more and more to Dillon as he turns into a ‘right dilbert’), has a bit of a history of being injured when it comes to his claws. I’ve told you all before about the claw + crate incident that resulted in the initial claw / paw issue. Then there was the more recent river incident where he didn’t actually injure his claw but his pad and had to have an insurance claim as needed stitches and anesthetic. Each incident was reinforcing his fear of paw / claw touching and each time we’ve worked to get over this in small often painfully slow steps.

This week as is to continue his proving of the accident prone puppy, Dilbert caught his dew claw on his right leg. I noticed this a week last Saturday when saying good morning. There was something a bit obvious about a right angle dew claw. How this happened we didn’t know but it looked ok so we did the bandage dance with him. The bandage dance involves Simon bandaging up his claw and me playing distraction with kong paste (the best method seems to be a dab on his nose and on my fingers - this can get messy but works a treat). It started bleeding though on Sunday and Dilbert worked out a method of licking it until it was a soggy mess then the bandage would come off. The words oh and joy came to mind. After another call to the vet we ascertained that we’d wait until tuesday and try and get an appointment as they both needed their annual jabs.

I woke up to see on that day Dilbert’s paw to be un-bandaged. We’d run out of bandage and he obviously wasn’t in any pain and it wasn’t bleeding - so I left well alone. I was downstairs making a cup of coffee when heard what can only be described as the loudest yelp / squeal / pain cry of a puppy I’ve ever heard. From the sound of it I was convinced I’d return upstairs to see a dead Dilbert. Fear was on my mind for a second until Barley appeared downstairs not looking too fussed but more rolling her eyes - I’m sure she was. I followed her upstairs in a Lassie tells tales kind of way and saw Dilbert sat looking a mixture of shocked, surprised, appalled and pleased. He was holding his paw up and now it had no dew claw left hanging off. For some reason he’d taken it upon himself to chew and probably eat it off. It wasn’t bleeding it was actually a pretty good job doing it and was exactly what the vet said she’d have done (well maybe not the chewing part).

In part I guess this goes to prove again that we think we always have the best knowledge about how a dog should be cared for - yet we often ignore the fact dog’s can care for themselves in many ways. We’d been telling him off for chewing his paw through his bandage but perhaps he was actually trying to do this and it did seem to make it better once he had. Whilst we all fuss over our dogs we often forget they aren’t that helpless. On the other hand it probably proves Dilbert is again less than bright as this week he’s now chewed off his other one to match - I can see no real survival instinct that proved him to do that one (unless their is some survival doggy instinct of matching dew claw length).