Who let the dogs out?

We all do perhaps a couple of times a day. If our dogs are really lucky they may go for an adventure, somewhere other than the park or greensward. Yet there are things we may not be aware of. For example heat stress can affect dogs more severely than people, hot pavement can burn sensitive feet and the pads on the bottom of their feet can be torn or lacerated as happened to one of my dogs recently when she stepped on a piece of glass. We dont usually think these things can happen however if you take your dogs on a hike or away from the park these things can happen. In the case of Abby who stepped on a piece of glass. A lot of blood and without a first aid kit and treatment it could have been really bad. "Wait a minute", Sez you, "First aid for a dog?" Why not you bandage your kids when they get hurt. If necessary you take them to the doctor to get patched up. Animals are no different. The methods and techniques are the same and you should learn where a dogs pressure points are. However the most common injuries are to the feet and thanks to the good people at Bordercollie.org here is what to do to dress a foot injury.


What you need: Scissors, fabric sports tape, Krazy glue, (other types of Super glue do not work as well) & corn starch.

Clean and dry the area thoroughly, cut a round patch, slightly bigger than the wound, make sure that you don't leave any square corners.

Apply a very thin layer of Krazy glue to the wound, the size of your patch. Apply the patch. Let it dry. Now apply another thin layer of glue on top of your entire patch, making sure to go outside of the edges. Immediately apply the corn starch (the corn starch is the key). Let it dry. If you would like you can apply another layer of glue and cornstarch but it must be very thin and overlap the previous layer. If any of the layers are too thick the patch will not hold. This will give you a patch that, depending on outside conditions, will stay on up to 5 days. It will fall off on its own as the pad heals. It will also give you a corn starched, glued finger that will annoy you for two days or until you figure out that acetone removes Krazy glue.


Good Luck!