How to amuse a puppy with a broken leg

nihicib2

Well the title says it all, my four month old Siberian Husky has a broken front leg and needs to stay in her crate as much as possible in order for it to heal, obviously I take her out to go to the loo and eat and a bit of TLC with me but how do I keep her from self destructing while she's in the crate. I have an older dog that stays in with her, sleeping beside the crate, but as she was very active with me before the injury the poor thing doesn't understand why she's being cooped up all the time.

Because she's so young she can't have a cast on as she's growing so quick so she has a splint on as well as a buster collar (lampshade), which doesn't help matters.

Last week I went to the shop and when I came back she had escaped from the (still locked) crate, the buster collar was still on her, no tears or breaks and she had removed the splint, a regular smart houdini this one!

So any ideas what to give her to keep her occupied when I have to go out?

Thanks in advance for any replies

tk123

Quoting an old post from myself below My dog had operations on his back legs where his bones were cut both times so basically broken legs.. My concern would be leaving a dog on crate rest home alone especially if she's escaping and pulling off the splint(!) :eek: - is there anyone who could watch her for you? Or could you set up laptop and Skype back to keep an eye on her/scold her if needed? I'd be careful letting her move around too much too - definitely feed her in the crate there's no need to take her out for that and you can feed with kongs to use up some energy My guy had a splint the second time around and was cut quite badly from it so I was stricter with letting him out of the crate. I was forever patching it up at the top of his leg and unfortunately when it came off it had cut into his toes which took ages to heal. Was she crate trained before she broke the leg? I use an Adaptil plug in too beside the crate to help settle him too btw. TBH he was just chilled out about his incarceration so we had it easy!

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tk123 wrote:

Ah the poor baby!! My guy had an operation last year and was on crate rest for 5 and half weeks. The first week was tough but once we got into a routine it was much easier.

We fed him his meals in kongs. I started with one XL kong and ended up with 4 lol - 2 on the go and 2 in the dishwasher at all times! He had some kong paste rubbed into his nylabones and would chomp away on them. Make sure you have towels under him in the crate - if he's eating kongs it can get messy so much easier to have a to have a towel under him and when you're taking him out to the loo you can take out the bedding if needed.

Try and get her into a routine and he'll be more relaxed and settled - so loo breaks, meals treats around the same time everyday.

I had done obedience classes and we'd done clicker training so we were able to use that to pass the time and keep him thinking/entertained.
- leave it/take it
- which hand -hold out your 2 closed hands with a piece of food in one and get him to guess which hand it's in
- look
- stay - obviously he's in a crate so he's not going anywhere lol but you can build up the time you're away from the crate and lots of praise when you come back and a treat. So eg start with a few steps away and build up until you're out of sight etc
- touch
-give the paw
All just simple little things to keep him settled in the crate and to keep him lying down and not up trying to stand on the leg.

In the evening I'd let him lie down on the floor and sit beside him petting/brushing him and he loved it too. I had 2 crates set up for him - one in the kitchen and one in the sitting room so he'd be with us all the time and he'd usually snooze. Once there was somebody in the room with him he'd generally settle down and snooze.

You have to be TOUGH OP - it's hard at first because you think she's crying to go out to the loo etc but she's just chancing it to get out - the sooner you get her into a routine the quicker the time will go. I found the first week the hardest but after that the time went by quickly. It'll all be worth it in the end - the day you let her off the lead and see him running again will make you so happy lol

nihicib2

tk123 wrote: »

Quoting an old post from myself below My dog had operations on his back legs where his bones were cut both times so basically broken legs.. My concern would be leaving a dog on crate rest home alone especially if she's escaping and pulling off the splint(!) :eek: - is there anyone who could watch her for you? Or could you set up laptop and Skype back to keep an eye on her/scold her if needed? I'd be careful letting her move around too much too - definitely feed her in the crate there's no need to take her out for that and you can feed with kongs to use up some energy My guy had a splint the second time around and was cut quite badly from it so I was stricter with letting him out of the crate. I was forever patching it up at the top of his leg and unfortunately when it came off it had cut into his toes which took ages to heal. Was she crate trained before she broke the leg? I use an Adaptil plug in too beside the crate to help settle him too btw. TBH he was just chilled out about his incarceration so we had it easy!

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Hi, thanks for your post, unfortunately I don't have the option of setting up the laptop as where I work wouldn't allow this, I also don't have anyone to keep an eye on her, she was in the process of being crate trained and was progressing quite well but the problem is that as soon as I was about I had her outside with me most of the day, now she (obviously) can't understand why she's in it nearly all of the time. BTW the crate is in the part of the house where I am constantly except for bedtime so she sees whats going on all the time Im about.

I have to take her out to feed her as I have to remove the collar and I want to keep an eye on her so she doesn't start to chew on the splint, Im kind of torn between keeping her in there all of the time and letting her out to give her some attention while she lies at my feet ( I don't allow her to move about at all) I have ordered a kong so will use that asap. Maybe I just should be more strict on her and keep her in there more to as not to confuse her



The crate is well secured now so no chance of escaping but she's only a baby and I want to keep her stimulated as much as possible to keep her from taking her frustration out on herself and everything around her

DBB

Have you a smart phone that you could skype her from in work OP, cut out your employer altogether?! Worked well for me recently!
I also wonder, and I feel kinda bad for saying this, but could a deeper buster collar be needed here to stop her being able to get her splint off? I've a wee dog here who is like a rubber band, she broke her leg last year and the lengths I had to go to to stop her rooting at it :rolleyes: I ended up using two buster collars at the same time
Might it also help to stick a babygro on her to hold the splint on a bit better? Or some sort of sleeve-type arrangement on her broken leg?
Finally, seeing as you have to leave her, which as you know isn't ideal, would it be an option to get her into a daycare or the like for the few weeks she's out of action? Thinking aloud here, if she's insured, might that level of aftercare be covered?

nihicib2

DBB wrote: »

Have you a smart phone that you could skype her from in work OP, cut out your employer altogether?! Worked well for me recently!
I also wonder, and I feel kinda bad for saying this, but could a deeper buster collar be needed here to stop her being able to get her splint off? I've a wee dog here who is like a rubber band, she broke her leg last year and the lengths I had to go to to stop her rooting at it :rolleyes: I ended up using two buster collars at the same time
Might it also help to stick a babygro on her to hold the splint on a bit better? Or some sort of sleeve-type arrangement on her broken leg?
Finally, seeing as you have to leave her, which as you know isn't ideal, would it be an option to get her into a daycare or the like for the few weeks she's out of action? Thinking aloud here, if she's insured, might that level of aftercare be covered?

Again thanks for the advice, I work in a classroom (not a teacher) so I can't be near the phone at all so that's out, can you post a pic of the deeper buster collar so I have an idea of what you mean and maybe that might be an option, she has the new splint bandage wrapped around her back and chest so hopefully she can't pull it off so easily but a babygro is something I could look into and could be a great idea (although at the size of her it'll be a big babygro). I live in a rural area and there no option of a daycare and unfortunately she's not insured.

She is the best pup to be honest, intelligent and patient but she just can't understand (obviously) why her routine has been upended. I would normally be up and out walking her on the beach for an hour at six and then she'd have two hours outside with me on the farm before I headed off to work and then from three onwards outside till about seven, so now that its all been curtailed she's lost the poor thing.

tk123

I used kids slipper socks from Pennys to go over the bandage. They have non-slip bits on the sole so will stop the pup from slipping on tiles/wooden floors too. Perfect time of year to get them I'd advise you to cover it to keep the dressing clean and especially if you'll be feeding her with kongs etc - my dog used to prop the kong against his bandaged leg and make a huge mess! For going to the loo we go an old pair of waterproof bottoms and sewed the end to make a boot/cover - I'd put a plastic lunch bag on first and then the cover to keep it dry when we went outside (he'll only poo in the grass/muck).

I know a dog walker who also does visits for pets on crate rest - her own dog had cruciate surgery so she know's what's involved in crating a dog. Might be an option for you if there's any dog walkers locally to you who offer the same service?

ferretone

nihicib2 wrote: »

She is the best pup to be honest, intelligent and patient but she just can't understand (obviously) why her routine has been upended. I would normally be up and out walking her on the beach for an hour at six and then she'd have two hours outside with me on the farm before I headed off to work and then from three onwards outside till about seven, so now that its all been curtailed she's lost the poor thing.

So sorry to hear about the poor pet. Just one point from that though, there is no way you should be walking a four-month-old pup for an hour, or giving her all that exercise, even in the best of health. Once she's recovered you will need to rethink that a bit, I'm afraid. The rule-of-thumb is, no more than 5 minutes' exercise per month of age at a time.

nihicib2

tk123 wrote: »

I used kids slipper socks from Pennys to go over the bandage. They have non-slip bits on the sole so will stop the pup from slipping on tiles/wooden floors too. Perfect time of year to get them I'd advise you to cover it to keep the dressing clean and especially if you'll be feeding her with kongs etc - my dog used to prop the kong against his bandaged leg and make a huge mess! For going to the loo we go an old pair of waterproof bottoms and sewed the end to make a boot/cover - I'd put a plastic lunch bag on first and then the cover to keep it dry when we went outside (he'll only poo in the grass/muck).

I know a dog walker who also does visits for pets on crate rest - her own dog had cruciate surgery so she know's what's involved in crating a dog. Might be an option for you if there's any dog walkers locally to you who offer the same service?

Thanks for the advice, I put a plastic sandwich bag over the bandage and a long riding sock over it when I have to take her out to the loo and it seems to work, I keep the sock on her (minus the plastic bag) when she's in the crate too just in case of any accidents, Ill heed your advice about the kong when I get it, unfortunately no such thing as dog walkers around here but I'll get someone in to look in on her a few times during the day

thanks a million