Last Saturday was a bit of a nutty day. We took the pups to the dog park & on a jaunt through the woods twice, and neither got much naptime. By the time our friends came over for dinner, Fae’s eyes were a little red, her head was hanging low, and she was insisting on staying awake for the entire visit, dammit.
We commented a couple of times about how tired she looked, but didn’t think much of it beyond that. And then on Sunday, her right eye was still red… and her left eye was completely swollen shut.
Luckily, we have a vet who is open on Sundays, and even more luckily (for all of our stress levels), Fae loves the vet. I would say we’re lucky (and we are!) but I think it’s also karma for all the times we’ve had to take a miserable Daphne to the vet. Fae did not love the treatment or having her eyes stained, but she still loved the vet and all the staff after they did the treatment. Relief.
So the vet said she has conjunctivitis, and “it’s probably fine, but we’ll just do a quick stain to make sure the cornea is okay.” As the stain appeared, we saw that it really wasn’t fine: she has an ulcer covering about a third of her cornea. Ouch. And thus, conehead was born:
It sounds like, as long as we are good about giving her the eye meds four times a day (!), she will be fine; if we’re not, she could lose the eye. As one friend put it, we already have enough one-eyed animals in this house! As cute as a one-eyed pittie is, we would prefer for her to have all her eyes.
the reigning one-eyed wonder
In the meantime, conehead means no more dog park visits. This means mild stress for all involved. Not only is the puppy not getting her energy out with other dogs every day, I am not going for a daily hike! Sad! Stressful! Or at least not stress-relieving. I love the idea of going running with her, but frankly, I am not a runner, and as one of the shelter folks put it, “Someone with two legs attached to a four legged dog is never going to tire that dog out.” While I think there are some exceptions to this, it’s true that no matter how fast I run, she could be running faster. Solution?
Okay, so this is a fancy scooter from the shelter, and I can’t take it home with me. BUT I do know how to teach a dog to run with a scooter, so I bought the only Razor scooter left at a local toystore, and this adventure was born:
We have now been out scooting twice: the first day for just 10 minutes, the second for around 25. Fae wears a harness and trots/runs alongside me. I was surprised at how much of a workout this is for me! Maybe that means I’m crazy out of shape, or maybe trying to tire out an 8.5 month old pit bull puppy is just exhausting whether you’re on foot or on wheels or on a strange combination of the two. Either way, when we get home, she goes right to sleep. Success!
I’m hoping that this will be a first step to teaching her to run alongside my bicycle safely, and that someday we’ll do all kinds of fun dog sports together! I can’t do this stuff with Daphne because she is so reactive; the only concern with Fae is that she wants to go meet everyone we pass. Daph would want to go eat everyone we pass.
In the meantime, I am also doing a ton of training with Fae. Keep those brain cells working!
Do you have any creative methods of wearing out a dog? Has anyone successfully taught their pup to run alongside a bicycle?
I take Charlie down to the enclosed tennis court near our house and throw sticks. I have to bring a lot because he doesn’t quite get that he needs to bring them back yet.
Oh, that’s a good idea! honestly, we do have a yard… it’s just so chilly out to be standing around! Maybe 10 minutes teaching her to “Bring it” would help.
This probably isn’t practical for you living in an apartment, but on days where our dogs won’t play outside (because of weather or whatever else might happen) we do lots of playing in the house. We’ll put on some music and dance (they love to run around us and bark while we act silly) or run up and down the stairs with them. Usually just a little bit of silliness from us is enough to get them playing with each other, and then they tire out very quickly!
Ah, we do have a house, and that’s a good idea! The problem is that her cone is so wide I am worried about her running into things. And I love that you dance and they bark – when we dance or sing, Daphne tries to jump on or next to us. Hilarious! Sadly, Daph is afraid of Fae’s collar and is running away from her these days
So no inter-dog play to tire them out.
I think the harness is a fabulous idea! Most dogs LOVE to work
I’d suggest tennis balls or something rather than sticks for fetching only because I’ve seen what happens when the dog runs, trips, and gets impaled with the stick 
(also? My dogs like to try to eat them 
) They make a harness that is wool-lined to make it easier on their skin, if she enjoys this then you might look into that to make her more comfy 
Fab ideas you have here! I hope her eye gets better soon~ Love ya!
Haha, most SMART dogs love to work. Daph loves loves loves projects and challenges. Last night we taught her the first step of “play dead” – she was clearly having a blast! Sadly, Fae has no attention span and is happy but not the smartest, so she gets bored/distracted pretty quickly.
Crazy, just last night at school we were learning about ulcers and conjuntivitis in pets. I’m in school learning to be a vet assistant.
Hope Fae gets better soon!
Thanks! and good luck in school!
Poor Fae! I hope she’s feeling better soon. They look so sad and pathetic when they’re sick and rockin’ the conehead. My Riley had a corneal laceration this summer and we had the same issues. I felt so bad for her.
In order to tire out the energetic pup? I have recently started going for runs with her harnessed at my side. She’s little, so I make sure to keep a reasonable pace and limit the distance. However, she did about 1.8 miles with me last night, and after we got home she settled onto the couch and didn’t move for six hours. Puppy exhaustion, complete – with the added benefit of slimming down Mommy.
Oh my goodness, a corneal laceration!? That sounds awful! Is she doing better? It all healed happily, right?
I’m impressed by your running – I’m a terrible commenter but read about it on your blog, and I’m impressed, and much lazier than you. I hate running.
One small question….what type of harness are you using for Fae. I have seen them on several different pits and I like them. I do plan to get a pit some day soon (I hope) and would like to know what they are called so I can find a good one.
Thanks!!!
I used an Easy Walk harness, but only because we have it lying around. I put it on backwards specifically so that she *could* pull. I would recommend if you use a harness a lot to get a padded one… poor pitties have no fur!
oh, the poor little thing! our dog is injured right now and can’t exercise or play with other dogs so I’ve taken to driving her around town in the evenings so she can at least get out of the house a little.
Aww, that’s smart! Fae’s collar is off now, but I spent a ton more time training her and trying to teach her new things, because I think having to work things out can really wear them out. It seemed to work, and we have a better behaved dog now, cone-free and all!
Awh– pobre de Fae! As weirdly adorable as it would be to have two one-eyed black and white pets, I’m hoping she gets better soon! Corneal ulcer doesn’t sound good at all.
All better! Thanks
that lampshade is really moving around Blogville. Feel better sweetie
Benny & Lily
I just saw that! So glad we’re done.. hope everyone else is finished with it soon, too!
My phone internet crapped out right as I was posting a comment. Fun.
We’ve really only had two things work for tiring out Badger, and neither one of them is feasible on a regular basis:
1. Taking Badger for a swim at the lake, followed by a “drying off” walk. This required a bath afterward, though, because apparently lake water smells awful.
2. Letting Badger run around in our friend’s yard. For three hours. We’d like to take him back more frequently for ~1 hour long romps, but we’d need his housemates (especially the ones with a dog) to give us an okay first.
One thing I’d like to try is getting a backpack for Badger and loading it with “weights”. Two Pitties in the City seemed to have some success doing this with Mr. B.