Wild escapades of Bentley & the new toeless pup!

Yesterday was quite the day with getting settled in, so we didn’t have time to post.  Bella (It seems to fit) is settling in just fine.  It turns out she was already spayed.  Luckily they saw the scar after shaving her belly, although it’s a pretty faint scar.  The introductions between her & Bentley went well.  They sniffed each other & Bella gave him a few licks to let him know she’s a friend.

So far, she’s the epitome of a perfectly behaved pooch. Unfortunately, it appears its because she wasn’t treated too nicely (at least while indoors) previously.  She acts like a normal, happy, pup outside, but it took me awhile to get her to come inside.  At first, she put her head down low & tilted it sideways & tucked her tail between her legs when I asked her to come inside.  It took most of yesterday, but now she trusts coming and going through the front door, although it still takes me crouching down & calling her to come in.  It takes about 3-5 minutes to get her to come inside through the back door though and when she does, she runs at full speed up the stairs & into the living room & instantly lays down in her spot that she’s picked.  She also requires coaxing to get her from room to room.  It won’t take long though.  She has double the confidence inside today than she had yesterday.  Earlier today she jumped up on the couch to lay next to me., which is the first time she’s laid down away from her chosen spot.  I know it’s a bit earlier to allow her on the furniture, but…..what could I do, other than pet her?

I took her to the vet after I picked her up yesterday to have her checked out.  My regular vet wasn’t in, so we saw another one.  He said it looks like her missing toes were due to a snare (animal trap) or possibly surgical removal (but she still has a little bit of her knuckles, so I doubt it was surgery), because it’s such a clean cut.  He doesn’t see any reason to do anything more to her foot or her leg at this point.  I am worried about future implications on her shoulder joint though.

She appears to walk differently depending on the surface of the ground.  On super soft surfaces, she’ll walk on all fours.  Everywhere else, she hops on three legs.  It might be awkward since she has a tiny bit of knuckle left on a few of the toe joints.  She also has some cracks on the pad of that food that have me a little worried.  There’s a big, deep one that the vet thinks is not a crack, but it’s where the pad starts on the edge of her foot.  That happens to be where her amputation begins, so he thinks it’s caused the pad to separate & form what looks like a crack.  It’s not damaged or raw, but the vet mentioned I should check it regularly for debri, etc. to keep it healthy.  There are some other smaller cracks in the pad of her foot too.  It looks like it’s from dryness.  The pads on all her feet are dry & so are the jowls on her mouth.  I’m hoping this will correct itself with a good diet & good hydration.  I put olive oil on her foot last night & then put a sock on it to keep her from licking it.  She didn’t mess with the sock at all.

I’ve put a muttluk boot on her foot today to see if it adds any extra cushion for her, but I don’t think it makes it any more comfortable.  It doesn’t seem to be making a difference with the way she walks.

So, for now, I’m going to be working with her on building her confidence level when she’s inside, so her true personality will come out when she’s inside & outside.  Bentley is trying to help by barking at her when she needs encouragement……that’s really not working out to well, lol.  Bentley & I are working on that also.

Thanks for reading about Bella, everyone!