Tips for soaking scared dogs paw (in medicine)

[gab54fer]

I have a 3 y/o Kelpie mix I rescued last year. Like a lot of rescues his story was rough. But for the past year we’ve done a lot of training & he is great in so many ways. BUT he is very scared of anyone touching his paws. Well, he recently injured his front paw (a ruptured abscess) and I have to soak his paw every day in antiseptic to clean the wound. I’ve tried treats, a lick mat to distract him, putting his food on the other side of a shallow soaking pan, getting him in the tub with his favorite toy & a lick mat (which used to work before all this) and I can’t win. Nothing seems to work. Does anyone have any tips to help me get his trust to do this? TIA

 

[refei]

@gab54fer To be honest I could never get it done. I found a boot tray with higher edges so it could be filled and put it by the door so my dog would have to at least walk through it. She jumped over it instead. I tripped and landed in it. I think she laughed at me. In the end I used a damp washcloth to wipe her foot as best I could and called it a day.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@gab54fer For my dog I would get him with a blanket. Wrap him up like a burrito with the leg in question out. Squish him a little bit - it calms him but your results may vary.

Get the mix in a cup and raise it up to his paw. He would pull the paw into his body but using a cup instead of a bowl made it easier for me to get the paw in.

A tub of dog safe peanut butter he could lick helped things.

He didn't like it. Not one bit. He would start to run when I held up the blanket. After the treatment was finished I had to uncondition him. Basically holding up or wrapping him slowly with treats and without touching his paws. Eventually he got fine with the blanket.

The issue with this kind of thing is you can't really train them to be okay with it when you have to do it every day. It just doesn't work.

In this case I would make a memo to work on the issue later and for now find the fastest and easiest way to get it done. At least until treatment ends.

What you could try doing if you have a lot of the solution (and vet approval) is to just give him a 'bath' every day. So fill your bath a few incheswith the solution. Pop the dog in, all four paws and offer the peanut butter. This moves the focus away from the paw and towards the big bath and the treats. No paw touching needed.

 

[gab54fer]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Thanks! Will try the blanket idea. This is one I hadn’t tried yet. I’ve done the bathtub idea, but he is so suspicious right now that he won’t go near it. No amount of peanut butter or bacon is working. We were actually just starting to work with our trainer on his touching issues before he hurt his foot. If this had happened a few months from now this would be a bit easier. Thanks for your suggestions!!

 

[johnryanalvis97]

@gab54fer You might try getting a light sedative from your vet to help calm your dog down before trying this.