Wednesday, November 18, 2009

To dew or not to dew


How many nails does your dog have on her front paws? Sadie and Eddie only have four, but Chester has five. Often, Sadie licks and moans at a red scar on either front paw. Tonight, I did a bit of research and found out why.

She is having phantom pains!

Apparently, most dogs are born with these front dew claws. Often, breeders will clip them off when the dog is only days old. Other times, if the dew claw is growing awkwardly or getting caught on things, the dog's owners will elect to have them removed.

That's what happened to Sadie. And, like most amputees, Sadie suffers from phantom pains!

There is an ongoing debate behind whether dew claw removal should be done ... and after seeing Sadie's pain, I would vote no. However, many say it is better to have them removed than for a dog to get the dew claw caught on something and it tear off (ouch!).

What is your take on this issue?

Monday, November 16, 2009

My Boxer

Sadie has taken to sleeping in the box of my summer clothes. It takes up a lot of space in the bedroom, but she's just so darn cute! And, thankfully, this is the first "dog" bed the cats haven't peed on - they like sleeping in it too!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Yo Quiero


Maybe she is part Chihuahua!!!