Sprained Foot

Deb, Your story about Ike had me laughing! Our Mastiff, Sunny is not the sharpest tool in the box, and she does not deal well with change. She will stand and stare, if something is out of place. A stubborn Mastiff makes a pretty good roadblock, (we call her the 'cork breed'). DH doesn't get it and tells her, 'Go lay down'. I will try to figure out the problem. Smooth her blanket, refill the water, close the cupboard, etc. It's easier to do it her way!

Twilite Lady wrote:
She's also OCD.

OCD stands for "Other Collie Derivatives" because it applies to most of the herders....LOL!! They're OCD and they're SMART. They easily put 2 and 2 together and come up with 4.

Ages ago, when Ike (my late Aussie) was maybe a year old, he was walking past our big air compressor just as Ed disconnected the air hose, so it made a HUGE PSSSSST!!!! sound that scared him - and that started the obsession with air compressors. Nail guns, tires being filled, air ratchets, paint sprayers - ALL were "terrifying" as far as Ike was concerned.

When we got our Class C, the next Christmas, I bought Ed a nice long-nosed tire pressure gauge-and-fill-chuck. When he opened it and took it out of the box (in our living room!) Ike took one look at it - his eyes bugged out and he ran upstairs and hid!!!! He figured out what it does?????? Good grief!!

I tried everything to get him past his fear of compressors - NOTHING worked. Then Ed took up the sport of drag racing, and we started bringing the dogs to the track with us, which we called "camping with the noisy cars" Dogs LOVED it. Then one day we were walking along the perimeter of the track, and someone fired up an air compressor for their tires. Ike went into his bug-eyed, panting, shaking routine (his paws would sweat profusely...LOL!) and exasperated - I said to him "There are air compressors everywhere here. You have to get used to it, or you can't come to the Noisy Cars any more" BINGO! From that point on, compressors rated a very sour face and pinned ears - but nothing more than that...LOL!

Glad she is doing better.

Thanks everyone for your input. We had a meeting last nite so I didn't get to post. She is doing really well and the swelling is gone. She's not so exuberant about chasing the lizards around the yard, right now. She's chasing them, just not like such a crazy person. She's also not trying to scale the walls either, which is a good thing,to catch them either. I don't know if she learned her lesson but I doubt it. Aussie's are the most stubborn breed I've ever had. She's also OCD. Once you do something the same way twice it always has to be that way. No changes, no changes! I can see that in her eyes when she looks at me. And we wouldn't have her any other way cuz that's just the way she is :)

Has there been any improvement after resting overnight?

If she is no better in a few days, check with the vet. It may be an ACL tear.

Just a thought, but check deep between her toes to make certain she hasn't picked up a burr that's imbedded.

Dale

Also know that dogs can break a toe. Tazz broke a toe running down a concrete boat ramp. She began limping. I checked and checked, and then noted the swollen toe. After a visit to vet a couple of days later (we were camping when it happened), she had some pain meds and the toe was left to heal on its own time.

My Cattle Dog, true to breed, could play really rough and hard; and after colliding with various immoveable objects, would come up limping. (I finally took his soccer ball away) Just as Doug said, after a day of forced rest, if he still was limping, off to the vet we'd go. But about 99% of the time, he was fine by the next day.

Pain medications and rest (ice if you really know which joint). If not better within a day or two, it would be best to check with your vet.

Doug, DVM