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  1. #1
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    E-Collar and running

    First here's what happened. On July 9, I was walking around my back yard looking at some of my vegetables. My dog was walking along with me because he has an Electronic Collar that I bought for him. He normally responds very well if he starts running or wandering off too far. Most of the time I can get him back by using the pager feature, but if he starts running away or if he tries to go to the chickens, I have to tap the other buttons once or twice to get him to walk or run back to me. When I was about done with looking at my vegetables to go back to go on a run, all of a sudden a momma bear and two or three cubs appeared out of nowhere. They were about 100-200 feet in front of me. The momma bear just sat there and watched us, and my dog's back was turned away at that point. Instead of grabbing him to try and prevent him from seeing, I tried to distract him in hopes he wouldn't turn around. Well, he turned around and ran right to the momma bear and started attacking her. While he was running I tried pushing the buttons on the E-collar and turning up the power to get him to stop, but he ignored it. They fought for less than a minute, and I (probably stupidly) ran closer to try and break it up. It did break up, and the momma bear just ran a little bit to the side and climbed up a tree. I don't think the bear was that damaged. My dog was only relatively slightly damaged. The bear's paw basically just skimmed some skin off the top, and it didn't really enter the flesh, and the bear didn't bite either. The blood only stayed at the surface of the wound, and it didn't really drip a lot, it just stayed on the skin. I got him to the vet within 30 minutes of the incident after first calling 911. The vet did the surgery that afternoon to repair any damage, and he got sutures and a drain tube in. The wound runs almost in line with above the front left paw/leg. It was more on his body than his leg. So he doesn't limp at all. As a side note, because my dog attacked the bear instead of the bear attacking him or me, the conservation officer said they could only do anything if the bear was the aggressor. Fast forward to today, tomorrow my dog gets his sutures out! He still has an E-collar on (Elizabeth collar). The wound is healing very nicely, but it's not completely healed yet. My question is, when can the E-Collar come off, and when can he start to go on leashed runs again? I've already been doing leashed walks since last Monday.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Once the vet sees the wound tomorrow and removes stitches he probably won't need the collar any more, although you said it's not completely healed. I'd ask the vet what the recommendations are for increasing his activity. If it was mostly a surface or shallow wound, maybe once the stitches and drain come out he can start running, but that would be the vet's call. It's hard to tell where you say the injury and surgery were on your dog, kind of the front right shoulder it sounds like. You might be able to have your dog wear a t-shirt over the area to keep him from biting or scratching if it's on his shoulder. I've had my dogs wear t-shirts rather than the cone if the shirt covered the stitches and the dog seemed to be leaving it alone.

    That must have been a pretty scary encounter. I hope he heals up completely soon!
    Sue

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  4. #3
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    The drain was taken out last Monday. I had to take him back a few days later because he was itching at it, so they put some staples in for free! When the vet tech saw the progress of the healing last week, she was very happy with the progress. When I say not completely healed, it's because it is still visible, but it's not bleeding. It's dry and looks pretty clean. He is wearing a T-shirt right now to protect the area from his itching.

    It was scary when he ran after the bear. When I saw the end result, it didn't look horrible, but the bill was horrible. The vet told me a story about a dog and a bear encounter a few weeks or months prior to my incident where the whole side was basically hanging down. He said that one cost $2-3k. The more important thing is that it was relatively minor, and I hope he can romp around soon. Thanks for the hope!

  5. #4
    Senior Dog JackK's Avatar
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    Geez that's scary ... I have my Cassie trained for the e-collar as well but know that given a big enough distraction, she may not listen. I don't think you can get a much bigger distraction than a momma bear and cubs.

    Just my opinion but the idea of the Elizabethan collar is to prevent him from biting at the wounds. Once the wounds have healed enough to run, I would take the collar off and let him run. Just keep an eye out that he isn't stopping to bite at the wound sites. They will be itchy while healing and he may want to bite at them. If he leaves them alone let him run with it off but put it back when he's alone or you can't watch him closely.

    Jack

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  7. #5
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    How scary. A momma bear with cubs, she could have been pretty nasty.

    Sending complete healing thoughts.

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  9. #6
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    I took him to get the sutures removed. They removed most sutures except the small area where he had to get the staples put in because he itched at it. They said to come back in 5 days. They said he's healing really well otherwise!

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  11. #7
    Senior Dog Maxx&Emma's Avatar
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    That is so scary! I am so glad your dog was not injured more seriously, or worse. Good thoughts the wound heals completely very soon and mama bear and cubs never return.
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  13. #8
    Best Friend Retriever emma_Dad's Avatar
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    This situation could have been a lot worse. She could have done way more damage! Sending healing thoughts!

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