Humans for Dogs

Best collar for dogs after surgery: not plastic cones!

Beat up plastic cone

After surgery, your vet will usually give you (or sell you) a large plastic cone to put around your dog's neck. This is to keep them from chewing on their stitches or scratching them in the case of head injuries. Our dogs never quite seem to get used to them. One of them tries to go through the doggie door with it on, the other actually moves furniture around with the cone! He walks by the table, the table leg catches on the plastic cone, and he just keeps going! Next thing you know the table is being pushed across the floor. (One time he actually jumped the fence and when running down the street ... with a plastic cone on his head and 30+ staples in his stomach!) Two potential solutions come to mind.

1. You can trim the cone. For most dogs, the cone doesn't actually need to go much beyond your dog's nose. This works really well for head injuries where you are just trying to keep the dog from scratching their ear, nose or face. Just take the scissors and trim around.
2. Get a soft collar before your dog comes home. Not only are these soft and more flexible but they have the added benefit of being washable and more durable. (We never get more than one use out of the plastic cones from the vet.)

Any other solutions you know of?

Why do homeless people have dogs?

  Homeless woman with dogs 
  Originally uploaded by Franco Folini

Many homeless people have dogs. There are many theories why from for the company to it helps them get more money when begging to the dogs protect them and their belongs while they are sleeping. (I was in a Walgreens in downtown San Francisco once and I wondered why everybody in line had a bag of dog food until I got outside and saw a man with a dog begging. He was getting a lot of dog food!) Personally, I think homeless people have dogs for the company. Living on the streets is lonely and as every one know dogs make great, non-judgmental companions.

The other debate about homeless people with dogs is how good it is for the dogs. While a few people argue that the dogs enjoy being with someone all day long and getting lots of exercise walking around, most people agree that most street dogs (even those that belong to homeless people) are malnourished and are often not vaccinated or spayed or neutered. While there are some veterinary clinics that will treat the pets of the poor for free or little cost, many of the homeless shelters will not accept people that have pets. So both owners and pets are constantly exposed to the elements and often homeless people have other problems like mental illnesses or drug addictions which can affect their pets. (On the other hand, pets might be really good for them.)

I've heard as many of 5% of homeless people have pets but I don't have any definite statistics.