OT: $300 gone and a dog without thumbs

S

stevomiller

Joined
May 4, 2001
Messages
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About 3 weeks ago the younger of my hell hounds busted one of his dewclaws/toes. It looked ugly but I figured it would eventually heal, albeit in a different orientation than God installed it. A couple days later it must've started bugging him bad so he decided to lick it and chew it until it was really messed up good. Next day it gets infected ~ great. So, the girls and I take him down to the vet to see what's what. Shots of penicillin, penicillin pills, an elezibethean collar, and a loss of $150 and we are on our way. Doctor says we will see what happens, might not need to cut it off. Week later looks much better, still fugly and pointing west, but healing. Fast forward to Wednesday, dog gets it caught on something, its jacked up worse and the size of a vienna sausage. Wife takes him in today and they had to cut it off, took the one on the other front legoff for good measure. Simultaneously amputated $300 dollars from my stingy fingers. I just hope that it all heals up good, feel bad for the guy.

So my question is this ~ I've had three dogs now that have managed to just about rip off their dewclaws/toe. How the hell do wild canids like wolves manage to not screw themselves up like this? Is the dewclaw actually functional on them? Why don't all dogs have them? Why did my aunt have a mustache? Inquiring minds want to know.

stevo

PS~ should I have saved these things so that I could sell them on the asian black market as an aphrodisiac?
 
two words: vestigial organs :)

Examples: legs on some snakes, human appendix, male foreskin (we cover our naughty bits now), gills on the necks of 1-2 month old fetuses, etc.

Leftover bits from a long story.

Are they functional? Not unless you're teaching the dog to do some really funky tricks. :eek:
 
"male foreskin (we cover our naughty bits now)"

...Rusty had this special bris
laugh.gif
 
Most dog breeds don't have this wolves claw any more and to my knowledge, it's not functional at all.(Which breed of dog do you own?)

What surprises me is that your dogs still have them attached.
It's common practice to remove the claw from newborn puppies who have it to avoid having to go through this.
It's a minor thing to do after they're just born.
(Scrape of a scalpel...fixed).

I'll admit though and I've given it thought myself;
I have no idea how wolves in the wild cope with bustin a toe.
(Maybe they wear moccasins :P )
 
My little Doberman/Rottwieler had his dewclaws removed by the breeder when he was whelped. But all four of my Pitbulls retained theirs. I just trimmed it along with the rest of the claws as necessary. Othertimes, they would chew on them -much the same as we bite our nails.

________________
...Apocalypse meow
 
Bill and Trevor, he is a Boxer/Pit mix. I had kept the claw itself trimmed, but the toe was what was actually damaged. His toes were quite developed and he was adept at using them to grip things that he was catching or chewing on.

BTC, glad to see someone else here that isn't pitaphobic. Aren't they great?

Side note, Great Pyrenees have TWO on each back leg. WTF.
 
I have a 110 pound standard type American Bulldog myself, no extra toes included.

Here are a few pics;
at 8 weeks with a pair of slippers;
Nim_8wks_chew.jpg

At the local park;
Nim1.jpg




Nim4.jpg



As for your aunt and her mustache, in one word; Uncle ;)
 
Trevor, does Holland have breed specific laws that you have to watch out for? I love American Bulldogs as well, especially the standard/performance type. They are definitely kissing cousins to the pits. All the real bullies are good in my book. Last year I went to American Bulldog specialty show that they hold in Lodi, CA, and got to speak to many different breeders. What are your dog's bloodlines?
 
The only breed-restrictions I'm aware of are against Pitbull Terriers, they're illegal here.
You also have to be able to show a proper pedigree if owning an American Staffordshire terrier. (Lot's of them without pedigrees are actually considered to be pitbulls).
There were some talks from people who know F&^% all about dogs about banning several other breeds; rottweiler, neopolitan mastiff, carne corso, fila brasiliero etc...
These talks happen every few years and are disputed by kinologists(spelling? peeps with a PHD in dogs :) )

As for my AB's pedigree I doubt you'll know of the Dutch kennels his parents came out of, but their grandparents are pretty well known in the AB world.

*Thunderbulls' "Nimrod";

*Father:
Eleonora's "Darius the Protector" (7x Euro Champion weightpulling)
-Eleonora's "Cujo"
-Eleonora's "Meggy"
-Sure Grip's "Turbo Texas Tornado"
-Mullen's "UFO"
-Mullen's "Bubba"
-Mullen's "Izy Bea"

*Mother:
Szabo's "Givana"
-Zwettler's "Junior"
-Rawhide's "Handsome Lady"
-Wildbunch's "Apache"
-Zwettler's "Sugar"
-Rawhide's "Dalton Joe"
-Wildbunch's "Shelby"
 
I am familiar with Mullens and Sure Grip kennels. To be fair on one of your statements, all American Staffordshires are Pit Bulls if they are purebred. I'm not saying that there isn't temperament and form differances now, but they come from the same dog. AmStaffs now tend to have a bullier appearance than old school pits. In the past, and a few now, have dual registration as Pitbull and AmStaff. :)

stevo
 
Just looked up the breed in my AKC dog book and it states the same thing, I didn't know that.
However, for some reason in the Netherlands they seem to make a distinction between the two...:confused:

The banning of any breed is based on ignorance of dogs IMHO.
It's strange that after living together with dogs for 100.000 years, some people just don't understand how to speak dog.

For a good bit of info on AB's Dave Putnam's "The working American Bulldog" is a great read.

I've heard great things about Sure Grip kennels, they seem to have great AB's.
 
"glad to see someone else here that isn't pitaphobic"

pitbull.jpg


My Pitbulls were Neblett-McCoy bloodline.


________________________
RED rep points only please :)
 
Kis, I frequent that site often. I like to hunt hogs (albeit without my dogs), and I like dogs that have gumption like the ones shown there. I like the bully/greyhounds that they have featured. Not for folks that are squemish about blood though.
 
Known a few people who had bad experience w/ pitbulls or mixes, but they were second hand - strays and kennel rescues. Dog psychology can be a totally random variable if you didn't have them from pups, or they weren't in the care of someone who treated them well.

YMMV
 
Tohatchi, I'm done with second hand dogs after having a rescue decide that my wife and kids were good to chew on. BTW, those who say there are no bad dogs are insane. There are dogs with mental disorders and chemical imbalances just like there are humans that suffer from the same.

The pits/mixes that I have had have NEVER been sketchy or had a dominance issue with people they were raised with. I can't say the same for my shepherd or my terriers.

stevo
 
Geeze, I got off lucky, my Rhodesian Ridgeback tore up her dewclaw and it only cost me $175.00! She did not have one on her other front leg, so I don't know if it was taken off or she's a mutant.

I'm sure that there are bad dogs, but don't give up on rescue dogs!

I had a very agressive lab\chow mix that I got from a guy who didn't want him anymore :confused:

The vet had written right in the poor dogs file that he was a mean dog and be careful. A year later a different vet was checking him over thought she had the wrong file because the file was full of this poor guy's agressive and faintly vicious qualities and a little proper training and lots of affection brought out the best in him.

However, I will admit that the dog was not really abused like some of these a--holes seem to do with their dogs, he was just "trained" to be agressive by his former owner.

Anyways, I think there's a lot fewer "bad" dogs out there than bad people.
 
Our dog just cost me $800, getting knitted back together............drunk ran off the road & into the yard & hit her; barely missing my two daughters who were out with her. She lost her left back leg, but otherwise is as game as ever. Toughest dog I have ever been around. She is a stray; somebody dumped her out here in the boonies when she was about 3 weeks old. We brought her home, & she has been here ever since.
 
There's a three legged Wolf dog down the road. Lost his leg in a trap. Cost around a 1000 bucks to save its life. It was in the trap a while before found, and it was Winter. I think the County eventually ate the cost of the save. Kinda strange. Half the town hates the dog and the other half loves him. The dog is extremely protective of small children, any children. Does not like adults.





munk
 
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