knitting socks for dogs

I've just followed a link from Year of Finishing Off to a pattern for spiral socks at Marlies' Creative Universe. I followed it because my feet are cold - finally, a proper winter in Melbourne! - but when I saw the pattern can be adapted for babies and is easy to knit, I thought of Penny.

Sometimes she licks her paws and when I put medication on her feet she attempts to lick that off, which has the pleasant result for her that she gets a Kong to lick. As we're trying to keep her weight down, so there won't be too much strain on her legs, it would be good to have little socks to put on her feet. (The shoes didn't work too well!)

shoes for dogs that lick their feet

Penny's obviously feeling better now from her kennel cough, and we actually went for a thirty-minute walk today. Thank goodness for that, Penny says! We were very good about staying off the streets for more than ten days, to stop infecting other dogs, and we're going to stay away from organised activities for the full fourteen days, as advised. What a boring time for Penny! However, a good opportunity to practise canine freestyle and tricks, and to get some use out of our intelligence-enhancing games from Nina Ottosson.

But now we've got our eye on another little problem - she's starting to get a bald spot on top of her head. The vet says it's a subcutaneous bacterial infection and it's no use putting medication on from the outside, so I've reluctantly agreed to give her a course of tablets. I hate using medications, but I have to trust my vet.

He says it's most likely related to her ongoing problem of inflammation between her toes, so perhaps this medication will clear that up. However, he says the foot problem will most likely come back, because she's allergic to something in the environment. (We haven't been able to figure out what.)

But today, as I was in Murphy Brothers I saw the cutest little dog shoes. I bought a pair to see if I can stop Penny's licking of her paws. She was quite unconcerned when I put one on her right front paw, the main problem foot, and I must say it was rather funny to see her mooching around with one shoe off and one shoe on, as the old rhyme goes.



When she settled down, she transferred her licking to her left paw! So I put the other shoe on.



Now I'm going to wait and see whether she licks another foot. If so, I'm going to suspect it's habit rather than itchiness.

I won't leave the shoes on for too long at a time, because I'm not sure how annoying they are.

UPDATE... The shoes weren't on for very long at all. Two cats started a fight in the night somewhere nearby, Penny shot out the doggy door, I lumbered out slowly, after finding a torch, and there she was - shoeless. I suppose it was good exercise for me, bending down in the dark, searching under trees and plants till I found them.