Hitting the paws button

Yesterday I noticed that our king-sized canine had injured his front paws. Somehow he had gotten sores on the large pads on both his front paws. One of them was bleeding a little, and the dog was limping. Since it was time to go to the vet for a poochie prescription refill anyway, I scheduled an appointment for the vet to see the dog. The doc put an ointment on his sores and wrapped his paws with instructions to keep the wraps on for five days and LIMIT HIS ACTIVITY. Now understand, this is a 3 1/2 year old (neutered) male dog that goes postal whenever he sees a rabbit. Asking me to limit the mutt's activity is like trying to ask a tornado to limit its destruction. Good luck. So now, Moose Mutt is laying in the kitchen being pampered by me and the girls. He's fortunate that there was no infection, and also that he doesn't have to wear one of those ridiculous cone-collars to keep him from biting at his dressings. I use a spray that's a combination of 2/3 bitter apple spray (found at pet stores) and 1/3 Heet arthritis liniment (found only at a small pharmacy in our county seat). That stuff smells horrible, but spray it on his wrappings and the taste of it keeps him from licking and chewing his foot wraps. When Captain Competent (my husband) gets home, he'll probably find a humane way to keep the dog outside - my husband is NOT an indoor pet type person, and also he built a shed with an insulated-two room- heated in the winter- doghouse inside, and therefore does NOT think that Snoogie Dog should be lounging in the kitchen. (I disagree, but then again I think we should also have a couple of cats. That's another story.) In the meantime, though, before Super Hubby gets home from work, I'll let the dog be a people for a while.