Flynn & The Cone of Shame

Poor Flynn. We took him to get his anal glands expressed last week (funny how I never knew much about dogs and their anal glands even though I grew up with 2 dogs of my own), and I guess it caused some lasting irritation because he has been doing his best to lick the area to death ever since. I didn't pay much attention to the licking at first, but before Michael left for work Wednesday morning, he woke me up to tell me that Flynn had been licking himself about every 20 minutes for the past few days and that there was now a nice bald spot under his tail right at the base.

I called the vet, expecting they would want us to bring him right in, but the cheery girl on the other end of the line simply asked if we had an "E-collar." At first I thought she was talking about some kind of shock collar, but she explained that it was the cone dogs wear around their necks that keeps them from biting or licking wounds. She said that as long as the bald spot wasn't open, we didn't need to bring Flynn in. It looked red, but wasn't bleeding, so I told her I'd come in for a cone.

After work that night, I went to Flynn's veterinary office and watched as one of the staff members assembled an absolutely huge cone made of clear, flexible plastic. She threaded a gauze strip around the outer edges of the small end of the cone and suggested we loop the gauze under his front legs and tie it up on his back near his neck so he wouldn't be able to get the cone off by pawing at it. I had a mental image of Flynn struggling mightily against the application of this device, and crossed my fingers that we would be successful in getting it on him. I knew that without the cone, Flynn would most certainly lick himself raw--and then we risked the sore getting infected. Not good.

Imagine our surprise, however, when Flynn stood quietly while Michael fitted the cone over his head and secured it under his legs and tied it near the back of his neck. We both thought it looked much too big and wondered how Flynn would be able to eat and drink with his plastic hood in the way. Fortunately, he does a pretty good job. I've ended up just putting his food on a towel for him to eat from, as the cone often knocks his bowl right over. The water dish is heavier and sturdier and so far there have been no problems with it and the cone.

When I first saw Flynn wearing the cone, I immediately thought of the movie "Amelie" (which I LOVE) and of the portrait Amelie has in her apartment of a small dog wearing a white cone around his neck. Then I thought of the movie "Up" in which Dug has to wear the "cone of shame" as it is termed by the pack of dogs. I found a clip on YouTube of Dug saying, "I do not like the cone of shame," with downcast eyes. Flynn doesn't seem quite as bummed out about it as Dug, however, and bumps around our house (and our legs) as if there is nothing there at all.

We take the cone off when we're around and can watch to make sure he doesn't lick, and when it's time for it to go back on, Flynn submits without protest. What a good, good boy he is, and I hope he will only have to wear his cone for a few more days.