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Permalink Reply by Stephanie on January 11, 2011 at 11:28am

Mine seem to know when I'm sick or don't feel well and they glue themselves to my side.  I would say that Sabre has been spending a lot of time with you and may just not understand - I would have hubby take him on a long walk, so that they can rebond.

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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on January 11, 2011 at 12:10pm

He probably senses you are more vulnerable, but his behavior, well intended as it may be (and you are indeed more vulnerable, so he has that part right) is still inappropriate.  Unless your husband is the one that endangered you and caused you the broken foot,  you need to let Sabre know you don't want him to act that way and you don't need to be protected from your husband! This has to come from you, not your husband.  If you don't act promptly, he will acquire habits that will stay with him past your foot injury, so be firm about it.

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on January 11, 2011 at 12:47pm

Interesting behavior.  No clue.  Protective?  He's certainly aware that something is not-quite-right with you.

My story might be useful to you:

I broke my fibula once, an inch from the end, quite a simple fracture.  Luckily, I was among the lucky 10% of such fractures that don't require surgery and a plate, because I had NO health insurance at the time; took me almost a year to pay it off even though my treatment was just a series of casts and X-rays.

I had no Physical Therapy at all, but I'd started taking yoga classes 9 months before the accident, and that's what I used to rehab the ankle.   Gentle, sometimes intense, self-controlled stretching.  I was climbing mountains again in just over 2 months, although the damaged ankle had minor but definite, hard limits to its mobility; it would not bend as far as it used to, bottoming out hard on what felt like new bone growth or something.  I figured I was stuck with that.

Fully 18 months after the accident, I was doing the sort of standing, feet-spread poses you do in yoga, and realized I'd been favoring the hurt foot, afraid to put weight on the outside of it (yoga forces us to pay attention to little details like this that normally we overlook completely).  So I started challenging that foot, putting more weight on the outside, just like the undamaged foot.  Pop-pop!  I could feel some things tearing (scar tissue?).  Exquisitely sore for a few days, but a "good" sore, and more flexible.  A few iterations of this, and the foot was as flexible as the other one, good as new.  That was 31 years ago.  I'd been warned that some arthritis might be a sequel, but I've had no trouble with it at all.

Moral of story:  these things do not necessarily heal all by themselves; sometimes we have to make them heal.   So once you get the cast off, I'd suggest finding a good yoga teacher if you can.  Sure worked for me.

However, you will have to learn how to throw a tennis ball while doing yoga, an added challenge:

http://www.mycorgi.com/profiles/blogs/dog-yoga

If you can train that adorable fellow to sleep on your foot, you'll have the best footwarmer in the world.  And cutest.

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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on January 11, 2011 at 1:46pm

My best bet is he's being protective of you.  He probably knows you're hurt and probably only trusts himself to take care of you.  Make your husband spend more time with your dog, and maybe try things like making a big show of him bringing you food.  You have to show your puppy that your husband is a bringer of good things, not harm.  It's a bit silly, but it may work.

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on January 11, 2011 at 2:24pm

You must scold him and put him on the floor. If he continues, he should get a time out in another room. Meanwhile have your husband handle feeding for a while and maybe give treats occasionally for following his commands (sit, shake ectc). He probably feels he is protecting you right now but you really do not want him to think he needs to. Hope you are out of the cast soon!

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Permalink Reply by Amberwolf (Jenn) on January 11, 2011 at 2:54pm

It sounds also like your puppy is still learning the order of the pack. Your husband should be the alpha male and you the alpha female in you dogs eyes. So, I agree be firm. You should let him know it is not okay. But stand together with you husband and your husband should never move for the dog. An alpha male in a dog pack would not. That is a sign of submission. ( pup won) Letting your husband feed and work with the pup is a good idea to help the pup learn to respect your husband as the alpha male in the pack. 
 We had to do it with Loki too. 

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Permalink Reply by Amberwolf (Jenn) on January 11, 2011 at 4:21pm

Loki use to nip me in the butt and bark. Whenever; I hugged my husband now he doesn't. So it worked. :D

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