Chipped Tooth

I noticed several days ago that Denali had chipped an upper incisor, one of those little bitty top teeth. The tip of the tooth was gone, and some gray-ish material was visible. No redness or blood. I ran my finger across it and she didn't seem to mind, but the inner gray-ish part felt soft and loose. The tooth itself was not loose. I have no idea when the chip occurred. Her teeth were looked at closely about a month ago while we on vacation and I was showing Zebulon's crooked front bottom tooth to my husband's relative. That lead to me checking the teeth in Everest's mouth as well as the dogs, and all was fine. Being a front tooth I see them often so I doubt if it had been chipped more than even a few days before I noticed.

It hasn't been bothering her at all. She still eats normally, drinks normally, she's not licking her lips a lot or rolling her head around, pawing at her mouth, none of that. I have no idea what caused the chip. I have fed them outside a bit recently and there are very small rocks in the dirt that could have done it. I'd already decided no more eating outside until the grass is more grown in before I'd noticed the chip. It could also very well be from the raw diet, I don't deny that. It's a risk. The hardest bones they've had lately are from chicken and turkey, which are very soft, the hardest being turkey drumsticks which they did have pretty recently. I've never seen her use her front teeth on a drumstick though, just her back molars like all other bones. My general rule is that I don't give them any bones that aren't easily chomped because the risk of chipping, cracking, and breaking teeth on hard bones is very real. Or it could have been she knocked her teeth on Kaytu or another dog while playing, or into a wall or something. I'll never know!

Despite it not being a visible bother to her, I didn't know if she was hiding her pain or if she was ok. I don't know anything about the structure and formation of teeth and didn't know how bad it was to be seeing the gray-ish material. I posted pics asked around the all-knowing internet and determined a vet visit was needed. It's possible for chipped teeth to lead to infections and a much bigger problem. Best to get a vet opinion.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

The vet said it will likely seal over on its own and not be a problem but to keep an eye on it. I'd hate to have it pulled and it may need to be down the road, but probably not. Likely she will be completely fine with it the rest of her life. We also have one of the best doggie dental specialists in the world in my area so if I wanted a root canal, crown, etc it could be done. Costs a small fortune, but it can be done. In the end, she's a dog, so I'd get it pulled opposed to fixed if the time came. Hopefully she'll never have any further issues with it though.

Homemade Paracord Dog Collars

Update: I now sell collars on Etsy! A portion of profit is always donated to dog rescues in San Diego. www.etsy.com/shop/Paracordon

I've been getting tired of looking at the plain boring collars my dogs have and thought hey, why not make paracord collars? So I did.

First I looked around the internet at paracord dog collars to get an idea of different styles, what would work best, and what I wanted. I decided against making them adjustable but I may change that in the future. I used a wide solomon bar weave pattern and found an awesome tutorial on instructables.com. Going from step 1 to 2 took me about half an hour to figure out what was going on until I realized it was just a square knot and lines 5 and 2 never move at all. Under 5 and over 6, then 6 goes over through the hole. Then again under and over, over and under through the hole. Then do the same thing on the other side. Easy though I was very confused about it at first! Before doing a collar for real I made a practice one not worrying much about how tight it was. I wanted to get a feel for the weave pattern until I could do it comfortably and be able to spot when I'd messed up. I also needed to know how much cord it was going to take before I cut anything.

I got two 50 ft lengths of 550 paracord from supplycaptain.com ($3.75/ea for 50') and also got two metal clasps. I thought the clasps were wider but they still work fine. UPDATE: They are actually not very good clasps. With any pressure on the leash they pop open! I cut the plastic buckle out of their old collars and redid the paracord which took about 2 hours to undo the entire thing and redo it. Use good buckles! I got purple camo for Kaytu, and pink camo for Denali. We already had 100' of paracord at home that is OD green. I used the full 50 ft lines on either side of the OD green. After making the practice collar the outside strands (which was the camo) had over 30 ft left, meaning it took less than 20 ft. The inside is twice as long, and I didn't measure it as it would have been about 60 ft of extra. I spent about another hour taking it all apart and was then ready to do it for real.

For Kaytu's collar I cut her purple camo line in half so each line was 25' (since I knew it had to be at least 20') and had the OD green line in the middle. I used a cow hitch to loop them around the clasp, as shown in the tutorial Step 1. After weaving down a bit I pulled a couple lines through a D-ring and made the knots around it to secure it. The D-ring is needed to attach tags to. UPDATE: Use a solid D-ring that is welded shut and does not have a gap, these have a gap and ultimately opened enough that tags came off. Instead of redoing the collars I used metal keychain rings and they've been working well enough.

I had her old collar next to me to use as a general guide for how long to make it. I tested it around her neck before tying the ends around the other end of the clasp.

Finished! Finding a way to tuck the ends under was a pain but I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Someone doesn't like posing for the camera!

Next was Denali's. I switched the color pattern, so where Kaytu's is purple camo Nali's is OD green, and where Kaytu's is OD green Nali's is pink camo. I did this by putting the pink camo line in the middle (uncut since it takes twice as much in the middle!) and having ~25 ft strands of OD green on the outside.

Same as with Kaytu's I wove in the D-ring

I also thought I'd try making a slip lead for Denali since I had some scrap. I've been meaning to buy one for use at agility. I'm not sure how well I like it but I have class tomorrow so I'll test it out. I left the weave a little looser so it's more flexible. Nobody likes a stiff leash! The single strand is the loop for my hand. The end of the woven loop slides up and down the leash to tighten or loosen it. When I got to the end I simply tied to ends around the leash, loose enough that the leash can slide through.

Playing with Harley

Harley and Snickers are my inlaws' dogs. Harley's dad is owned by one of my friends and he is a black English Labrador. His mom is a black Labrador mix, supposedly some husky in there. Snickers (full name Snickerdoodle) is a Labrador and standard Poodle mix rescued from a small enclosed concrete slab in a backyard full of screaming children. Many people think he is an Irish Wolfhound mix because he's so tall!

The girls had a great time playing with Harley. Snickers joined in a bit too but he's not fond of the rougher wrestling. He was most interested in trying to mount Kaytu, but she doesn't let dogs mount her. She, in the way most polite for dogs, will spin out from under the dog while giving a single sharp "harf!" sound and baring her teeth. Then she typically will give a play bow or other invitation for the dog to chase her, or play continue with whatever she was previously doing.

I took a couple dozen photos of them all playing. Dogs give signs constantly throughout play. They indicate to each other that they are still playing and having a good time. They indicate if the play is getting too rough and they'd like a brief pause or even a full stop to take a break. They show they are comfortable, or not, with the interaction and will ask for distance if they need it. I took so many photos because I was fascinated by what Harley was doing. Fascinated in a way that only a dog lover and behavior-studying nerd can be! His play with Kaytu was really fun to watch. As you're about to see, Harley shows a lot of teeth when he plays and also often has his hackles up. The fur goes up from his shoulders all the way his back. This is called piloerection. We get it too, and we call it goosebumps.

While he was for the most part enjoying the interaction with my girls I feel showing his teeth and his raised fur along with the tension he often displayed throughout his face and entire body is a pretty clear sign that he wasn't always comfortable. He does not routinely meet or play with dogs other than Snickers, and my dogs can be pretty rough when they play. The girls were pretty good about giving him space when he asked. Things never got serious and they all had a great time!

Ready for lift off!

Snickers followed Kaytu a lot.

Harley looks very tense in this pic. Tail low, teeth bared, fur raised, head lowered.
Kaytu gives a great play bow to show Harley she's still wanting to play, and
Denali is also taking the hint to give him some space.

Play bows can happen mid air too!

Kaytu's signature move

Look at Snickers. Classic "I want to mount you" posture.
Tail high, staring at her back, standing tall, head over her back, tension in his hind quarters.
You can't see, but his mouth is closed too.

Harley trying to go under Snickers, as he did when he was a puppy.

Snickers again showing the "I want to mount you" posture.