The first time I put this cone on blind Jake's head I thought it almost looked like an angel's halo. Unfortunately, the reason he's now wearing a cone is because of decidedly unangelic behavior. When Jake and Buddy arrived here back in November, they were terribly thin — and it took months for us to finally get weight on. Now that both of them have filled out completely, they are in that "strutting their stuff" mode with the other dogs. (Yes, they were neutered last year.)
Buddy has trouble getting along with other male dogs, and though he isn't what I would call aggressive, he's too much "in your face" with them. So he is now with blind Patti during the day, and we've had to move her buddy, blind Cedar, to the main dog yard in front of Widget's House. At first Buddy got along with Cedar, but then began pushing that easy-going boy around and we had to move him out.
Jake, on the other hand, for some reason likes to get things started with just about anybody nearby — he isn't too choosy whether it's male or female. It's not a constant problem, but in the past couple of weeks he's gotten into some spats with Trooper, blind Allie and others.
This isn't really a smart thing to do under any circumstance, but for a hound it's particularly stupid because you have these big, pendulous ears flapping around — and they are the first thing to get bitten. Although it's hard to tell from this photo, he's got nice little wounds on both ears, and because he keeps pawing and scratching at them, they weren't able to respond to treatment. Hence the cone.
Any time you have the number of dogs we have — 40 — you inevitably have "issues" like what we're going through with Buddy and Jake. Eventually we sort them out and find a solution or work-around. It's no different than trying to manage 40 human relationships (actually, it's a lot easier!). But my point here is that these animals still have their own individual personalities, and their disabilities don't keep them from expressing themselves in whatever way they choose. Whether it's smart or stupid … good or bad.
But if you want to be a bad boy who does the occasionally stupid thing, you get to wear a cone on your head for a while. So there.
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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