Almost as good as never buying something, is returning something that doesn’t meet my needs. My latest shopping misadventure was with an inflatable e-collar for my dog Wiggles. She had injured her dew claw. The vet gave her antibiotics and said, “Don’t let her lick it or it will get infected from the bacteria in her mouth”.
Easier said than done. He offered to give me (sell me) a plastic cone of shame but I’ve had enough experience with them to know they make dogs miserable, so I purchased an inflatable e-collar from Petsmart later that day.
Wiggles was not thrilled with it.
The first night, it freaked her out so much that she sat up for most of the night shaking. I thought it was from pain from her injury. Later, I realized it was from being scared of the collar.
By the next afternoon, she was more accustomed to it. She didn’t like it, but she was no longer frozen in place. Instead she lounged around with it on. The only problem was she could easily lick her feet – including the front dewclaw (as well as her butt – see below).
Wiggles is not some kind of contortionist dog either. She’s a standard issue dog with n extraordinary flexibility or odd body parts.
I would call this a $26 product fail. Its sole purpose is to prevent a dog from licking an injured body part.
I drove back to Petsmart the next day and returned it.
By that time, Wiggles was no longer interested in licking her paw as the dewclaw had already begun to heal.
I did purchase a soft sided cone-of-shame from Amazon so that I have it for the next time I need one.
She hates that too – but I think it will work.