Pluto's Mystery Boo Boo

Every so often I discover a boo boo on Pluto's nose. Here is how the process works. I leave Pluto unattended, I come home, and a mystery boo boo always appears on his nose. A few months go by and it heals, we go from a pink nose back to a solid black nose. Then out of no where the mystery boo boo reappears. For the longest time I could not pin point what was happening to my puppy every time I left him alone. It was only until about sometime last year that I discovered the secret to the mystery boo boo. Let me start by saying I am against rawhide for dogs. I don't like the idea of it possibly swelling inside their tummy's and I definitely dont like the idea of him chocking when I am not paying attention. However, on occasion I do give Pluto a compressed rawhide bone because he loves them so much. Last year I discovered that Pluto stresses when he cannot find a suitable "hiding spot" for his rawhide. I watched him to see what he would do. He first starts out in a whining run around the house, then he jumps onto the couch, places the bone between the pillow cushions, and starts to "cover up" the bone with his nose. He gives himself a couch burn on his nose! I quickly found out that if I give him rawhide, I must "hide" it for him when he starts to look for a good spot. I usually place it in a drawer on his level so when he wants it he goes back to the drawer and asks for it. I felt horrible when I came home last night to discover that I had forgotten to "hide" Pluto's bone for him before I left for work that morning. I did try and make it up by doctoring his boo boo with some triple antibiotic ointment and a band aid. Needless to say the band aid didn't stay on quite like I had hoped and Pluto ended up licking the ointment off his nose. I guess he couldn't say i didn't try!