Dotty was spayed recently.

She’s not my first puppy, so I have been through the post-surgery experience before, several times. But Dotty is far more energetic, impulsive, and active than any of my previous puppies.

Keep her “quiet” for the next two weeks, the vet tech says. As Dotty, mere hours post-surgery, explodes into the exam room, dancing and bouncing. Quiet. Right.

I prepared by purchasing some new dog chews and stuffing Kongs and Toppl toys with kibble and peanut butter and freezing them. I dug out the “suitical,” a doggy onesie that snaps around the tail.

The first few days were fine. Dotty likes clothes, so she was happy to wear the surgical suit, as well as a fleece jumpsuit that covers her belly. She did not try to lick, chew, or scratch at the stitches.

But by four days in, Dotty had forgotten about the surgery. She wanted to play. She desperately begged Orly’s hiker to take her along. She ran in circles in the back yard.

Orly was no help, constantly play-bowing to Dotty and trying to sneak in some wrestling while I was in work meetings. I hauled out the Kongs and separated the girls with gates.

Protecting the surgery site

I also failed to prepare in one critical way: I did not get out the soft cone and get her used to that.

Soon, the clothes got dirty. More furry than anything (except the time I forgot to unsnap the suit before taking her out to pee…). Ok, I thought, I’ll just wash these and put the cone on …

Silly me.

Dotty took one look at the cone and ran up the stairs. I lured her back down, showed it to her … and off she bolted.

I got a surgical “donut collar” and … similar response, even after Orly (unhappily) agreed to model it while eating cookies. Lots of cookies.

We spent a couple of days playing with the donut. Orly would poke her head through and get a cookie. I put it on the floor and put cookies inside it. After watching Orly scarf down dozens of treats, Dotty wanted in. A few play sessions later, she gingerly agreed to put her head through the donut. By the next day, she was reluctantly agreeing to wear it.

At this point, though, my barely functioning brain had come up with a new idea: belly bands.

These are designed for boy dogs who are either not house-trained or have incontinence issues (post surgery, or injury or age-related, etc.). Coincidentally, the target area for soaking up boy-dog dribbles is an anatomical match for the girl-dog post-abdominal-surgery stitch area. In other words, a belly band perfectly covers the stitches while fitting closely enough to block curious noses and scratching paws. Even better, it allows the dog to pee, unhindered.

Belly bands are inexpensive and washable. So basically, the perfect solution has been available all along, and I only figured it out with the last puppy I plan to raise … Typical.