Enough

I guess that Monte figured that seven days with staples in his leg was enough. Last evening while we were sleeping, he was in his crate tearing off his bandage and ripping out every staple. We woke to a bloody crate with metal staples littering his blanket. We believe that they all remained external to Monte.

Completely embarrassed for not being able to take care of our puppy, we called the veterinarian to explain our predicament and request more assistance. I sheepishly dropped him off for his third set of staples in eight days. This will prolong our adventure, which started November 1st, at least another week, assuming all goes well.

All this damage was completed with his collars on, so he was retrofitted with a wider BiteNot collar to further restrict access to his paw. However, it's impossible to determine if it will work until he proves it won't. The vet sent us home with some additional ammunition, ten pills to sedate Monte, to be used at our discretion. It is tempting to keep him sedated until New Year's Eve, but are hoping that a nightly dose for the next week will be sufficient.