DOG DIAPERS: The Story Thus Far

[cimorene]

Adult incontinence pads sounded like a promising suggestion for the elderly dog, but then I was stuck with how to attach them to him. I started with a set of knit and crochet patterns available for free on Ravelry called the PupPee (ho ho) Diaper.

First I knitted a 'girl' diaper because at first I was thinking I wanted it to catch poop too, because of his problems with pooping in completely unacceptable places like under the kitchen table a couple of times. However! The tail is so close to the butt on a dog, and apparently diapers intended for both are pretty rare (usually for disabled dogs I gathered), so people probably tend to buy totally heavy duty washable ones. These things look like gear for hang-gliding and are rather expensive, but I could always ask my parents to pay for one. It was the sheer amount of fuss and the huge amount of the dog that has to be clothed that really put me off. Of course, if the poop turns out to be a problem that gets worse instead of better, I guess I'll have to return to it.

Anyway, the first diaper didn't fit in spite of the measurements that I had taken. It seemed too short from center back to tail hole, the tail hole was long enough for poop to get through but not long enough for it to EASILY get through (some got caught), and then too long on the belly. Also, I knitted it out of 7 Brothers and it stretched out of shape like within 1 hour.

Then I started the crocheted belly band pattern, which is meant just to go around a male dog's junk without doing anything to his tail. But because of having made the other kind first and because I was watching The Hobbit at the time, I kinda got confused and crocheted the wrong direction and ended up with more of a large bookmark than a bellyband. Attempt #2 may be forthcoming, idk.

I had also bought a human diaper cover at the store, like as a backup plan, according to Advice from elsewhere on the internet. I bought a kind of small one - eyeballing it, not using a tapemeasure, foolishly - because of how the knitted one was too big. But then this one was too small. In order to get it on him, I cut the snap band off at one side and sewed 7cm of two layers of fabric to fill in the gap. When I tried it on him again preparatory to cutting a tailhole, however, I discovered the tail hole would have to go right where a decorative Moomin patch was on the diaper cover (why? It's Finland!) and also the whole thing was making the dog very nervous and I wasn't quite sure about the fit, either. So I temporarily shelved the diaper cover and went back to the belly band idea.

First I tried some denim scraps, and I cut out strips, thinking I'd see how they fit, then if they worked, trim them down and sew them up with a few layers and maybe snaps or velcro. The first one was too short. The second one was too wide, although the excess didn't really get in his way and he wore it overnight in seeming comfort. However, it did seem to constrict his movement a little bit, so next I tried a scrap of fleece, double thick, which is what is on him now and seems to fit very satisfyingly. It's still held on with safety pins, but if it wears well overnight I'll hem it up, reinforce the middle section with something, sew on a fastener and possibly also consider a shape that's wider in the middle.

As far as my attempt to only fit him with belly bands for the time being, I thought there might be another explanation for his new pooping behavior.

It occurred to me that Perry is afraid of barriers, in the sense that he thinks if there's something that is kind of getting in his way, the Higher Beings (aka me) put it there because he's Not Allowed. When we were living in Texas with my crunchy aunt, there was a fenced yard and we would leave the kitchen door cracked, but if the wind blew it almost closed - like, if the gap was 110% the width of his shoulders or smaller - he would just stand on the other side, making a face like Tiny Tim, but he wouldn't even bark or anything, presumably feeling that I, in my infinite wisdom, must know best and would eventually let him. Whenever I noticed him doing this I would have to coax him by calling him and praising him for several minutes if I wanted him to come through - and this didn't even work the first few times, those times I had to actually go and open the door.

Anyway, the Dog Business Allowed area is around a corner from the main part of the flat, and the passageway tends to get gradually obscured with crap, because we have way too much stuff and it doesn't all fit in our flat. There's the cat jungle gym, two shoe racks, and a giant teetering stack of newspapers that we haven't taken down to recycling, as a default. But then there's frequently a vacuum, a bucket, etc over there that just sort of get shoved out of the way, and last week there was also a second stack of newspapers that was sprawling out into the passageway a bit, obstructing about half of it, I guess. It was still more than 120% as wide as a beagle's shoulders - indeed, it was perfectly passable for us - but the clutter was definitely creeping, so it occurred to me that he might be getting confused. He is, after all, 120 in dog years and increasingly confused about everything, all the time. He also doesn't like to do his business in the Dog Business Allowed place if there's already newspapers laid down (even though, in fact, the entire purpose of the newspapers is for him to do his business on). Maybe he was thinking he wasn't allowed in the hallway, or was protesting in his own way.

So I cleared the passageway up quite a bit and mopped the floor, leaving just a single sheet of newspaper, and for the past week he has only pooped outside of the Designated Area once. Fingers crossed that this will continue.