The cone of shame

The surgery so Elliot can date the female dogs in our neighborhood without fear of fathering a litter has happened. To keep him from biting his stitches, he must wear a cone that circles his head, keeping it, so his mouth is unable to get much more than his food.

I'm sure he is wondering how it came to this. One minute he was in the car heading toward someplace new and the next minute he woke up to with an object around his head that keeps catching on everything - the furniture, every door jamb in the house, and even in his own crate.

He keeps giving us pitiful looks as if to say, "Why? What did I do to deserve this abomination?"

We tell him he is in good company, and we show him this picture of the dog, Dug, in the recently Oscar-nominated film, Up: 

I think of this movie each time Elliot, and I walk around the neighborhood. But, all in all, Elliot has adjusted quite well and is healing nicely. He only has the cone of shame for a few days until he has his follow-up visit with the surgeon. Fingers crossed, the cone will never make another reappearance after this.