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You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Wait, WHAT?

Wait, WHAT?

by | 151 Comments

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daisy_che

Okay, so as I mentioned a while back, my dog Daisy badly cut the pad of her right paw. It is healing nicely, but there’s one spot where her claw rubs up against the wound, and it’s not altogether healed.

The vet recommended that we soak her paw in a medicated solution for 10 minutes twice a day. Is there a way to get a dog to soak a foot without hog-tying the dog? I could put her in a washtub and soak all four feet, but that seems wasteful.

Feasible, non-cruel suggestions gratefully considered. Thanks! And open thread!

Reader Interactions

151Comments

  3. 3.

    jill tasker

    Would it be possible to put the solution in a waterproof bag and tie it around her paw? Or would she chew it off?

  4. 4.

    bystander

    Put a martini in Daisy’s other paw. She’ll relax pronto!

    Imagine if the Louisiana Governor had asked Obama to stay away to spare his police the unnecessary effort yet Obama had insisted on coming to Baton Rouge.

  5. 5.

    Run, Lillian!

    Can you soak a towel or piece of cloth in the solution and then wrap it around her paw somehow? Either by holding it there while giving her some head scratches or tying it on somehow. My only idea, but of course it does not take into account just how energetic or fussy your pooch may be.

  6. 6.

    Shell

    Could you soak some gauze in the solution and wrap it around the area with more gauze? Long enough to stay on for 10 minutes? Ooh, or maybe a sock.

  7. 7.

    RoonieRoo

    I had to do this very thing with one of my dogs. I made it a training exercise. Basically as long as you have the paw in the water, you get fed treats. Granted this isn’t the best option with weight challenged pups. But you do have to make it worth it to her.

    Since you don’t really have the time to make it a training game and you have to do it for 10 minutes (I had to do it much, much shorter and was more washing than soaking) you will have to do with a bit of a more “forceful” approach.

    This will be a two person project:

    Hold her paw in the bowl of medicated water (make sure it is a nice temperature) while the second person feeds her a stream of very high value, yummy treats. If you are worried about calories/weight gain, then you can add her regular dinner as part of the stream of treats.

    Basically you have to make a very unpleasant experience for her have a pleasant side.

  8. 8.

    Catherine D.

    Heaviest duty rubber glove you can find. Fill with solution, pack the opening with gauze pad, wrap closed with vet wrap, and finish off with duct tape. Watch like hawk and bribe.

    For horses, we use inner tubes.

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I can’t believe your vet made that recommendation without giving you some practical advice as to just exactly how you do that.

  10. 10.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    I made it a training exercise. Basically as long as you have the paw in the water, you get fed treats.

    @RoonieRoo: Here you go, and the technique given is absolutely perfect.

    I’m working on “give me your paw” with our Guide Dog pup at the moment. It’s not a Guide Dog-mandated command, but damn, try cleaning your dogs paws post-mud/doing medical treatment without it. Not fun. A valuable doggie skill.

  11. 11.

    kindness

    Betty….you’re close to the water aren’t you? Just run her at the beach a couple times a day and make sure she runs in the water. Salt does wonders.

  12. 12.

    Anne Laurie

    Gauze or paper towels soaked in the solution, in a plastic bag (not a flimsy one), vetraped above her wrist’. (You should be able to find vetrap at your local big-box pet store — or get your vet to give you a roll.) Plus TREATS, of course… manymanymany TREATS of the highest calibre, so Daisy will be more interested in scoring the goodies than in removing that Thing from her paw.

    Fortunately, it’s only 10 minutes at a time, you should both be able to hold it together that long!

  13. 13.

    Patricia Kayden

    @RoonieRoo: That’s what I was going to suggest. Give her treats to distract her while she’s soaking her paw in the solution.

  14. 14.

    Raven

    Go to publix and get a pack of marrow bones. Give the pup one , that should keep her occupied.

  17. 17.

    J R in WV

    I had a horse (big “grade Belgian” mare work horse named Pet) who somehow cut her right rear hock (bask of her hind foot) to the bone. I used the garden hose twice a day to wash it out, after spraying it with an antiseptic that foamed hard and flushed bad tissue out.

    Then I used a Pamper/Depends and leg wrap to keep debris out. Then I gave her a huge shot of Penicillin in the big muscle along her neck. I bet I went through a half gallon or more, but she healed up fine and had many years of enjoyable retirement on the farm hillsides.

    I like the use a plastic bag instead of a pan, and feed her kibble for 10 minutes plan best. Also, trim that claw as short as you can, file the edge against the wound as round and smooth as you can.

    We taped baby socks on a dog for weeks when she cut her pad. It was just as she “got it” on house training, too. She was so confused when we couldn’t let her run free… But got all better.

  21. 21.

    eemom

    There’s a med called Acepromazine, kind of a doggie X*nax, that vets can prescribe to calm them down in stressful situations. You might ask your vet to prescribe a few of those.

    Our vet gave us some to take home after one of our doggies flipped out during his last visit, to use before the next visit.

  23. 23.

    bobbo

    I love it when vets give instructions as if they had never seen a dog before – and they don’t know anyone who works all day.

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Roger Moore: Hey now, duct tape has saved my ass on a # of occasions. I had a foot harness break once while hundreds of feet up in the air. After recovering the ascender I duct taped the bastard back to my foot and finished the climb. Once had to duct tape my truck back together while way back in the boonie woods with 20 miles of bad road to go.

    Duct tape, don’t leave home with out it.

    ETA: baling wire too. you just never know.

  26. 26.

    Keith G

    So…your vet doesn’t answer questions?

    Snark aside, I downloaded a recording app to my tablet to record the entire conversation with my surgeon. It paused 3 min in. Can I haz a do over?

  29. 29.

    Bobby_D

    Breadbag filled with the solution, couple rubber bands to hold it in place, leash the puppy short so it will just lie down until removal time.

  30. 30.

    Pogonip

    Does your dog like to play in a wading pool? If so fill the pool with solution. If she doesn’t you could tie her so she can’t get out of the pool for ten minutes.

    Or, just point at the pan of solution and say “Do NOT put your sore foot in this.”. That should do it.

  31. 31.

    Johio

    Ship her to John. If he’s sending Walter off this weekend, he has nothing but time for new canine challenges. Bonus, we’ll get entertaining stories.

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Duct tape is great if you need something to hold together for a while and you don’t care much about what happens to it afterward. But I find that it’s terrible for anything you care about beyond that. It leaves a nasty residue that’s hard to clean off, so stuff that’s been stuck together with duct tape will be a pain to work with after you take it off. And the adhesive gets brittle over time, so if you treat it as a permanent solution, in a year or two you’ll be left with something that’s broken and has crumbling duct tape adhesive with fabric scraps stuck in it on the surface. Do Not Want!

  37. 37.

    1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)

    Do your pups have Kongs? Does Daisy have a positive opinion of nut butters (peanut butter is cheapest, but not everyone has peanut-stuff in their house…)? Because cleaning out nut butter from the Kong could take her a good bit of soaking time. Although the good gnawing-bone suggestion made above would also help run down the clock–although a pig ear might well vanish too soon.

  41. 41.

    Greenergood

    Totally OT: The International Olympic Committee has announced that they’re cutting the budget for the Paralympics because they spent too much money on the Olympics. This is disgraceful and unfair – please sign and share my petition to reinstate fundng for the Paralympics. I actually think the whole pony show is ridiculous, but to openly discriminate against the Paralympics after the Olympics beanfeast overspend is just so awful and demoralizing for disable athletes and all who find inspiration from them:
    https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/restore-funding-for-the-rio-paralympics

  47. 47.

    rl

    mixing spoons of peanut butter…..
    get her to sit with paw in bucket and let her lick the tasty peanut butter……my dogs will sit forever if peanut butter is involved….

  51. 51.

    ? Martin

    We did this with our corgi. Wait until he’s laying down, sit with him/pets, treats, paw in water, treats, pets, treats, done. First few times is a bit of a mess, but he quickly got the idea that paw in water meant treats and was cool with it. Same tactic for doing nail trims. He’s willingly tolerant of that procedure now.

  52. 52.

    1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)

    @Raven: So, have you stopped?

    Congratulations on getting to this point; may the rest of it go even better!

  53. 53.

    Raven

    Not too shabby, had a big bowl of chicken noodle walked all round the house and upstairs. I’m sure some ouch will set in but, form here, Internet discussion boards are really misleading.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    @Raven: Forget all those other folks, I am glad to see you here!

    Did you see the comment earlier today, warning you that everything within 8 inches of the spot will turn completely black and blue. EVERYTHING. So not to worry, it’s apparently normal.

  61. 61.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Roger Moore: What you’re wanting in that situation is gaffer tape (aka rigger tape). We go through boxes of it at conventions for cables etc. It doesn’t leave a residue and you can prove it to the facility management who are sick and tired of events people using duct tape on their painted surfaces, carpets, ceilings etc.

  62. 62.

    Mary G

    @Raven: Remember that not all the happy meds they give you to relax wear off right away. Tomorrow or the next day may be more painful, though I hope not.

  63. 63.

    Schlemazel

    @Raven:
    WAIT! Now I remember, hernia wasn’t it?

    Man, when I had mine I felt great for a few hours after I got home. Then I was walking around & it was like someone punched me in the gut. There was no warning just WHAM! so be careful but I hope that is not your case

  68. 68.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    Bernie Sanders new group hits major trouble on the launchpad.

    Jane Sanders just resigned from “Our Revolution”.

    That left the board consisting entirely of white men from Vermont (Weaver and two of Sanders’ longtime friends and advisers), along with the campaign’s lawyer — a composition the former staffers found to be unrepresentative of the progressive movement.

    But Bernie marched with Martin Luther King or some such bullshit. I guess we know what they mean by “Our”.

  70. 70.

    ruemara

    Hey, Betty. This is my field of customer education. Here’s a video on training a dog to get into the shower for storm safety. https://youtu.be/YOia4yajy6M and here is the marvelous Dr. Yin demonstrating wordless behavior shaping using treats to get her dog to step into a box. https://youtu.be/L0XuafyPwkg

    You could do this with peanut butter smears on the wall of a tub with a small bucket or use a Kong with squeeze cheese held so your dog can stand in a shallow container of water while licking it. Any more counterconditioning training you need, shoot me an email and I’ll send you a breakdown of steps.

  71. 71.

    ruemara

    Betty, I posted two teaching video links for you that demonstrate how to do this. But I’m in moderation, of course.

    @RoonieRoo: Basically. Just make it worth their while.

  73. 73.

    Prescott Cactus

    Freedum

    TSA agents found 81 guns – 70 loaded, 31 with a round in the chamber – in traveler’s bags last week, breaking the standing record of 78 set the week prior.

    ETA: Another Gold for Team USA

  74. 74.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    everything within 8 inches of the spot will turn completely black and blue. EVERYTHING.

    Are you thinking what I’m thinking you’re thinking? I think you are.

  75. 75.

    WaterGirl

    @ruemara: Wondering if you are taking the job? Also wondering if a hundred of us giving you advice on salary was helpful. :-)

  77. 77.

    ruemara

    @WaterGirl: yes, I am. I was feeling guilty and today reminded me that it was time for, if not sanity, new crazy. And it was helpful, I’m not really used to asking for a salary, but overall, the offer on the table was very generous. I’m just waiting for the written offer to accept, but I’m already looking at replacement people and sorting my job duties down to sane and sensible.

  79. 79.

    nutella

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    Two things struck me as particularly sad about this Our Revolution debacle:

    1. The entire staff had made an agreement with Bernie that Weaver would not be involved in the organization but Bernie shoved Weaver in anyway. Appalling behavior from Bernie and they didn’t put up with it.

    2. Apparently the reason Jane left the board is that they had no idea their tax status could be a problem and only realized it after a news story questioned it. Amateur hour.

    Sad!

  80. 80.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    Regarding dog paw: My mother had to do this for her Corgi . She would put the solution on a gauze pad and hold the dog’s paw in her hand for the necessary time. Only thing that worked.

  81. 81.

    Felonius Monk

    @Raven: Happy to hear that you came through in good shape. Hopefully, they didn’t cut off anything you can still use. ;-) Take it easy and be well, dude.

  82. 82.

    Mary

    My vet gave me an IV bag with the top cut off, so you could fill it up and insert the paw. Still requires some cooperation on the part of the dog, though.

  84. 84.

    Davebo

    Doggie downers are a definite maybe.

    Barring that, and I don’t encourage it, you’re stuck holding the pup for 20 minutes a day.

  86. 86.

    nutella

    @nutella:

    Sigh. Apparently editing doesn’t work any more. To clarify point 2, it’s the organization’s tax status that is in question, not Jane’s.

  87. 87.

    bemused

    Oh goody, Chris Matthews has Ann Coulter on. Cable news dragging every RWNJ from under their rocks. Who’s next? Alex Jones/

  91. 91.

    Origuy

    I’m going to be in Boston for a few days at the end of September. I’ve never been there, so I want to do the tourist stuff, especially the historical sites. I’ll have a car but it sounds like I should take public transit into town. Where’s a good place to stay with access to transit? I’m not too fussy about hotels as long as they are clean and reasonably quiet. Any places I shouldn’t miss? The Red Sox are away, so Fenway is out. The MFA is on my list.

  93. 93.

    Schlemazel

    @Raven:
    True enough. I have had a lot of surgeries and never had a reaction like that one. Whatever drugs they gave me I would happily pay for if not for the crash at the end. Hopefully you won’t have that. Just don’t go out for a jog or get too far from home until you know for sure.

  94. 94.

    D58826

    The charity ‘scandal’ has just gotten way more serious. According to Michael Steele, former RNC chair, the ‘scandal has gone from being an optical problem to not passing the smell test. To the fainting couches.

    Surely these people must have something more important to talk about – a tree that fell in the forest and whither it would have made a sound if Hillary had been there to spy on it

  97. 97.

    Raven

    @Schlemazel: oh no, just the short walks that are deemed crucial to recovery. My intention is to stay out of the water for two weeks and adhere to the lifting limits for 6.

  103. 103.

    Miss Bianca

    @D58826:

    Surely these people must have something more important to talk about –

    They don’t. And they’re egged on by the useless idiots of the left.

    And don’t call me…

  106. 106.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @D58826: Michael Steele needs to have his head examined. For continuing to be in a party that is in the process of being hijacked by people who want to put him to involuntary servitude picking cotton.

  108. 108.

    bemused

    @Raven:

    My mate had hernia surgery almost 5 months ago. His was a piece of cake compared to what my good friend went through, hiatal and esophageal hernias. She was miserable for a couple of months before surgery, went through a ton of tests and lost about 25 lb. Then after the surgery, it took a few weeks before she was able to tolerate even a few spoonsful of boring mush at a time without feeling gaggy. It could be at least 6 month or more before she can get back to normal meals, salad will be the one of the last hurdles but at least she is steadily adding more variety and flavor to her menu. What an ordeal.

  109. 109.

    Roger Moore

    @Raven:

    My intention is to stay out of the water for two weeks and adhere to the lifting limits for 6.

    Just so long as you remember that includes lifting heavy fish out of the water.

  110. 110.

    GregB

    Origuy.

    Spend a day in Cambridge. The Middle East has cheap and tasty kabobs for lunch. Or Moidy’s Falafel Palace. Walk around Harvard Square. Plenty of bookstores. There’s a really old cemetery with a bunch of really old dead people. Mrs. Bartley’s had good burgers and yhe Hong Kong has good Chinese plus the top floor is The Comedy Studio that has shows most every night.

  112. 112.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @srv: “Both sides do it”

    I am so appallingly bored of false equivalency as practiced by the vermin of the Village.

    Wipe them out. All of them.

  113. 113.

    bemused

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    And cooking up his endless supply of lala conspiracy theories for his viewers plus his grifting business. Perfectly understandable why Trump would be a soul mate.

  114. 114.

    Raven

    @bemused: I think that was a big part of this. While I was diagnosed over a year ago, I had no symptoms. I have friends 20 years younger who had an awful time. They both had pronounced problems for years a but coouldvnot afford it:”

  116. 116.

    Davebo

    @Roger Moore: Zip ties are the bane of my existence lately.

    Don’t get me wrong, they are great for permanent fixes but sheesh, could you find a good old fashioned bread tie for those things I’ll have to deal with!

  117. 117.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @bemused: Hillary opened a pickle jar the other night on The Tonight Show to demonstrate that she’s capable of opening a pickle jar despite having about five gazillion different diseases that render her physical competency to be President zero.

  118. 118.

    hovercraft

    @D58826:
    They desperately need this ‘scandal’ to bring her down a few pegs, they want a horse race. Tweety wants him to return to his original message that “was great”, no more illegal immigration, no more bad trade deals, and no more stupid wars. Apparently Tweety missed the racism on day one, since he keeps saying he should return to who he was at the beginning. Black folks were against him from day one because we knew him. Tweety respects Anne Coulter. Enouff said.

  121. 121.

    dmsilev

    @Origuy: Consider a visit to Salem; it’s a short drive (or ride on the train) north of Boston, and the Peabody Essex museum is a wonderful way to spend half a day or so.

  122. 122.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Origuy:

    Boston’s a walking city, so if you have any choice about where to stay, pick a place to stay downtown. The waterfront has a Harborwalk that will take you along the entire harbor just about – it’s really beautiful. The Freedom Trail takes you through downtown, past the best historical sites – wicked touristy, but as long as I’ve lived and worked here, when I see a group being led, I hang around and always learn something. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an historical plaque or some relic of the Revolutionary past. The Rose Kennedy Greenway is a fairly new linear park created by tearing down the ugly old Southeast Expressway, and opening up the harbor to the rest of the city. It has created a grand boulevard in the tradition of European cities, and attracts everyone – residents, families who come into the city, tourists, and is a great place to stroll, eat from a food cart, people watch. There are lots of sidewalk cafes and food trucks. On one end of the Greenway is the North End – little Italy – and on the other end is Chinatown. Bring walking shoes!!!

    Beacon Hill, the Boston Common and the Public Garden (swanboats) are all classic, and all very walkable. The Back Bay – Newbury Street and the Prudential Center/Copley Square area is boutique shopping, and the marathon route ending. BOSTON STRONG. Everything is connected by the T, which has very helpful people who can tell you which passes to buy. Go out to see the Harbor Islands.

  123. 123.

    Poopyman

    Sorry I’m so late to the party, but these are exactly the same instructions my first vet gave when my first cat cut her paw. Not knowing any better, but having vague misgivings, I duly made up the solution (iodine-based, IIRC) and gathered her up into my lap on the cellar steps.

    It was a hot day, and I had on shorts and a tee shirt. Wouldn’t have made any difference once the paw hit that iodine, though. She made sure to slash her way across my lap, up my chest, and completely down my back. I was just glad she spared my face..

    She never did get that solution treatment, and healed up just fine.

    Poor Sadie. All the cats that have come along since have benefited from all the mistakes I made with that sweetie.

  125. 125.

    bemused

    @Raven:

    Your hernia(s) were the common hernias? My husband had hernia surgery on opposite side many years ago. Both hernias were the garden type variety, nothing complicated. This time we went to clinic surgery and we were heading home 3 hours later after the surgery. Picked up prescrip for an opioid but he only took a couple, didn’t need to get the other med for constipation. I was a bit shocked that the prescrip was for 30 pills. I guess I assumed that type of painkiller would be prescribed in smaller amounts. He went back to work 10 days later and by that time I was glad. He felt good and was itching to get back to outdoor chores too soon. I knew he wasn’t going to be doing any heavy work on the job.

    Several of our male friends have had single or double hernia surgeries. All that heavy lifting and outdoor work catches up by the 50’s and 60’s. One friend scheduled his surgery for after wedding of one his kids in a couple of months. He also checked with his surgeon to get ok to climb Devil’s Tower, iirc. Goofy if you ask me but seems perfectly reasonable to all his male friends, : )

    All I can say is that I hope never to go through what my friend did with her much more complicated hernia surgeries. We were all very worried about her and thankful surgery and recovery is going well.

  126. 126.

    GxB

    @Roger Moore:

    Duct tape is the “solution” that changes every problem into a different one.

    To mangle a quote from Einstein: “The release of atomic energy use of duct tape has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.”

  127. 127.

    Schlemazel

    @Davebo:
    Saw a picture on fb the other day. Apparently someone got PO’ed at a jerk taking up multiple spots in a parking lot & zip-tied shopping carts to the door handles. I could appreciate that.

  128. 128.

    Origuy

    Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I’ll be driving up from Danbury, CT and continuing on to Hanover, NH, so I needed a car. I drive in San Francisco regularly. I drove in Boston once but it was just from Logan to Maynard for an interview with DEC. I’ll avoid driving whenever possible.
    A comedy show is a good idea. Also, any recommendations for Irish pubs with live traditional music? Redshirt, by “duck boats”, do you mean the swan boats? I may not have time for that, but it sounds nice. I’ll think about Cambridge.

  129. 129.

    Schlemazel

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:
    There is a walking tour (I think they call it the red line – there is a red line painted on the sidewalk on the route) totally worth the time. Boston is a great city to visit.

    @Poopyman:
    I wsa holding our first cat one night when a huge lightning strike hit. Those wounds sound very familiar to me! Yikes!

  130. 130.

    bemused

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    All this Hillary unhealthy bs just reminds me of Trump’s doctor letter…as written by Trump or dictated by Trump, vocabulary of a child and laughably exaggerated. It was blatantly ridiculous.

  134. 134.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Schlemazel:

    The red line in the sidewalk marks the Freedom Trail. It’s great. Everything in Boston is walkable, and the T takes you everywhere. Walking across the Charles River on Mass. Ave. or the Longfellow Bridge and looking back to the Boston skyline is sublime. With the college kids coming back this week, the energy level is next level in either Cambridge or Boston. There are so many things happening now, you’ll enjoy just being a part of it.

  135. 135.

    bryan

    @Schlemazel: The walking trail is the Freedom Trail; it is demarcated by a red line. If you ask for directions to the Red Line, however, you’ll end up on the subway – but if you are in the city for any length of time you’ll end up on the Red Line several times anyway.

    @Origuy: The swan boats are pedal-powered touristy boats on the water in the Public Gardens (or the Common, right next to the Gardens, never remember which.) The Duck boats are the WWII surplus amphibious trucks converted to tourist busses that go on combined road + water tours; although these days there are also newer ones that aren’t 70+ years old.

    Lots of great suggestions already; have fun!

  136. 136.

    redshirt

    @Origuy: The duck boats are fun. They’re ex-military vehicles that can drive around the streets, and then at the end of the tour they go into the Charles River. Lots of fun and definitely worth doing as a tourist.

  137. 137.

    redshirt

    @Schlemazel: The Freedom Trail is denoted by a red line in some place (swanky bricks in others). The actual Red Line in Boston is a line of the subway that goes to Cambridge and some other parts no tourists go to.

  139. 139.

    Origuy

    @rikyrah: That’s the site of the North American Orienteering Championships. The sprint event will be on campus itself. The longer forest events will be at Stoors Pond and Burnt Mountain, in the Hanover area.

  141. 141.

    J R in WV

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    Our neighbors have a partial corgi dog, little girl named Maris. We call her wiggles, she comes down to visit most afternoons when they get home from work.

    Mornings when they let her out and can’t get her put back up, she comes down with the other dogs, we call ’em the day Care Doggies. We have from 4-6 depending on how many come down. They just lay around, Except for Wiggles, who can’t be still for more than a few minutes.

    So I understand why she had to hold a wet gauze pad on the poor puppy’s paw. They are hyperactive in a good way.

  142. 142.

    Origuy

    @redshirt: Orienteering is the sport of navigation with map and compass. Specially produced maps, very detailed, will have a variety of courses marked on them. The courses consist of a number (10-20 or so) of mapped features marked by circles. The features are things like fence corners, boulders, stream bends, etc. At each feature there will be a marker that looks like a triangular box kite about a foot high. The competitors navigate from point to point, choosing their own routes. At each point there will be a way to indicate that they got there. These days it’s usually a small box with a clock and a card reader like those at office doors. We each carry a small stick with some memory holds the control (point) numbers we visit and the time. There’s also boxes for the start and finish time. The starts are staggered to discourage following.
    Except for the World Championships and some other elite events, most “Championships” are open events. There are separate classes for different ages and genders. As an M60, I’ll be running a shorter course than younger men and women, but at the same degree of technical navigation.
    The World Championships are going on in Sweden right now. Those people are chosen by their national federations, just like at the Olympics. The big news is that Emily Kemp of Canada finished fourth in the middle distance today. That’s probably the best finish for a North American ever.

  143. 143.

    J R in WV

    @redshirt:

    Orienteering is a combination of map-reading and cross-country racing through woods and hills. People do it for fun, and in competition, which sounds like what Origuy was talking about.

    Years ago we ( 4 of us, two pretty experienced back country hikers ) walked across a ridge and down to an abandoned narrow-gauge railway grade. We had a map and compass, and still had trouble deciding when to drift down the hill to where we left the first shuttle car parked.

    We had a good time, it was farther than we expected. I was surprised how difficult it was to tell where we were on the map from looking at the hills across the river valley.

  144. 144.

    J R in WV

    @Origuy:

    I didn’t see your fine description, which you submitted while I was typing. I’ve spent lots of time in the woods, but nothing like what you’re doing. We always follow a ridge, trail, old grade, etc, as best as we can.

    Although once in swirling snow and greatly reduced visibility, if I hadn’t had a compass I would have been so screwed! We were lucky to be able to drive out once we got back to the truck, it was snowing inches an hour!

  145. 145.

    Origuy

    The website for the North American Champs is here. To show you what one of the maps looks like, this is the old version of the map for the Middle distance area. Championship events have a Long, Middle, and Sprint competition. The Sprint is usually held in some complex urban area like a campus. Europeans have a lot of medieval towns to to use; North America not so much. The winning time will be 12-15 minutes. The Long and Middle are in forest environments, with the Long taking about an hour or so for the winner and the Middle maybe 30 minutes.

  148. 148.

    Origuy

    @redshirt: I’d suggest signing up for a recreational course if you go to the Champs. The regular courses would be highly technical. Unfortunately, there aren’t any clubs based in Maine, but the Up North Orienteers, the club hosting this event, are based in New Hampshire. The Green Mountain Orienteering Club is based in Vermont. Further south is the New England Orienteering Club.

    I’m actually coming out for two events. The US Classic Championships are the weekend before at Ward Pound Ridge in NY, near Connecticut. Classic events are between Middle and Long in distance.

    Start training. Every year the World Masters Orienteering Champs are held for 35 and over. This year they were in Tallinn, Estonia. Next year they will be in New Zealand. I wanted to go to Tallinn, but couldn’t afford it. Here’s a video of the competition in this year’s WMOC.

  150. 150.

    bluefoot

    @Origuy: Depending on what you’re into, the Aquarium is cool, as is the Museum of Science. End of Sept is pretty ideal, weather-wise, and there’s plenty to see just walking around – Freedom Trail, check out the North End, wander around Beacon Hill, the Public Garden and the Back Bay, Charlestown, etc. I’ll also second the Harvard Museums. You can also rent a kayak and paddle on the Charles. If you’re into that kind of thing, Mt. Auburn cemetery is interesting and pretty. Boston has a good music scene, of all kinds.
    Do not drive in Boston if you can help it. not just the driving, but parking is an incredible chore.

  151. 151.

    speedbumped

    This reminds me of the time my cat had a badly injured paw and for several weeks I was instructed to a) not let him put any weight on it, and b) administer “hydrotherapy” in the form of holding his paw under a running faucet for 5 minutes, 5 times a day. Either one of those would be next to impossible on its own, but together? It was a trying time.

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