Thank you all so much. I have actually been taking Graham to the dog park and basically walking threw the park and threw the gate at the opposite end, which leads to a huge park/nature preserve. The dog park is actually a park inside of a park. Outside of the dog park they have some lovely grassy fields and trails and it's a 10-15 minute walk to a gorgeous, and completely secluded dock where the dogs can swim, and as soon as it's warm enough, I can join them. The water is lovely, clean and unpolutted. I have been taking Graham swimming daily either in the park outside of the dog park, or at the lake across the street from me. He SOOOOO much enjoys it. I am really glad that he loves swimming so much because it's pretty beneficial to his recovery.

Today we had a really crummy thing happen that will prevent Graham from having much fun for the next couple or more days. I took him to the pond across the street and was swimming the dogs, when it seemed like Graham started swimming funny...then when he got to shore he was holding up HIS GOOD FOOT!!! I put him in a down and rolled him over. I lifted up his good foot (his right front foot) to examine it and he started wimpering! I knew he hurt himself but it took a bit of exploration to figure out how it was hurt. I first bent his ankle and it seemed fine, then I moved to his pads and didn't notice anything. I then began spreading his toes one by one and I found that he had pierced the webbing on his good foot between his toes and it was bleeding pretty bad. Poor guy He now has 2 bum front legs

I thought about carrying him home because he was limping so bad, but he's 47 pounds and I had a good distance to walk so I just walked slowly with him, and Dan walked with Kersey. When I got home I put Graham in a down, rolled him over, and began to cut all the hair around his puncture wound so I could see if I saw any foreign objects sticking out of the hole, and it looked like it was just a puncture wound. I then carried him into the bathtub and with the shower head, irrigated the hole and washed away all the cut hairs so he could heal. Then I took him out of the tub and poured peroxide around and inside of the hole and then put antibiotic ointment on his foot. Then I put a doggie bootie on him so he wouldn't lick the wound. I'll wait it out today and see how he does with my make-shift veterinary care. I also gave him a rimidyl because he was really holding the foot up. If he's in alot of pain tomorrow and he appears to be no better then I am going to take him in to the vet to make double sure there's no foreign objects or splinters in the wound. They may also give him a dose of antibiotics because my guess is that whatever he stepped on in the water while swimming, it was not sterile.

I hope he's ok and this puncture wound heals quickly. I have no idea what he cut his foot on but my guess is that there was a block of wood with a nail sticking out of it. The puncture wound on his foot webbing is about the sized of a large nail. My poor angel We just aren't having luck lately.

I feel terrible for him but I am trying to remain positive that the nail, or whatever he stepped on in the water, will not infect his foot. I will keep a close eye on the puncture wound and his willingness to use the foot. My poor baby