Hellobee Boards

i have a pit mix about the same size, and equally spoiled (she's pretty convinced she's yorkie size). she had ACL surgery earlier this year, and we ran into the same problem - she wanted to be held all the time, hated the cone, etc.

we sectioned off a part of our living room, and i put her bed right next to the couch so i could lay with my hand on her without actually being on the floor with her.

we also had a soft-sided cone that could either be pushed forward or back and she could lay down comfortably with it. not to say that she was a big fan of it, but she didn't hate it nearly as much as the hard cone. what was nice was that if it was pushed back (like a cape almost) she still couldn't reach her incision. it looked like this on her:

http://www.arcatapet.com/item.cfm?cat=10073&source=GA-PLA13010073

good luck, and hope she's feeling better soon!

Aww poor thing! My dog has had a fair amount of surgeries/procedures in her life too, and she hates the cone with all her might. She doesn't cry; she just gives you this super depressed look that make you feel so bad

Usually, if we're home at night and just watching TV, we'll take the cone off and just make sure she's not doing what she shouldn't, and just put cone on her at night & when we're out.

Also, instead of using the hard plastic cone from the vet, I bought a nice pink one from Petsmart that's a little softer and has like a lined edge so it won't hurt her neck.