I am a very proud owner of 2 littermate GSP's, brother and sister......spayed, and neutered!    They are 10 months old, and the joy of our life!  My male GSP broke his right rear, outer toe, the non-weight bearing toe, 3 weaks ago.   He has been to the vet TWICE, and I have splinted 4 times.  He has chewed all of them off.  I purchased 2 cones, he managed to chew them up while they were on him as well.  He chewed two of the splints while the cone was on.   He has been kenneled and kept calm for 3 weaks, and walked on a leash only.  Since this time, in addition to the bandaging, he has chewed his bedding, (which we removed), a hat, pillow, and bed that were OUTSIDE of the kennel, and a corner of your leather couch that was obviously outside the kennel.  As he is noncompliant with the splint, regardless of what we try, we are supposed to keep him quiet for 8 weeks.  Tonight, however, I gave up.  He was not a destructive chewer before, and now, he's crazy. When we let him out of his kennel, it's all we can do to keep him calm. He's bouncing and jumping all over the place.  The leather couch was sort of the breaking point.....although nothing has changed about my love for this pup, my management of his broken toe has.  I bandaged his toe well with vet wrap, put an infant sock over it, more bandage, a splint, another sock, and more vet wrap..and padding. I also sprayed it with bitter apple spray that I JUST learned about yesterday!  I took this poor pup on a 2 mile run with his splint on.  He hasn't limped on it since day 3 of the incident, and it's been almost 4 weeks.  It is SO cruel to keep him locked up.  He is born to run and chase birds, and hunt...Has anyone had any similar experience? If so, what did you do?    I'm desparate, but more than that, my pup is desparate.  He had NO pain while running, and sprinted FULL speed while attached to harness and bike, at a heel position with the walky dog....not bikjoring...for 10 solid minutes, and then a fast lope for 5 more, and a fast trot for 5 more after that, and then we quit.  He is calm, content, and happy, and his toe is still well protected.  Is this okay?  I don't know what else to do.

All comments appreciated.    

 Splat, thank you SO much for your reccommendation for the peanut butter kong....frozen at that, what a GREAT idea!  We tried nylabones, and massive retriever rolls, and actually had a nylabone in his kennel at all times when the destructive behavior took place.  However, a peanut butter filled kong is A LOT more interesting than a nylabone.  I don't leave him unattended with the retriever roll rawhides for fear that he will choke.   After last night's run, he has been SUPER!  He stayed in his kennel WITH his bedding ALL night with NO chewing!   He also left his bandage/splint alone!  ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!  I credit the avoidance of the bandage to the Bitter Apple spray.  That stuff is fantastic!  I sprayed both GSP's bedding with it as well, and even the female GSP left her bedding alone.  I suppose I should use their names!  Maybrie is the female, and Kaido is the male.   GSP's are the BEST!   As for the broken toe, I agree with you there!  I am an ER nurse, and you are correct!  For humans we do nothing but tape the toes together, and give an ortho shoe for a couple of days.  The vet told me that IF we can keep the splint on AND keep him calm for 3 weeks, he will be fine because he is a puppy and a bone growing machine. He said after that point, we could remove the splint, wrap a piece of vet wrap just to keep the toe from accidentally bending out or twisting again, and keep him kenneled and calm for the remaining 3 weeks.  He said if that failed, we would have to keep him locked up for 8 weeks.  I think we just started our 3 weeks yesterday thanks to the Bitter Apple spray!  That stuff is a MIRACLE!     Even with the splint, because we are almost 4 weeks out, and surely there is at least SOME form of callous formed by now, we will continue the short 2 mile runs.  2 mile run is nothing for a GSP!  I will take him back to the vet in 4-6 more weeks for a f/u xray.  Just want to make sure it's fused together at the break so we don't have to worry about necrotic bone and amputation of that toe.   Here's  hoping for puppy compliance for 3-4 more weeks!!   Next purchase, peanut butter and Kong!