Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Knothead….Day One Hundred, Forty Three

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Last year Sara and I noticed Sampson had some bumps on his head, when I felt them with my fingers they felt like scabs. At first we thought it was from rough playing with the other daycare dogs; but then Sara observed Sampson sniffing the floor and said, it looks like hives to me, I bet he stuck his head under a bush and had a reaction to it.Chet and I noticed the bumps again. We noticed it first by a large scab he had on one side of his head. We noticed it about 5 days ago; at first we only noticed the one bump. We watched it every day and put Neosporin on it, but yesterday when I got home Chet said, “Have you looked at his head?”

The scab is visible, but the knot is not.

I had looked at it in the morning, but I looked again and he had the one scab, and then a big knot slightly off to the side of it. Upon closer inspection it looked to me like a clump of fur that was matted with blood. I took a wet cloth and held it to the lump, rubbed it gently and pulled it away. Sure enough, it had blood on it. Chet really wanted Sampson to see the vet to be sure it wasn’t anything too serious, so we made an appointment for this afternoon.
 
The vet took one look at his head and said, “Let me get the clippers.”

Shaving the head.

They shaved my baby’s head!  My poor boy!  What the vet found under the fur was a number of scabs a couple of which were infected.  So now he is on Prednisone and antibiotic. There must be something in our yard that blooms or grows in the spring and when he touches the plant or bush with his head, he gets an allergic reaction to it.  So once he comes off the medications, we will put him on Benadryl and monitor him.  In the meantime, I’ll be looking for a hat that he can wear when he goes outside. He may look a bit silly with a hat on his head, but he won’t look any sillier than he looks now, with a big, scabby, bald patch on his head.

Poor Handsome Boy.

The good boy got a strawberry shake for the ride home.

The Truth About Garlic…Day One Hundred and Thirty Nine

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People are always a bit surprised when I tell them I do not use a topical flea and tick prevention medicine.   As I have stated before, I personally feel putting something on my beloved pet that is poisonous enough to kill a biting insect is detrimental to my pet.  Instead I use a natural insect spray and feed the dogs…garlic.

What’s that you say?  You heard that garlic is bad for dogs.

Yeah, I heard that too. 

I decided it was time to research the topic and find out once and for all.  Now when someone asks me about garlic and dogs, I can give them the proper answer.  So here it is.

Yes garlic is bad for your dog;  if he/she eats about 50 cloves of it.  According to sojos (natural food and treats for pets) garlic has many medicinal uses and has been used for thousands of years.  

Springtime Inc. has a wonderful webpage that references studies completed on the healthy benefits of garlic, studies such as:

Insecticidal and Repellent Effects

Low Cancer Rates Associated With Regular Garlic Consumption

Immune Stimulant Effects of Garlic

Antioxidant Effects

Antidote for Heavy Metal Poisoning and Other Toxins

I’m sure if we really looked; we could find many more studies and articles touting the healthy effects of garlic.  The key as with anything, is moderation my friend.  Everything in moderation.

I will tell you of the one serious side effect I found from using the garlic; the dogs get gas, and it really smells.

While garlic will help keep the fleas and ticks off your pets; it will NOT keep your dog from running like a lunatic into muddy water.

What? It's just a little mud!

The House Of Bounce…Day One Hundred and Thirty Seven

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Walk into any room in my house and you are likely to come across a shredded dryer sheet on the floor.   Why you ask?  Delilah.  Delilah loves dryer sheets; they are like a drug to her.   She will dig in the laundry garbage or through a clothes basket to find a used dryer sheet.  Then she takes the dryer sheet and holds it between her paws, and using her teeth she shreds it.   Once the dryer sheet is “dead”, Delilah rolls in it.

First comes the shredding.

 If you hand her a dryer sheet, she gets a dreamy look in her eyes, and she lifts her head back, and opens her mouth and takes the dryer sheet and shreds it; and then she rolls in it.

Then comes the rolling

Aw Mom....did you have to tell everyone?

 

We think the reason she does this is to mask her scent; as she has rolled in other items that smell when we are on the trail.  Animals in the wild; particularly wolves will roll in something foul smelling (usually something that is decomposing) in order to mask their scent from other animals, so they can sneak up on them and capture their prey. 

The dryer sheets are a wasted effort, because if there is one thing Delilah doesn’t do; it’s sneak up on anything!  When Delilah sees something that attracts or interests her she is not quiet about it.  She is full throttle, intense and focused. 

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