Heart Like a Dog

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

Stuck On You…Day One Hundred and Thirty Five

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I feel lately this blog has become all about ticks.  Ticks are disgusting and vile and I want to blog about them one more time and then put this subject to rest, permanently.

I found a tick on Delilah last night, we were on our way back from our hike and I looked at her face and sure enough, there was a tick on the side of her nose.  I tried to remove it in the car, but the tick had already embedded itself so we had to wait until we got home.

Once we were home we kept the dogs outside, and I went and got my Ticked Off.   The Ticked Off is much easier to use on a couch potato like Sampson, than a wiggle worm like Delilah.  Sampson’s was on his chest and very easy to get to.  Delilah’s was on her nose and not so easy.

Either I didn’t have the Ticked Off positioned correctly or I didn’t have the skin tight enough, but I think I left the head of the tick in the skin; because 1) the tick didn’t move when I removed it and 2) Delilah has a big bump on her nose where the tick was.

You cant see it in the picture, but there is a bump there!

I put some Neosporin on her nose, but as you can imagine this kept me up a good portion of last night, worrying about what might happen to Delilah with the head of a tick embedded in her nose.   I researched it this morning and that is what I want to share here with you today, and then let’s put this topic to bed.

Big Dog Boutique says, you can either take your dog to the vet (expensive) to have the tick removed, or you can clean the area with rubbing alcohol, the body will form a hard protective bump around the “foreign object”  and the natural growth and shedding of skin will remove the tick head after a period of time.  You can speed the process up by applying Vitamin E to the bump.  As of now this is our course of action, I will continue with the Neosporin until I get the Vitamin E.  I will keep a watch on her nose to make sure it doesn’t get infected. I am upping their garlic intake and purchasing some Earth Animal Bug Off spray because I know it works better than this Neem Oil stuff.

On another “stuck on you” theme, check out this picture I took of Sampson this afternoon after he went diving in the stream.

Yes, a leaf is stuck between his eyes!

Join Me in My Pity Party…Day One Hundred and Thirty Three

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Generally I try to be a very positive person, but trying to get this writing career of mine off the ground is really discouraging me.  Please don’t get me wrong, I have some very awesome friends and family who continue to read every day, to like my posts and to comment on my blog and I appreciate you more than I will ever be able to express.  Some day if I ever get my career off the ground, I intend to have a really big party and invite you all! 

I like to think I am a realistic person, I know I am not J.K. Rowling and I certainly don’t have a Harry Potter novel in me; I think I’m capable of being a writer and making a modest living at it.  I am not one of the people who think they are perfect, in fact I am very aware of my flaws and limitations and have no problem sharing those.  I am also not a mother who thinks her children can do no wrong and that extends to my dogs; as you obviously know if you have ever read anything I have written about Delilah.

So when I tell you that Sampson is special and that I want to share him with the world, it is not just my thoughts or ideas.  Anyone that meets Sampson falls in love with him; even if you are not a dog person you will love Sampson.  Besides being adorable, his personality is amazing and it terrifies me that he is getting older and I still have not shared him with enough people. 

My Sweet Boy.

I’m not writing this so you all say, “Oh Jodi, don’t give up, you are a good writer” and all kinds of other stuff.  Why I’m writing this is to get your ideas.  So far, I’ve established facebook pages for both of the dogs, I have this blog and I have Sampson’s website, the problem is I don’t know what to do next or how to generate interest.   When I went to the Pet Writing Conference in February there was a woman there who was trying to find someone interested in her book, she was showing someone,  her dog has over 5,000 friends on facebook.  I sit here and go WTF?  Everyday I update those facebook pages!  I put funny sayings and thoughtful sayings and Sampson has lost 4 fans in the last month!  I guess I feel like I’m at an impasse and I wonder, am I too focused?  Am I overlooking something I should/could be doing? 

You all have been so supportive of me and always help me when I ask, so I ask you now, do you have any thoughts as to what I can do to help move this along?  If you aren’t comfortable leaving a message, send me an e-mail auntiejodi@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading and sticking through this pity party blog.

What the Wild Things Are…Day One Hundred and Thirty Two

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What a gorgeous day it turned out to be today.  I couldn’t wait for Chet to get home to hit the trail, so I loaded up the dogs and headed to the park.  We did one lap around the trail loop and then headed back for one more time.  Of course Sampson had to stop for a quick cool off in the dirty water.

I like mud...

Once we hit the trail for the second lap, we encountered a woman and her dog.  We had met the dog before, but not his mom.  Once she realized my guys were friendly she relaxed her grip on her dog and started chatting.  I felt like I had to tell her about my neighbor’s dog as I wanted to warn her to be careful in the woods.   Turns out she knows more than I do…she knows what’s up there.

Sarah told me, there are coyotes in the woods.  She knows this because her dog found the freshly killed deer and brought her a piece of it.

He doesn't look that mean....

Sarah said she spent an hour trying to get the deer away from her dog, he finally dropped it in some water and couldn’t find it.  She also said, there are fisher cats in the woods.  She lives much closer to the woods than I do and she has actually seen a fisher cat on her street.  She’s also heard them and from what I understand the cry is bone chilling.

I don't know about you, but this scares me more than the coyote!

 

I shared with Sarah that I have taken to carrying pepper spray and she agreed that it’s not a bad idea to have some spray, whether it be for protection against a wild animal  or something else.  We exchanged phone numbers and hopefully we can make arrangements to meet out on the trails so we have someone to walk with.  After all there is safety in numbers.

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