Heart Like a Dog

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

This ‘N That Thursday – June 20, 2013

By

Today we join our friends at the 2 Brown Dawgs blog for This ‘N That Thursday.  You know, This ‘N That Thursday, A little of this and a little of that and everything in between…

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

Many thanks to our friends at the 2 Brown Dawgs Blog.

Lyme Disease

Yesterday I wrote about the day my grandchildren spent with me.  It was a warm day and my granddaughter had her shirt off.  As I sat next to her during dinner, I noticed a tiny black mark surrounded by lightly irritated skin on her side.

I said to Hubby, “I think she has a tick.”

Of course he went and got our tick key and the rubbing alcohol and removed it.  He said, “I don’t think it’s a tick, it came off too easy.”

I put some antibiotic cream on the spot and told my daughter to keep an eye on it.  Last Thursday my granddaughter went to the Dr. because the spot had grown to the size of a quarter.  The Dr. said it was a spider bite.

Bullshit I thought, spiders don’t attach themselves to your skin.  (Unless they’re vampire spiders and then I have no idea what they do.)

Saturday the mark had taken on the distinction of what is commonly known as a target. The Dr. diagnosed Lyme Disease and my granddaughter is currently on a three week course of antibiotics.

Site of tick bite.

Site of tick bite.

 

The Dr. said my granddaughter should be fine.  But it will always be something in the back of our minds when she isn’t feeling well.

According to the CDC, a tick has to be attached for 36 to 48 hours in order to transmit the Lyme Disease.  This tick was tiny, about the size of the head of a pin.

Just a warning, make sure you check yourself, your kids, and pets.

We’re very lucky we caught this early.

Sampson has a lump.   It’s under his right arm.  About two years ago I found a lump on his side, we went to the vet and had it aspirated, it turned out to be a fatty deposit, which is fairly common in Labradors.

I called to schedule an appointment.  My vet recently had elbow surgery and isn’t seeing dogs over 40 pounds until the first week in July.  The other two vets in the practice that I would normally see are on vacation next week, so I decided to wait until the first week in July.  Of course I’ll keep my eye on it and if it begins to grow I will bring him in and see whoever is there.

I’m praying (and I’d appreciate any prayers you want to throw our way too) that it is just another fatty deposit.  I will keep you posted.

Mr. Linky

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the problem I had with the Linky Tool.  What happened was someone was joining the blog hop and beat me and the co-host at getting their link hooked up.  I went to my Linky Tool dashboard and saw, manage links in hop, so I clicked on it and moved the link to third position.  The problem was that everyone who joined the hop, pushed this persons post further and further down the list, so they were always last.

I finally wrote to Mr. Linky again and asked about managing the links and he told me I couldn’t do it.

Um…..sorry Mr. Linky but clearly I did it.  You may want to look at your product again.

As of right now I’m almost positive I won’t be renewing my subscription with Mr. Linky.

Follow-up Friday

Follow-up Friday is being co-hosted this week by Kari from Hound Girl.  She will have the link up and on her blog tomorrow morning.  We will be participating in K-9 Kamp so our Follow-Up Friday post will go up on Saturday again.

If anyone is interested in co-hosting, it’s not that hard and I’d love to share the linky love. 🙂

This ‘N That Thursday – June 13, 2013

By

Today we join our friends at the 2 Brown Dawgs blog for This ‘N That Thursday.  You know, This ‘N That Thursday, A little of this and a little of that and everything in between…

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

Many thanks to our friends at the 2 Brown Dawgs Blog.

Guide dog saves man and woman from swerving vehicle.

Oh my God!  Did you see this video?  I think it’s awesome, O’Neil is going to make someone an awesome little guide dog.

Hot Cars and Dogs

It’s that time of year when the days get warm and lots of people are out and about with their dogs.  In cars.  And then they leave their dogs.  In cars.  And go into the stores.

Two weeks ago I called the police and waited over 45 minutes.  The cops never showed but the woman finally did.  Right after I wrote a little note on the back of my business card asking her to e-mail for a free fact sheet explaining how hot it gets in a car.

The back of my blog business card.

The back of my blog business card.

 

She was angry that I had called the police and told me her dog was ‘her kid.’ Then she turned on her car and told me the temperature was only 71 degrees.  Yes, it was only 71 degrees outside, but not inside the car.  I’d been inside my car after it was shut up for 10 minutes and it was a lot hotter than 71 degrees.

She never did e-mail me.

Yesterday it was cool, but warm in the sun.  I stopped at Big Y and sure enough, I passed a station wagon with two dogs inside it.  I could feel my stomach start to churn.  When I came out of the store 10 minutes later, the dogs were still in the car.

CT License Plate 974 ZUY

CT License Plate 974 ZUY

 

You can see the shape of one of the dogs in the back on the passenger side.  When I took the photo the other dog wasn’t visible.

I took my photo inside the store to the service desk and I said, “There’s a car in the parking lot with two dogs in it and one of the dogs is down on the seat.”

The girl immediately took the information down.

I didn’t wait.  I know it was horrible, but quite frankly I’m tired of arguing with stupid dog owners.  On the way back to work I thought, maybe I need to start carrying ice cubes with me.  That way when I see a dog, I can slip some ice cubes through the open windows onto the driver’s seat and provide a little cool refreshment for the dog(s.)

It might also make the owner a tad bit uncomfortable on the ride home.  Perhaps a little note to go along with it?

Your wet ass is nothing compared to how distressed your dog is in a hot car.  Be thankful I didn’t bust your window with a brick.

It might need some refining.

Pooch Smooches

You remember my co-hostess Jackie from the last Follow-up Friday?  She had her own run-in yesterday with a stupid dog owner.  I feel so badly for her and her friend, but I’m so proud she stood up to that bully!

Speaking of Follow-Up Friday, my co-hostess this week is none other than my dear friend Kari, from Hound Girl.

Our weather dude is predicting a Nor ‘easter starting today and going into tomorrow and they’re afraid we’re going to have some power outages.  Just a fyi, in case you don’t see me around. 🙂

Thanks to our friends at 2 Brown Dawgs blog

Just One Day

By

One day.  Twenty four hours. One thousand, four hundred, forty minutes.  Eighty six thousand, four hundred seconds.

For some dogs one day will make the difference between living out their lives being loved and cherished or the end of their life, abandoned and alone in a shelter.

A dog but for the stroke of luck could have been our own sweet Delilah.

The only picture I have where she even remotely resembles a puppy.

The only picture I have where she even remotely resembles a puppy.

 

Thankfully American Lab Rescue pulled her from the High Kill Shelter she was at and put her in foster care until she could be transported to us.  American Lab Rescue is one of only seven shelters/rescues in the state of Connecticut that have taken the Just One Day Pledge and vowed Now and Forever.

Just One Day takes place every year.  They work year long spreading the message and asking shelters to take the one day pledge.  They will assist shelters by providing model press releases, promotion plans, and a guide to help them adopt their way out of killing.  All of these are provided free of charge to any organization that takes the pledge.

From their website, “To most people, June 11 is Just One Day. But, June 11 is a day that will change everything for about 10,000 companion animals, and a day that can change the world. On June 11, 2013, we can be a No Kill nation.”

10,000 animals!! Sounds good doesn’t it?

But they need our help.  Just about every town in CT (169) have a dog pound or shelter, yet only seven have taken the pledge to be no kill.  And of those seven, they are all, with the exception of one, rescues.  No Humane Societies, no Shelters.  I find that appalling.  And I intend to change that for next year.   I’m going to be recruiting my CT friends to assist me in getting the Just One Day challenge out to shelters in our state so more of them participate next year.

How many shelters in your state participate?  Go to their website and see if your favorite shelter/rescue does, if you don’t see your favorite on the list, contact them, ask them to take the one day pledge.

Together we can make this a No Kill Nation, if only for one day.

Another way you can help shelter animals is to join the Tuesday’s Tails Blog Hop and shine the light on a shelter animal, a dog like Duke here.

Duke is 6 or 7 years old and was abandoned at a truck stop.

Duke is 6 or 7 years old and was abandoned at a truck stop.

 

Poor Duke, he sat for hours at the truck stop where he was dumped waiting for his heartless human to return.  Duke gets along with children, and dogs, walks well on leash, and he’s very attached to his foster mom’s elderly mother.  You can read more about Duke on his Petfinder Page, he’s currently in foster care in New Fairfield, CT.

10,000 animals in one day seems like a big undertaking, but shelters were closing their doors last year because they had adopted out all their animals.  Imagine, a shelter with no animals. Wouldn’t that be a great ‘problem’ to have?

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...