“We
need to watch the dogs for ticks,” I casually observed.
I
don’t remember what Mike said. Perhaps he just grunted, or snorted derisively,
or maybe he said it was too soon.
At
any rate, I was scratching Bess’ ears for her on Sunday after our trip to the
farm when I found a tick on the underside. Then I found one crawling on the
wall in the bedroom.
“Are
you sure?” asked Mike. “Maybe it was a little spider.”
I
assure you -- I know the difference between little spiders and ticks.
The
next tick I found was crawling on Mike’s biking shorts as they hung in the
bathroom. I don’t know where all these ticks came from. Perhaps that nap on the
lawn at the farm had something to do with it.
Then,
on Monday, as I was again scratching Bess’ ears, I picked another tick off her.
“Oh
yeah?” said Mike. “I haven’t found any on her but she has a wart behind her
left ear.”
“No,
she doesn’t!” I answered, knowing full well that that was a tick, too. I dug
deeply through her thick fur and confidently pulled the “wart” off.
“Okay,”
said Mike. “I’ll treat her.” Out came the Bio-Spot and little Bess had her
first tick-repelling treatment.
We
haven’t found any ticks on Nellie, but when we go back to the farm, she’ll get
a treatment, too.
Bess
is such an energetic pup. Nellie is a bit of a “pillow potato.” Even in youth,
she appreciated her morning nap on her pillow and extra recovery time after a
hunt. Not so Bess. She’s excited to get out and participate in whatever is
happening. If she gets a little tired, a short nap will bring her back to life.
KW
4 comments:
Every time dog photos get posted, I think, "Now THAT is the cutest photo I've ever seen! There will never be anything that cute again!" By gosh, you've done it! I love Nellie spooning Bess!
There's a cute dog picture every day, but sometimes they're hard to get. They hear the camera turn on or sense my presence and they move.
Ticks! Ugh. When Dan worked in the woods all the time, he would leave his work clothes outside until it was time to wash them. You are brave to pull the ticks yourself; in my realm, that's a guy job!
Perhaps as my story illustrates, my guy is not good at finding the ticks. We used to go through a rigamarole with the ticks that included applying hot knives, Vasaline salve, gasoline, etc., but finally we gave up and just pull them off. If I keep up with the checks, the ticks aren't very attached.
Mike doesn't think much about the possibility of ticks on his clothes, but they could just as well be on mine since the dogs constantly lean on me or sit on my lap. I just try to keep our clothes washed up.
Post a Comment