I have a couple of subjects I promised to follow up on recently. First of all, I wanted to let you know that Luke is doing GREAT with his newly earned freedom. I’m happy to report that he’s been left 3 days this week, and I have come home to no new destruction. He did chew and tear on a box of files in my office closet, but I’m not even sure when he did that, and I have tried to remember to close that door anyway. I want to thank everyone that commented and especially Emma and Pamela who suggested that trying to have him tired could help.
Tuesdays I usually work from home but this week I had some appointments and errands to run. Normally, I would just wait and play with them later in the day after I got home, but because of that advice, I got out in the morning and played chase and ball with Luke for a little while. Cricket even joined in for a few minutes (normally the girls like to go right back to bed in the morning after eating). It’s a bit more difficult on work mornings, because hubby and I have to leave for work at 6:30, and I can barely get myself up and ready in time to leave. Wednesday morning, Luke and Cricket were out playing chase before we left though! So if we can encourage that kind of thing, maybe we can keep him on the tired side. With my schedule, I am normally home every other day, so that helps too….they get more exercise and less sleep on the days I’m home which can wear them out a bit more for the next day.
Some of you thought Luke might be a little young to be trying this with. Neither my hubby or I can remember how old Sheba and Moses were when they gained their freedom. But they had each other for company in their room. Cricket always had her freedom since we needed her to keep Kobi company, and she never chewed anything! Again, I’m realistic enough to know this may not last, so Luke’s room is being kept just as it is in case we need it again!
Fleas and Ticks
In early May I shared our “Plan of Action” for fighting fleas and ticks all naturally. Here’s where we’re at: the dogs were treated with an all natural spot on treatment, and we added a garlic/brewer’s yeast tablet to their diets. The other side of the plan was to clean up the yard and try to get rid of the habitat that these bugs love. We cleaned out under the deck, and raked the whole yard under the trees and along the fence line to get rid of all the leaf clutter. My hubby got out the weed whacker to take down any brush on the edges of the fenced in yard. We applied “beneficial nematodes” (you can follow the link above to the original post for more details). It was really a lot of work doing all that! My hubby and I kind of laughed about the nematodes, because you get a plastic bag with a sawdust like material in it, and you have to take their word that there are millions of nematodes in there, and that they are still alive when you apply them. Unless you own a microscope, you can’t know! So we’re going on faith here.
The only part of the project not completed is clearing out on the outside of the fence, to form a barrier between the fence and the woods. My hubby cut down one pine tree that was inside the yard, and started cutting others to make a path for dragging brush. He’s opened up a little bit, but we still have a long way to go on that part.
In the meantime, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that we haven’t seen any fleas. The bad news is we’ve been seeing A LOT of ticks. We check the dogs nightly, and we often find some. A couple of times in the morning I’ve found one on Sheba biting her and engorged with her blood. We are adept at taking them off properly, but it still grosses me out every time. If my hubby is home, I ask him to do it. We have a bottle of alcohol with a collection of them in it. Ugh, I cannot tell you how much I hate these things and I was to the point of tears one time after taking one off of Sheba (it is VERY hard to see them on her with her long fur). I was ready to get the Frontline out.
The bottom line here is what am I more afraid of? Putting pesticides on my dogs, or running the risk anyone in the household could end up with a tick borne disease? I have to tell you that it is not an easy decision for me, and so far we’re still toughing it out. I’m hoping some of these things take a little time to work. I am also going to try some flea/tick wipes from Pet Naturals of Vermont (thanks to Jodi at Heart Like a Dog for sharing about those, I am getting a free canister). We are almost through our worst time of year for ticks….they are usually only really bad here in the spring. I’ll keep you updated on our battle.
A couple more quick things: The weather has been very summer-like here and we have been filling the pool just about every day! Somebodies are very happy about that! I just wish the weathermen would quit telling us it’s going to be cool and rainy. It makes it difficult to figure out when we need to water the gardens!
Sunday was Samantha’s 12th birthday, and I want to thank our friend Jenna from Love is Being Owned by a Husky for this great card!
As a bonus to Sam’s birthday week, today Part 1 of her story is being featured over on the SlimKitty blog! Please go take a look if you can, by clicking here. More parts will be coming throughout this month.
Wow you have taken on a huge project. I understand the dilemma of choosing between natural products or pesticides for ticks. We also have a hard time finding ticks on our dogs due to their dense double coats. Happy birthday again to Samantha. 12 is a big number. 🙂
Sam thanks you! We hope she will be with us for many more years.
With Luke, the problem is finding the ticks in his fur where it’s black, and then getting him to sit still long enough to get them off! Cricket is really the only one that’s easy.
YAY!! I’m so glad you received the Flea and Tick preventative. I love the spray so much and while I do still find the occasional one on Delilah, so far it hasn’t been that often. The guys who spray my yard for ticks says it’s not the leaves so much as the shrubs. 🙁 We have a lot of shrubs!!
I love that pool you have for the pups, I’ve never seen one like it.
Good job Luke, I think we started giving Sampson some freedom once he stopped pottying in the house, which was about 4 or 5 months old.
We will probably have to try the spray as well. We have lots of shrubs around the perimeter of the fence too, though we’re working on getting rid of them.
We got really lucky finding that pool…the fact that it has a plug in it makes it so easy to deal with!
It sounds like Sampson was housebroken just a bit younger than Luke. Though I’m not sure, Luke might have been taking the blame when our old cat Conrad was having accidents!
They look to be having a lot of fun in the paddling pool. The photos are great!
They say I’m a tick magnet. I don’t know whether this will help you, but they usually give my legs a quick brush when I come in from outside – it catches some ticks before they latch on.
Thank you! They really do love their pool.
That is great advice about brushing your legs, I hadn’t thought of that….thank you for sharing it, I am definitely going to try that! I might do it as well when coming back from a walk ….I try to keep Sheba out of the brush but she just wants to get in there!
Hi! 🙂 I love that you are so dedicated to the health of your beautiful animals, and I don’t blame you for avoidance of chemicals. I have heard that beneficial nematodes can be, well, beneficial! I’m sure you’ve done your research, but be aware that garlic is toxic to pets. 5 grams of garlic per kg body weight (sorry, don’t know that that is in imperial) will cause significant anaemia. Any amount of garlic will damage red blood cells, its just that oxygen-carrying capacity is not reduced enough to produce symptoms until that dose of 5 mg/Kg is reached.
Thank you! I was aware of the issues with garlic. The tablets we buy are specifically for dogs, and the company reassures us that the dose is safe….we stick strictly to the dosing guidelines as well.
Thank you for coming by!
Happy belated birthday Samantha! Diesel has been staying with us for the month and yesterday I went outside and he had torn up the hot tub cover 🙁 What a little mess! Glad Luke is doing better with his freedom. I need to work more with Diesel!
Visit us at Dogs N Pawz!
Oh boy, we really can’t take our eyes off these young guys for a minute, can we? We need to work more with Luke too, especially when he gets a hold of something he shouldn’t, and runs away with it!
Samantha thanks you for the birthday wishes!
I am so proud of Luke!! I know that he enjoys being able to hang out with the others. We are fortunate not to have been invaded by ticks or fleas. Our problem is mosquitoes and the Pet Natural wipes seem to be working against those little biters too. You and your husband sure have done a lot of work in the yard. : )
Thanks! I am surprised at how well Luke is doing, I still fully expect to come home to a disaster one day! 🙂 It will be nice when the whole yard project is done, but it’s going to take a while to do all that clearing. Mosquitoes are nasty, and we have those “black flies” here in the New England springs…but they weren’t actually that bad this year. It’s always something everywhere though, isn’t it?
I use Advantage on Mr. N because he has a flea allergy which means that even one flea crawling on him leaves him itchy for days. So far no hot spots but it’s been a near thing!
Fleas can be so nasty, and there is nothing worse than those hot spots!
By the way, I have also been using the natural spot on treatment more often (every 2 weeks) and I did spend the money on those bio magnetic tags. I really think they are working. They were actually even repelling the mosquitoes until this week when the little devils got SO hungry that nothing but death seems to stop them.
The tags are the other thing I wanted to try, but Luke chews on his tags, and Sheba’s too. We’ll probably try those next year, good to know that you think they are working.
I am so glad Luke’s freedom is going well! I am not going to tell my boys though… No one gets freedom here! Happy Birthday to Samantha! 12 is great- can you believe how long our beloved kitties live these days? All of the elders in my life are amazed by it. They used to never live last 10! We are very lucky. We are on similar paths with our determintaion to do natural blood sucking insect control but I must say that the work you have had to do in your yard is way above and behind what I would have gone through! Our tiny city yard was easy- fill with cedar chips. Granted it was eleven yards of cedar chips (it’s very thickly laid) but still. One thing to remember about the ticks is that is takes them being latched on an sucking for many hours before they release disease. So being diligent about checking (and I know how hard it is to check in long fur!!!) matters. But you are also checking your dogs each night for other issues too, lumps, bumps, sore spots, which makes you an awesome pet parent. My experience so far with the natural flea and tick sprays and wipes (like the Pet Natural’s) is that you need to use them way every day (even if the package says less) and you need to put them on the places each dog is more suceptable to pests. For example, ticks love to hide in the main on Huxley’s chest so I douse him twith repellent there. Most blood suckers resort to Brychwyn’s head and ears because his fur is so think everywhere else so I have to carefully apply there (I so worry about his eyes!) And Wilhelm seems to most often harbor pests in his fuzzy feet slippers on in his legs. Anyways, I hope things go better. Sadly, I have the chemicals ready to roll if I see a flea. I can’t treat with diatomaceous earth because of Leo so the diligent all natural approach has got to work!!!
I noticed the cedar chips in your photo on your site, Bethany, and that might be something we can put along the outside of the fence line once we get it cleared. I don’t want to think about how much we might need though!
I think you are right that we have to be diligent with the all natural products. When we had the flea problem last fall, I was using apple cider vinegar on the girls every day. DE is something we haven’t tried yet either.
Thank you for saying that I’m an awesome pet parent…I don’t always feel like it! 🙂
We read your story over o SlimKitty 🙂 Glad Luke is learning to stay home and have some freedom. Thank you for the mention, too. Mom finds going for a run with Bailie is the best course of action if she is going to be left alone. She has been doing so well, with no issues, but Tuesday, the devil was in her. First while Mom showered she decided to shred Mom’s catalogs and magazines. After that Mom was gone for an hour and Bailie shredded a deck of card she found on a shelf, but since then she has been fine. I guess we all have good, bad, and mischievous days! Having Katie and I home with her just being mellow usually helps too.
I think you are right, Emma, that everyone has their days! It’s funny sometimes how Luke or Bailie can be so good when they’re left for a few hours, but then get into something when we’re only gone for an hour, or are still right in the house! I think our girls might be helping to keep Luke calm when we’re gone too. You older girls can be a very calming influence!
I am so glad you like your card! Hope Samantha had a special day!
Ticks are SO disgusting!!! Luckily they are not a major problem around here. Fleas are, but not ticks. We really only have to watch for them if we take them to a field or trail somewhere with longer grass. I couldn’t imagine having to remove them on a daily basis. EW! I would definitely have my hubby do that!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
You better watch out though, the ticks are probably moving North! Just kidding, though we never used to have them here either. Years ago, we only saw them when camping, never in our own yard. But that might have to do with how much the woods have grown up around us in those years. That’s why I want to get some of that cleared out! I love living in the country, but not that part of it.
Yuck on the ticks. I am glad we don’t have them that bad, but I do use a natural spray especially on Torrey. And checking, lots of checking.
They are so disgusting! You are lucky they aren’t too bad where you are. When I was younger, we never used to see them, but they have definitely moved in our area now!
You are brave trying to go “a la natural” with the flea and tick prevention. I sure hope it just takes a bit of time for it to work. I don’t know if I could brave it…we have SO MANY bugs here in S Florida, no matter what we do. I use the frontline on Oz because I really do not want to see a big fat tick or worse, be infested with fleas. Good luck to you! And Oz says that pool looks like tons of fun!
TGIF!
They do love their pool!
I hope I am being brave, and not being stupid. But the ticks are really the only thing we’re battling, and they seem to be slowing down (knock wood). We only fought fleas last year and we got it under control quickly. So far so good with those this year anyway!
Lots going on and happy to hear Luke is doing great with his freedom. Kids look happy in their pool and Happy Birthday Samantha! May you have many more. Have a great weekend.
Thank you…we had one more successful day today! We’re supposed to have a hot weekend, so I’m sure the pool will be getting a workout! I hope you have a great weekend too.