2. January 2009 by admin.

Ear mites are nasty little creatures that are highly contagious in between pets and quite a bit of pain to get rid off! Ear mites usually live in your dog’s ear but are not limited to the ears only, depending on the severity of infestation they can spread all over the dog’s body.

Ear mites are too small to be seen with the naked eye but can be well detected under a microscope. Having said that they are cases where mites where detected with the naked eye due to the size of the mites. Ear mites usually affect BOTH ears.
If the infestation is well progressed, the ear canals may bleed.

The most common sign of ear mite infection is shaking of the head and ears.
Dogs may also scratch at their ears, rub their face and in severe cases may even cause bleeding sores behind their ears in their effort to relieve the discomfort from the mites. The intense itching associated with these mites is thought to be due to a hypersensitivity reaction, which is similar to an allergy.
Some pets can be infected without showing signs of itching or head shaking, apparently because they don’t develop the hypersensitivity reaction.
Itching, scratching and shaking of head can also be caused by “regular” ear/ yeast infections.
It’s very important to take your dog to a vet to get the right diagnosis and treatment.

Ear mites are very common but still serious. If not treated it can cause severe damage to the eardrum and loss of hearing.
Treatment can take up to 4 weeks to get rid of all eggs and adult mites.

To prevent ear mites keep your pet’s flea treatments, e.g. Frontline Plus, Revolution etc, up to date.

Posted in head, ear mites, ear mite symptoms, scratching, signs, dog ear mites, Earth Bath, prevent ear mites, shaking, dogs | No Comments »

14. December 2008 by admin.

One summer morning I noticed that my chocolate lab’s face was entirely swollen (he looked like botox gone bad). At the time he was 4 month old and I just had lost my previous dog. In panic mode, not knowing what is was I rushed him to the vet.
Apparently, while sniffing in the grass he got stung by a bee and had an allergic reaction. The vet removed the sting from the upper lip and gave him an antihistamine. $80 bucks and a few hours later he looked normal again. What did I learn? Always have a pack of Benadryl ready! Much cheaper, same effect.
Benadryl has a nice side effect, it makes dogs sleepy. My recommendation if you travel or you have a nervous dog and need to calm him down, give him Benadryl. It works wonders!
Please, use nothing other than Benadryl Allergy! Benadryl Cold or Decongestant are not suitable for dogs.

Note: I am not a trained veterinarian, so please when giving any meds to humans or animals, it’s strongly advised that you get professional advice from your doc or your vet.

Posted in vet, bee sting, benadryl, calm nervous dog, nervous dog, allergic reaction, dogs | No Comments »

20. October 2008 by admin.

I truly believe if you do something good something even better will come back your way.
Once I met this nice gentleman named Dave at the dog park. I complimented him on his beautiful dog, an outstanding and good looking German Shepherd. Dave told me a year ago he was looking for an approx. 3 year old Shepherd at the pound.
All they had was this sad looking, ultra skinny, gray haired German Shepherd. The staff told him he was about 9 to 11 years old. Feeling sorry for the “old guy” and knowing probably nobody would have adopted him, he decided to take him home. He thought the “old guy” wouldn’t live much longer, why not give him a good life. Dave figured he could get a young dog after this one passed (which wasn’t to far away anyway). With plenty of love and good food the “old guy” seemed to get younger every day. The gray hair slowly started to go away, a thick healthy coat was growing in and by the day he got more and more playful. Astonished by the progress he took Blacky to the vet. The vet couldn’t believe his eyes. Examining his teeth and bone structure the vet came to the conclusion the “old guy”, ain’t so old after all. If you haven’t guessed, Blacky was approximately 3 years old at the time. This is a true story! What do we learn from this? Sometimes if we want something we might not get it without a detour. In our case Dave did something good and he got an even bigger return. I thanked Dave for sharing this wonderful story, it put me in a good mood all day.
And now I am hoping I put you in a good mood as well.

Posted in pet adoption, shelter dog, miracle, dogs | No Comments »

17. October 2008 by admin.

Here are 10 reasons that show the not so glamorous side of dog walking. Yes, it looks easy but we are professionals , we are supposed to make it look easy, right!

1) You are already having a bad day and some idiot leaves both gates at the dog park open. Two of your pups think it’s a fantastic idea to run outside and explore the neighborhood. Suddenly you find yourself chasing down two dogs on a busy street. Your heart sinks, you freak out, 10 millions thoughts are chasing through your brain and you just start running after them (praying not to get hit by a car). You finally get them into a corner, you leap and you catch them. An eternity. a heart attack, two cuts on the elbow, bruises and ripped pants later the dogs are safe and you are ready for a drink!

2) You are wearing your new shoes to the dog park, you step in poop but don’t realize it ’til much later in the car while sitting in a traffic jam in the canyon, with no possibility to stop ANYWHERE.

3) One of your pups attacks a Pitbull, you try to break them apart. You trip and fall and 80 lbs of pure muscles lands on your head while you’re head is hitting a rock! Splendid day! A concussion and a wrecked back later you are ready to take on the world again.

4) You get bit because someone else did something stupid and you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The bite was accidental but it hurt!

5) One of your pups decides to chew through your backseat seat belts of your brand new car!

6) You are in a hurry, you drive to your clients house and you realize at the clients door that you left the key at home! outch!

7) One of your pups decides to bite someones butt! The butt was gianormous but this hardly justified the action.

Your pup rolls in skunk dung and nowhere is a hose around! Yeah, that was disgusting. Especially driving home with him!

9) Your pup vomits and pees in your car all at the same time. Needless to say we were stuck on the freeway and all the other dogs were freaking out. Did I mention the smell? :-0

Last but not least my ultimate favorite:

10) You are helping to break up a fight, none of your dogs is involved and you are getting yelled at for 10 min. how stupid you are and the F**** word 100 times and that you are getting sued. Who cares that you were JUST helping out. She let of some steam and I had my day ruined! Thanks.

Do I love my job? Absolutely! If I wouldn’t love my job I wouldn’t put up with the bites, bruises,aches and pains that come with it!

Souvenir from today!

Posted in dog park, dogs | No Comments »

14. October 2008 by admin.

What a day! Yes, I heard on the radio that we have wind gusts up to 65 mph and I saw it on TV. I don’t know why I thought it won’t effect me (how oblivious can you be)! When my hiking buddy, the fabulous Miss K, and I started our daily morning hike, we noticed that no soul was out there (usually it’s packed). Should have been a clue, right? Dressed in our usual hiking gear in shorts and t-shirts we started to make our way up to the ridge. Where we suddenly got pounded with wind gusts up 65 mph. Or, let me say it differently SAND gusts hit our bare skin with 65 mph. It felt like someone emptied a box of needles in front of a commercial fan.
It was brutal. The dogs seemed to have a blast, though and that’s what it’s all about (this is a true dog lovers diary). The sand settled down in every crack of our bodies (nose, eyelids. ears…). I used a real thick facial moisturizer in the morning. The sand attached itself in bulk to my eyebrows and made me look like Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo. Now, that’s true devotion to your job. To really make this a lasting memory, one of the fabulous Miss K’s pups decided to roll in skunk or coyote poop. The shit was all over her….NASTY… I was standing 10 feet away from her and ready to puke. Can you image having her in the car with you? Exactly! I can’t even remember the last time I was laughing as hard as I did today. What a morning to start your day. Better than coffee.

Posted in hiking, dogs, wind gusts, fun, los angeles | No Comments »