From the mail bag: Deb asks, do you have any advice as to whether or not one should treat their dog with antibiotics if they find a tick on them? I found a tick on my GSD. He was treated with, I believe, doxycycline last year after I found six deer ticks on him. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Deb, the down and dirty answer is: While it’s not uncommon for a physician to prescribe a dose of … Read More
Cait is going on a foreign exchange program soon. We’re in the countdown to liftoff, with its attendant flurry of activity. That means that along with going over packing checklists, we’re running through cultural and language checklists as well.
Having lived in other countries, I’m keenly aware of the fact that because all humans essentially look the same–two eyes, two ears, a mouth, etc–we tend to make assumptions that people everywhere else are pretty much like us. And therefore we … Read More
Cait is of the age where it’s time for me to teach her how to drive. For as exhilarating as she finds her lessons, that’s how nerve-racking I find them. So when we get in the car for another lesson, I take comfort in the way she falls back into our usual “long drives” routine.
She starts with her customary opening line, “So what should we talk about, Mom?”
As Cait has a tendency to drive a little too … Read More
Kiera is the first dog I’ve lived with that has made it to twelve years old. Knock on wood–she’s going strong. I tell her I just want her to make it until fourteen. (I secretly hope she’ll make it past that, but I’ll take whatever I can get.)
As she gets older, she continues to teach me a lot about the things that matter and the things that don’t.
When she was younger, she wasn’t allowed on the furniture. Now … Read More
In a world that leaves us little time to stop and smell the roses anymore, it especially saddens me when I see owners jerking and pulling their dogs along behind them on a leash, never letting them pause to sniff the “news” left by other dogs who’ve gone before. And certainly not allowing time to let them update that news with their own “reply.”
Loosely, it’d be like you trying to catch up with your favorite bloggers, but every time … Read More
As per usual, I made the trek to Cait’s school to pick her up from after-school activities. She threw her too-heavy backpack on the back seat and slid into the front, pulling the car door closed after her. Before I could even ask how her day went, she launched into conversation.
“Mom,” she said, “You won’t believe the most wonderful thing happened today.”
Not usually the opening line when Cait hops into the car these days, I was curious to … Read More
5:00 AM: Alarm goes off (read get woken up by wet dog noses). Hit snooze button (read push dogs off bed and bury self deep under covers). Alarm goes off again (read dogs dig under covers and stick cold noses in neck and ear). Get up and take three dogs—one 11 year old Australian Shepherd, one 8 year old Border Collie mix, one 3 year old King Charles Cavalier Spaniel—downstairs to greet the day.
5:30 AM: With everyone fed, watered, … Read More
Calling all fellow book lovers who buy from Amazon! I’d like to ask for your assistance.
Maybe you’ve noticed. Maybe you haven’t. But Amazon has removed the ability to view how many reviews a reader has contributed by deleting the “?” button next to the reviewer’s name. What this valuable little button used to let us do, was to see at a glance (simply by hovering over the arrow, without having to leave the page) how many reviews each reader … Read More
