Fleas, Ticks or Worse

We live in an area that has a lot of deer ticks. Duke already had Lyme disease when we adopted him from the shelter, so he went through a course of antibiotics. Both dogs have been on Frontline Plus since we got them, plus Interceptor to prevent heartworms since picky Maggie will not eat Heartguard chews. We didn't think too much about it, just took preventative care once a month. That was until three weeks ago.

Zombie dogs

 Midday Saturday I applied Certifect, a new flea and tick repellent which our vet said was more effective than Frontline against ticks and is made by the same company. By Saturday night both dogs were completely lethargic and didn't want to go for a walk or eat. Sunday morning Maggie woke up in a pool of pee and had trouble walking, she could barely use her back legs. It was too early in the day to call the vet, so I went online and found out that many dogs have had similar or worse reactions.

I washed both dogs to remove as much of the Certifect as possible, which had spread an oily coating over most of their backs. Here is a list of potential side effects from the European Public Assessment Report:

"Dogs may show some temporary reactions at the site of application (discolouration, hair loss, itching or redness). The itching and hair loss can in rare cases be more extensive. Dogs that lick the treatment area may salivate, vomit, have blood sugar levels higher than normal, be more sensitive to stimulation, lack energy, and have a slow heartbeat or slow breathing. These signs generally resolve without treatment and within one day. Certifect must not be used on sick animals (with systemic diseases such as diabetes, or with a fever) or convalescent animals. The medicine should not be used in rabbits and cats.
Certifect should not be allowed to enter surface water, as it may be harmful for aquatic organisms."

Certifect and other "spot-on" flea and tick products are designed to disrupt the nervous systems of fleas and ticks, "which results in uncontrolled activity of the central nervous system and death of these parasites", according to the  EPAR. They can also affect the nervous system of the host animal in some cases. Maggie was lucky that her symptoms went away over the course of 48 hours, and she didn't have seizures, heart issues, vomiting or permanent nervous system issues as some others have reported. She did have a bladder control issue last year, which we thought was a UTI (urinary tract infection) or spay incontinence at the time. We now realize that all "leakage" issues coincided with Frontline application, and our vet has said that we can never use these types of products on Maggie again as she is too sensitive. We won't use these types of products on any of our animals now, as the cats are indoor only and I don't want Duke to have to go through what Maggie did. We're trying a cedar oil flea and tick repellant spray recommended by Save a Dog, a local shelter that advocates holistic treatment rather than chemicals. Hopefully your dog won't have an issue with flea and tick treatments, but if they start having some of the symptoms mentioned and your vet can't find another underlying health issue, ask if it could be a reaction to the "spot on" product.

Outstanding in their field

Morning Walk

Rock Dogs

What is taking Maggie so long?

Maggie thought she saw a squirrel....or a kittay!

Duke sees it too....

Maggie sees another kittay!

The crack dogs survey their domain.

You said you had cookies.

Super Sato Action Adventure Hounds

Duke: "Hey guys, wait up! The lady just said that Mr.Man's mega fanny pack has all the snacks!"

Maggie: "Ha ha, you're stuck with picture lady and we have all the supplies!"

 Duke: "Hey lady, can I get one of those cool dog backpacks?"


Lady: "We'll see how you do with a harness first."


Duke: "Yay, I get a harness and a snack pack next!"


Maggie: "I better not have to get any of that stuff, this collar is bad enough."




Mr.Man: "Yeah, it's too steep to take the dogs down there."



Maggie: "We could do it, no problem."



Duke: "Hey Maggie, your face says yes but your tail says no."



Maggie: "You're way back there, what do you know."



Duke: "I'm only back here because the lady is taking more pictures."

Maggie: "Why do we have to wait for the water bowl, we could just drink out of the stream."

Duke: "Yeah, the foldy water bowl is weird."

Maggie: "It is not, I'm closer so I get it first."

Duke: "I bet your head looks huge in the picture."

Maggie: "Your nose is pointier."

Duke: "Aw man, you totally back washed into this thing. Glad the lady is holding it up for me so I can keep an eye out for scary hikers while drinking."

 
Maggie: "Ha ha, next time drink first. None of the hikers are going to get you, weirdo."



Duke: "The ones coming up the trail are pretty loud, who knows what they're capable of."


Maggie: "Have you seen Mr.Man? He's the scary one, and I'm walking with him just fine."

Duke: "He's not scary, he's fun! More fun than slow picture lady."

Duke: "I'll show you the Mr. Teefth face if you give me another treat. Mr. Teefth likes hiking."

Visit with Griffin

Duke: "Hey, maybe it's quiet over there."

Griffin: "Let's go, let's run, why are you standing here, why are you grumpy, let's go, blah blah blah"
 
Maggie: "OMG, I am going to bite him in the face. Maybe he will shut up if we ignore him."

 Duke: "Holy crap, maybe I can borrow Mr.Man's earplugs."

Griffin: "Let's go, let's run, why are you standing here, why are you grumpy, let's go, blah blah blah."

Maggie: "Still ignoring, must resist urge to kick his fuzzy butt."

 Duke: "Hey lady, can you make him shut up? Please?"
 
Griffin: "You guys are boring, let's run, why are you standing here, let's gooooooo....."
 
Maggie: "One more minute and I'm out of here. This freak is ridiculous."

 Duke: "Hey Maggie, where are you going? He finally shut up. It's a miracle."
 
Griffin: "What? Who shut up?"

Maggie: "Nice, Nana has food."

Griffin: "Hey, who has what?"

 Duke: "Wonder what she's bringing us?"

If anyone has ideas on how to get an overexcited giant schnauzer to stop barking, please let us know!

Couch potatoes

Maggie's Gotcha Day

The first time I saw Maggie was her adoption listing in April 2008. I completely forgot how this was worded, what the fuzz was I thinking! (Mr.Man wasn't surprised at all, he says that I like projects.)
He had been going home for lunch everyday since his new job was so close, so I said that he could walk a dog while he was there. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea since we already had the 4 cats. It was near my birthday, so whenever he asked what I wanted I just said "a dog".

He agreed as long as it wouldn't eat the cats. I went by Buddy Dog Humane Society after work, since we had adopted Cocoa & Ozzy there the year before, and saw this shy dog curled into a ball at the very back of her kennel. I sat on the floor outside for about 20 minutes and then asked if I could take her for a walk. They said that the staff had been carrying her everywhere since she was too scared to walk. We figured that I might as well try, so I slipped a collar over her head, said "come on, little dog" and she walked through the shelter to the outside. She was very scared of the cars and parking lot, but relaxed once we went down the trail behind the shelter. She liked being in the woods, and seemed terrified of anything related to civilization. We didn't realize that she thought men were extra scary, since she was so fearful in general.

This is a picture of Maggie that was in a card written by Margie; she and Doris found Maggie with "her mother and siblings in an abandoned house. They were very scared of people and strong noises. They were approximately 3 months old. They had skin problems because they were in an area that looked like a garbage dump. It was a horrible place." She wrote that she kept Maggie longer than the others as "she was shy with people" and "needed more time to teach her to trust us."
   She filled up the entire inside of the card and the back with information about her "special baby." It was obvious how much she cared. I love the "X" on Maggie and the way the other dog is looking up at the puppies. I hope Margie will see this someday and know how grateful we are to her and the others at Save a Sato in Puerto Rico for saving Maggie and thousands of other dogs like her and Duke from a short life on the street.

  Buddy Dog has worked with Save a Sato to find homes for stray and abandoned dogs for more than 10 years. As education, spaying and neutering reduced the number of homeless pets in New England, the shelter had room to take in dogs from PR and the southern US. They never turn away a local dog in need to take in dogs from other areas.

Four years later, I'm still so glad that Maggie is the dog we brought home. She's doubled in size, more than doubled in confidence and is the best velcro dog I could have picked. I wish I could wake up as happy and full of energy as she does every single morning. She's no longer scared of mailboxes, trash cans or cars, and will trot down the sidewalk with her tail in the air as traffic goes by. She loves to run in the rain, isn't scared of thunder and knows when to stop teasing the cats. She still gets startled sometimes and doesn't let many people pet her, but has finally started to like scary Mr.Man. Not bad for a dog that missed some crucial socialization!

Pibble cat

 Duke: "Hey Lady, the big cat is acting weird again."




Maggie: "Activate Super Sato vision, I sense a disturbance in the fur."




Duke: "Hey Lady, Maggie's acting weird again too."

The Dude: "I'm just a big Pibble chillin' on my dog bed with all my toys. "

Spot the looney!

The Dude (aka Jeffrey Lebowski):
"Just a little closer, and then... Mwah-ha-ha!
Attack of the giant Ti-gwah!"


Maggie:
"My Sato sense is tingling, activate laser vision!"



Serena: 
"I hope no one sees me under here."



The next 5 minutes involved dodging the one dog rodeo and wishing for a high speed camera. This is the only surviving picture of the incident. No animals were hurt in the ensuing freak show.

The short lived couch experiment

Ozzy loves to hang out with the dogs. I have no idea how an 8 lb skinny cat looks as big as a 43 lb dog, talk about weird camera perspective. Maggie loves to nose honk the cats so she can chase them, but Ozzy will sit up like a bear and box instead of running. Maggie was still thinking about trying it again.

Duke loves to cuddle up to me or the Mr., whoever is on the cozy couch. People thought we were crazy to let the animals on the new couch, but we thought it would be okay if it was under supervision. This was before Maggie had a UTI & leaked all over 2 cushions; it took 2 weeks and a 24 oz bottle of enzyme cleaner to get rid of the smell. (yay Nature's Miracle) Her reaction to Proin was even less fun, think of the Exorcist in the kitchen. So glad the UTI cleared up & it's (hopefully) not related to spay incontinence.

As the mean lady, I booted them off the couch onto soft new dog beds. At $20 each from HomeGoods, I figured that it wouldn't be a huge loss if they were shredded. So far they've survived for about 6 months, only because the dogs are not allowed in the living room without us. Right now there is a ridiculous fake sheepskin throw over the dog beds so half the floor is covered by dog cozy land.

Puppy still likes the couch a lot better.

Anarchy in the kitchen

We have hooks on all of the kitchen doors so that the cats can go in and out of all rooms & the dogs can't destroy the rest of the house. We came home to this when a friend left a cushion on one of the kitchen chairs. Mr.Man thought it was funny since they hadn't shredded anything for a while.

This morning was less funny as one of the cats knocked my glasses off the counter & the dogs snagged them while I was out of the room. The frames are still good (yay titanium!), but I'll have to get new lenses. It's my own stupid fault for leaving them in the dog zone, even though they were fine in that spot for the past 4 years.

The Kuranda beds on the left have been the best dog items we've purchased. Maggie's bed has held up to the little maniacs for more than 2 years, and Duke's bed still looks new. We ordered the aluminum frames instead of PVC, somehow plastic didn't seem like the best idea for them.

The issue we have now is Lebowski(the Dude) taking Duke's bed & not letting Maggie have her toys back.

Do I know you?

We took the dogs to Petco(where the pets go, as Mr.Man says every.freaking.time) the other night to pick up dog & cat food. Since they were street dogs, they weren't socialized as puppies, so they tend to be very shy. When we first went there Maggie would have her tail tucked between her legs & Duke would shake so much it looked like he was going to levitate. They've slowly been getting better, and this visit was the best yet.

They were greeted by an out of control wiener dog,  so Maggie thought it was playtime! She pranced through the store with her tail up, sat to look at puppies playing, gave high fives for treats & licked Duke's face when he was nervous. Duke barely shook, and even ate 3 treats! He's a chunk-a-punk at home, but will not eat anything if he's feeling fearful.

When we were checking out the cashier asked if she knew us. I said we were in all the time, but she didn't think that was it. Then she said "Wait, didn't you have a really nervous dog?"

I said, "Yes, that's us" and Mr.Man laughed.
The cashier came out from behind the counter and said "That kind of looks like the dog I remember, but she used to be so scared!" Maggie walked right up to her, took a treat & then dropped it on the floor as she is a picky picky princess. The cashier then broke out the good liver treats, which Maggie ate.  

Duke was sitting at the end of his leash trying to get away from cashier lady, so she gave me a treat for him. He ate it when she went behind the counter, on top of the treats from home that he had earlier. He was pretty much making the face in this picture.

Duke is the dog who sat and shook the first day of obedience class, would barely eat turkey meatballs & stopped chewing chicken if the trainer came within 10 feet. Mr.Man would cook chicken breast as a training treat as the treats they love at home could not overcome the fear of a new place. It's a lot cheaper per pound to cook chicken than to buy the processed treats, which helps us feel a little less silly about it.

Before Duke

Before Duke, Maggie just had the 2 tiger boys. Ozzy & Dude love to hang out with the dogs. Ozzy will headbutt the dogs in the face and flop over onto his back next to them. Dude will whack the dogs' legs and run around the house with his tail flapping while they chase him. He'll jump onto the couch or bed and whine when he's tired of playing, but he'll still be purring. He's definitely a puppycat.

Technically, Maggie also had Serena & Cocoa, but they just tolerate the dogs. Duke wanted to sit next to Serena on the couch but realized that wasn't the best idea. Every now and then she'll headbutt one of the dogs in the legs, look up, "meep" really loudly and then bunny hop away like a giant squeeky toy. She gets extremely upset when they chase her, not realizing that she started it.

Cocoa barely tolerates the tiger boys, much less the dogs or Serena. We adopted her with Ozzy when they were 6; the shelter said they had to go together as they were bonded since kittenhood. Once they got here she went one way and Ozzy went the other, they're rarely in the same room.

Cocoa loves Mr.Man & will follow him around the house when he gets home & screech loudly until he picks her up. It's tough to get a picture of her big blue eyes because she squints and starts kneading the closest item when she gets any attention. All of the cats love Mr.Man, obviously they didn't get the memo that he's a big scary guy, at least according to Maggie.

Cocoa loves people. She and Ozzy are the welcoming committee, the 2 of them come running to see whoever is at the door. The vet, the cable guy, they don't care who, people are here to see the meezy cats!

We don't need no stinking collars!

This picture was taken the second to last time the dogs ever wore collars in the house. Maggie's third Lupine collar is in the foreground. They replaced 2 collars and I just didn't feel right about asking for a replacement again. Duke chewed the martingale loop off, probably after they destroyed the brand new rope toy. I think we were outside (left them unsupervised) for 20 minutes tops.

Note Duke's collection of towels, bones and toys that he dragged out of their crates. Yes, this would not have happened if they were in their crates, we've lost count of how many times we've said that. I filled out a separation anxiety checklist and they both scored 100%.

Maggie & her long distance boyfriend

This is Maggie with her boyfriend Stout. He lives in Vermont with her Uncle D, so she only gets to see him a few times a year. This was taken before we had Duke, who likes Stout, but gets a little intimidated because he is more than twice their size at 110 lbs. This was taken when Maggie was about 10 lbs underweight due to Leptospirosis, which made her more anorexic than usual.

Maggie is so much happier now that she has Duke with her every day.

Demolition Dog Racing

Demolition dog racing on the hill. 

Duke barks at Maggie because he can't catch up. Sometimes she chases him for a minute so she can body slam him across the yard. He's learned to cut across and shoulder check her, but she's still faster. 

I started using the lunge line to work on Maggie's recall, but now we use them all the time to walk in the back field & on the hill. 2 dogs, 2 twenty foot leashes, what could go horribly wrong? (Insert huge list here.)

We stick with standard 6' leashes for the rest of the time & never use retractables; well, Duke's red leash was an old retractable web leash that I ripped apart and sewed a loop on. Maggie's blue leash is almost 30 years old & was a horse lunge line; I cut the chain off and sewed a clip on. The sewing machine has more than paid for itself.

Maggie & Duke, Halloween 2009

This was Duke's first night home.
Maggie was so excited to finally have a little brother to boss around.
She's the punk in the black collar; we call it the "stunt collar" as it's the only one they didn't destroy.