Ticks and Dogs, Oh My!!!!!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I can already tell this is going to be a bad season for ticks.  We had five this weekend and that was after a walk in the park.  They are almost always on Vern, which we believe happens because he likes to do his business in tall grass and if he swims, he gets out of the water and rolls himself, with such joy and abandonment, all the way to the car. I love watching him roll, because he thrusts his legs up in the air and kicks like an upside down frog trying to right himself. 

You can’t watch him do it and not smile, although he is a mess when he is finished and I can just imagine all the bugs on the ground that are taking the opportunity to hitch a ride home with him.  Maybe the ticks are just easier to see on Vern, but so far I haven’t found any on Fudge, although I have seen two in the area where she had been sleeping.

 

Growing up, I don’t remember ever seeing one tick.  I played out all day when I could and would have played all night, but my parents had stupid rules about bedtime, homework, and being out after dark.  Surely, with being outdoors so much, I would have encountered a tick or two, but I have no recollection of ever seeing one.  The first tick I ever remember seeing was on my daughter after we moved to Maryland.  We lived in the suburbs in a townhouse, but sometimes I felt like we lived in the Wild Kingdom.  I once saw a fox right outside my parked car.  From time to time, there would be a snake sighting, or turtles, or frogs, lots and lots of frogs, and then one day that dreaded tick.

 

It caught me unaware and I reacted badly.  My youngest daughter was young and I went to help her take her shirt off and there was an attached tick under her arm.  All my motherly instincts told me to remain calm and not to scream, but usually when gross things were involved, my motherly instincts took a back seat to panic and chaos.  FYI: when you scream at a young child, “YOU HAVE A TICK! WHAT DO I DO? SOMEONE SAVE US!” and screw up your face like you just ate a lemon, said child often senses that her mother is useless and out of control and begins to cry.  Well, the crying was like a slap to my face and I regained my composure and did what I always did when a situation presented itself that I was ill equipped to deal with and called my husband at work and screamed, “YOU HAVE TO COME HOME!”  Once he established that it was only a little old tick and finished laughing, he let me know he would not be making the hour ride home to save me and that he had complete faith in me and my abilities to remove the tick.  I told him that made one of us and I hoped when he got home from work, his daughter was either tick-less or liked spending the day in her room with her tick friend, playing a game called, “You‘ve Got Cooties, Stay Away From Your Mother Until Your Father Gets Home.”  I can still hear his laughter as he hung up the phone and wished me luck.

 

Calling on all my knowledge regarding tick removal, which wasn’t much, I set out to help my daughter.  Somehow, deep within me, I knew we could be standing on the edge of a precipice and one wrong move on my part could end up being retold over and over again to different therapists, about the time her mother scarred her for life and botched removing a tick from under her arm.  I remembered reading somewhere about using a match, but I didn’t know exactly what I was supposed to do with it, and hated to take the chance that the neighbors might hear my daughter screaming, “Mommy, you are burning me,” and call the police.  I also know I read you could use fingernail polish remover and soak a cotton ball in it and hold it over the tick and supposedly the tick would die or back out and head to parts unknown.   At the very least, the fumes might knock us both out until my husband got home from work.  We tried the fingernail polish remover and I safely excavated the tick and restored my daughter’s faith in me, although when I said, “aren’t you proud of your mommy?” she answered back, “I want my daddy.”  Turns out, the match and fingernail polish remover are not really tried and true methods and before I get called on it, at least it wasn’t Apple Cider Vinegar, so please give me some credit before you holler Hokum.

 

Unfortunately, if you have dogs, your odds of seeing a tick goes up.  Yes, they still gross me out, but I have come a long way, although I will have to say if I see one on the dogs, for days I am running around yelling, “I think I have a tick on me!”  The littlest movement or itch makes me feel like I need to do a full body search just in case, but my family seems to frown on me stripping down to my underwear in front of them and imploring them to check for ticks.  The last time I did it, I heard someone say, “A tick would be the least of your worries.”  The day I found all the ticks after our walk, I had the heebie jeebies all night and when my husband brushed up against me that night, I screamed loud enough to wake the dead, “oh my goodness, I feel a tick,” and he said, “you know darn well that is not a tick.”  An honest mistake after a long day!

P.S. I use Frontline Plus on my dogs and have them vaccinated for Lyme's Disease. Too bad there is not a Frontline Plus for me.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Okay, I'll tell Adina you goosed me!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Ant it is but Laurie must be getting presbyopia despite being in her 30s. I thought, Ricki, you would appreciate being compared to a magnificent feathered creature. You go report me if need be, I haven't been in trouble lately : )

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Thanks Laurie, it appears that some of us need to revisit the Community Guidelines page!  :(

And that looks like a giant ANT to me...is that what they call ticks in Canada?

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Deanna, I hope you never see one, too :)

Ricki, I think you are on to something with your tick theory. It has to be the Canadians...LOL!! Somehow, I know Donna is involved.

Donna, Did you lead the ticks out of Canada and down here to the USA?? LOL  Who is riding that tick??

Ricki, I see you are being called names for no good reason!! Do you need me to report any of this to Adina? LOL

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

F, Donna, and Carol, You know I would never hijack a discussion....ever....LOL!!! I never get ticked off, I just get even....ROTFL!!

Carol, My vet had us try Certifect, but the smell really gets to me and it does not seem like the liquid gets absorbed right away. I have never heard of SimpleGuard 3. I am going to ask the vet.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Jennifer, Love the picture of Chloe. Vern's kind of girl :)

Traci, I pull them out and flush them :) LOL

Donna, You know I always love your comments...LOL! The pictures are great and yes, I need that shirt :) Another reason I want to move near you....no ticks. I laughed all the way through your comment!!  I see you and F are tag teaming me on writing discussions....LOL!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thanks, Jennifer.

Karen, Fleas and ticks....OMD. You are right. I don't want either. You are lucky you have never seen a tick, but I know if you had one on sweet Jack, you would rise to the occasion and get it off :)

Bonnie, I had to take a tick off my DH...double gross....LOL!!

Jane, I am getting my two cut short very soon, too, for the same reason. At least both your dogs are cream colored. So much easier to see them. Glad you liked that line :) LOL

F, Vern does that same sideways roll as Luca. It makes me laugh. We have tons of deer around here, too, but I still feel badly when they hunt them.

Jane, Good advice. How scary about your friend. I loved that show Little House on the Prairie.

Nicky, Sorry I made you make the ugly faces...LOL!! I have a special tick tool that removes them very easily. If you are interested, I can find a link.

Jennifer, I am glad Myla lets you put it on a little more easily now. Vern runs away from me and then stands there like I am torturing him. Fudge is fine. The first few times I saw all those frogs I did not like it, but I got used to them, too. You are lucky your DH works so closely to home.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

LOL, F!

[F, Calla & Luca]

And I think you are a Canada goose : )

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I think they are Canadian deer.