:Susan wants a discussion on flea and tick control..

I am the wrong person to ask about the various flea and tick products. Rarely do I see either on my grooming clients. Tick season isn’t very long. Fleas usually don’t do well in Colorado’s dry climate. Add the altitude I’m at and…well, it’s just ‘bug friendly’. So, those of you in Minnesota, what do you do for flea and tick control? Or heartworms? Rick and Sharlee asked me about heartworm preventative, which they gave to their previous Apso, Jenny.

Here’s Susan’s post:

On Friday all four dogs went to the groomer.  I was pleased that Kathy
felt that both Sammy and Raji were no longer overweight.  She cautioned
me not to let Rinchen get any thinner, which surprised me a bit, because
he hasn’t actually been on any diet;  in retrospect, though, although I
give him more food than I give the other three, he has definitely gotten
less treats than he once did, so maybe he really has gotten thinner. 
Anyway, I’m giving him a few more bits of kibble with his evening meal
and slipping him a treat or two when no one else is watching.

That was the good news.  The bad news was that Raji had a tick over her
eye;  looked like it had been there for about a day.  Now, my dogs don’t
go anywhere except on my own property anymore, so I had been having them
on Advantage only.  Advantage kills fleas but not ticks.  Kathy seemed
to think that our tick season here was about to be over and that I could
chance sticking with Advantage for the next 6 months or so, then switch
to Advantix in November.  Sounded fine to me.  BUT Saturday morning I
went to remove a bit of debris on Rinchen’s face, and  — it was a
tick.  Yuckerooo!!!!!!  Anyway, I dashed off to the vet’s office and
spent $135.00 for two months worth of Advantix for the four dogs.

But the whole issue of fleas and ticks and seasons and toxicity still
has me tormented.  Kathy says we have seasons for both;  the vet says
they are both here year round; last year I almost lost all four dogs to
what was suspected to be a “bad” or “bootleg” dosage of Frontline.

So, what’s a girl to do?  Advantage, Advantix, Frontline, Revolution
have all been suggested and/or are used by folks I know.  What else can
you tell me?

:Spamalot…Spamanot

My own Word Play on this very silly theatrical production.

Spam. Spamanot. Shirley’s post was not spam. Yet, there it sat since April 24. The spam filter for the blog does an amazing job…usually. Browsing through my own version of Spamalot (which isn’t very silly at all), I discovered Shirley’s comment on ‘:A first…’ having to do with Chandra and her (keep your fingers crossed!!) dual sired litter. My heart did a flip flop. Shirley had been to the blog! Cool! Drat! Her comment didn’t show up! So here it is, along with my apologies for not visiting my own Spamalot more often. Sorry Shirley! Please come back now and again!

Hmmm a dual sired litter. There was a time (and probably still with many) when that would not be news you would share. Some would register the litter from the male they thought ‘most likely’, or not registered at all. But it is a tantalizing concept–double breeding. If sperm from both males take, you get an idea of variations in the offspring due to the different sires. And if there should be a large litter with good representation from each sire, what knowledge to be gained with just the one pregnancy. I must say it does intrigue me. I do wonder, though, even with DNA testing to sort out the kids, what our governing canine orgs might say/do with a breeder that clearly repeated this dilemma. After all, accidents happen, and the DNA is a great tool for ascertaining the “guilty” party, but to purposely double breed a bitch with the hope of getting offspring from both might be a concept the CKC and/or AKC have trouble accepting.